Setting up Linux on a Toshiba Satellite 1700-200

DISCLAIMER: I don't have this laptop anymore, and it's been a while since I installed linux on anything except a standard laptop, so if you habe questions there is a very good chance that I can't answer them. I leave this page here because it is linked from linux-laptop and still used. Some of the links re probably broken too ...

Initially I was using Debian 2.2r3 ("potato") CDs, but I had some trouble with the X server (which was 3.3.6) and various other stuff, so later I switched to "sid". I use a 2.4.17 kernel but this should not matter too much.

First of all I removed Windows from the disk. But I bet you can use PQmagic/fips/parted/whatever and you'll have no problem to setup a dual-boot system. Or, you can down... er ... buy a true Windows CD if you need to. The "quick restore" CD provided with the laptop will also work but you have to partition the disk by hand and format the first partition, else it will not propose to install there and will take the whole disk for Windows.

Apparently, you cannot switch from one OS to the other without switching the computer off. I don't know why.

So, here we go. Of course, all comments/complaints/tips are always welcome. Let's start with the most important, that is:

XFree86 (version 4.1)

The video controller is an ATI Mach64 Mobility. So, in the setup of X, just choose the "ati" driver. It works at once. You might want to play some videos some day, and for this you need the Xv extension, which is not provided by XFree86 on Mach64 (yet). So you will need to install the ati.2 driver. Download this into /tmp, then go to /usr and type (as root):

  tar zxvf /tmp/ATI-4.1.0.i386.tar.gz

You will need to restart your X server after that. Then, MPlayer will work in full-screen with hardware scaling. BTW MPlayer is a great movie player. Just go get it. NOW. Hum. And now for something completely different, let's install the

Mouse (Accupoint and/or external mouse)

The trackpoint is really a PS/2 mouse, so in X configuration, choose "ImPS/2" as the mouse type and "/dev/psaux" as the device name. Check the 'Emulate 3 buttons' option, it never hurts. You will then realize that the two small buttons act as a mouse wheel. And of course your best choice is still to plug a real mouse.

PC-Card / CardBus / PCMCIA

You will need the pcmcia_cs package and the hotplug scripts. The best is to have a 2.4 kernel, with the yenta_socket.o module compiled. Then, choose this as the PCMCIA adapter (in /etc/default/pcmcia, add a line

  PCIC=yenta_socket

and you should be done). Note that the i82365 driver in the recent distribution of pcmcia_cs (NOT the one in the kernel tree) works also, but if you use it you can have any number of problems.

CardBus Ethernet card (NetGear FA510c)

Yes, I bought such a card. And now it works great, but I had a hard time using it. Everything is automatic, in fact, provided the module tulip.o (or tulip_cb.o if you use pcmcia_cs's i82365.o module) is compiled. But the computer used to hang before I added the following line:

 exclude port 0x200-0x27f

in my /etc/pcmcia/config.opts file. It appears to be related with the sound hardware (for which 0x220 is usual), but the sound module was not loaded at this time ... And even when loaded it doesn't claim any I/O port ... Well, forget it. It might work without this line if you use yenta_socket.o, let me know.

Modem

This is a bit tricky. You have to download the ltmodem sources. Untar them, build the modules (./build_module), install them (./ltinst2), depmod -a, modprobe lt_modem. Create a char device file and a link on it:

  mknod /dev/ttyLT0 c 62 64
  ln -sf ttyLT0 /dev/modem

and use one of them (I prefer /dev/modem, which is the default for several utilities) as the modem device to connect to the Internet. You will want to make the module load automatically, won't you ? Just add the following line:

  alias char-major-62 lt_serial

to the relevant file (which is /etc/modules.conf, in most cases, but sometimes, e.g. in Debian, this file is generated by update-modules in which case you should add the line to /etc/modutils/local).

Sound

You just have to compile the cs4281 module and load it. Easy, isn't it? To make it automatic, add the following line to /etc/modules.conf (not directly if you're using Debian, in this case create some /etc/modutils/local instead since it uses update-modules):

  alias char-major-14 cs4281

(or 'alias sound cs4281', depending on the way /etc/modules.conf is written). Ah, and I don't know about ALSA, but it should work too.

USB

The adapter is a standard one. Just install the hotplug scripts, they will activate USB automatically. Have fun.

Still open ... can you help?

Toshutils won't work on this one (according to the official web page). No big deal, in fact, except that closing the screen does not do an 'apm -s' - but again the laptop boots in about 20 seconds ;-)

The little buttons in front (you know, 'run Internet Explorer' and such) - just forget them. The volume control on the right side does work.

After some time using the Accupoint, the pointer begins to drift (always towards the bottom right corner).

Some files for the impatient

You can download these and put them where they belong, as indicated. As usual, no guarantee implied, only that it works on my system. But if it does not work for you, please let me know so that I can update this page.

  /etc/modutils/local
  /etc/X11/XF86Config-4

You have to run update-modules (as root) after installing the first one - and of course this is Debian-specific. On other systems you can try to append it to /etc/modules.conf but you'd better edit it by hand. The second one should work on any distribution provided XFree86 4 is present.