On 18/09/06, Preston Boyington <preston.lists@gmail.com
> wrote:
I have loaded Debian "Testing" on my Toshiba A105-S2101 laptop. I
have to say that I am pleased overall.
I have a Toshiba A70 (Canadian version). I dislike it. I shall tell you why,
The 2.6.15 & 2.6.17 kernels work well, although 2.6.16 seems to cause
the audio to "loop".
You might want to have a look at why this is so. It shouldn't be. Packages to look in to are 1: You audio player. 2: ALSA (or OSS, ESD et cetera.). 3: Xine (helix et cetera).
The internal network card works without any problems. The internal
modem and wireless networking don't as yet.
I think we can fix that.
I have been told that I might be able to get the modem working using
the sl-modem packages. I haven't had a chance to test this. Has
anyone managed it?
Yes. sl-modem worked, so far as I can tell. I do not have dial-up here, but all seemed to be nice and working. sl-modem has a mailing list, in case some thing does not work.
Also, I have read that the Madwifi packages might not currently work
with the internal wireless. I would prefer using the Madwifi over the
ndiswrapper because I think it would handle upgrades better in the
long term (speculation on my part).
My lappy has an Atheros AR5212. Madwifi-ng works quite nicely here. If in doubt, tell this list (or the debian users, or madwifi; or the IRC) more of your problem.
Video seems to work fine. I don't have the ATI driver installed, so I
just am using whatever xorg chose. I suppose I could install ATI
binaries and gain 3D video, but I would prefer to keep everything
"apt-able".
Firstly, the binaries are available in Debian non-free, but they aren't the newest. Secondly, you may not need the binaries. Depending on you card type (I have an ATI 9100 mobile
IGP and / or AGP which is shared and lousy), what comes with Xorg may be good enough / better. This is my case. You can check to
see how greatly your card is supported at
https://support.ati.com/ics/support/default.asp?deptID=894&task=knowledge&folderID=27
With all that said, has anyone managed to get the modem, wireless, and
anything I might not have checked yet (dvd control buttons, etc.)
working? When I get this finished I will put a report on the Linux on
Laptops page and related sites. Again, I would prefer to use as much
"apt-able" sources as possible to minimise my error.
I have gotten all to work, save the media buttons on the left (play, stop, fast forward, rewind and some un-identified button). But, I haven't really tried.
Toshibas have a wonderful reputation, now a days, for having over-heating problems. I attest to this. There are various class-action lawsuits against Toshiba and various models, though not all have to do with over-heating. If you experience this, I suggest you vacuum the fans and heat sink; perhaps monthly. It seems to make a difference. I hope your Toshiba experience is better than mine.
Thanks all,
Preston
Cheers.