Suse 9.1 on Toshiba Satellite A70


Preface
This document lists the steps I took to get suse 9.1 working on my A70.

Table of contents


A70 Hardware

My toshiba came configured with the following


What does and doesn't work

Luckily, Suse detects most of the hardware at install and very little tweaking is required.

    Unfortunately the 5in1 media reader isn't currently supported in linux. An exhaustive Google
search brings up 1 page mentioning a kernel patch for the media reader however I havent had
the inclination to try patching the suse kernel. Hopefully this will eventually
be included in the mainstream kernel.

    After installation Suse will have the realtek nic set up as the default. I prefer to use wireless so
I went in to YAST and disabled the realtek nic and configured the atheros wifi card.
   
    The winmodem doesn't appear to work and I havent really tried to make it work as I have no use
for it.

    I have no firewire devices so I haven't tried the firewire port although it appears to be setup ok.

    The ATI IXP sound worked ok without any configuring. it uses alsa and the snd_atiixp module.

    The touchpad works fine. Suse detected it and the usb optical mouse I prefer and both are active.

    The widescreen lcd monitor was a bit of a problem. Suse wanted to use a resolution of 1024x768
which stretches the display and makes the wallpaper look odd. The native resolution of the display
is 1280x800. If you run sax2 and go to the color and resolution panel there is a tab labeled expert.
Click on this and add a resolution of 1280 x 800 you will need to punch in both numbers and then
click in the first field again in order to make the add button become available.

    I have used K3B to burn several CD-R's but havent tried burning a DVD yet. It appears to be
configured ok.
   
    ACPI works partially. The battery monitor seems  to read the battery state pretty well.  The 
computer does  shutdown without having to press the power button to power off.  Suspend
doesn't work yet and I haven't tried to use Hibernate.


Xwindows Configuration

    As mentioned above the widescreen display works best after a little tweaking. Below is my
XF86Config file. I tried using the ati proprietary drivers so that I could use opengl 3d
acceleration.  It was less than satisfactory as opengl still didn't work properly and  I experienced
numerous freeze ups.  I have gone back to the default radeon driver and I am much happier.
I really don't have a lot of use for 3d accellerartion on the laptop anyway.
# /.../
# SaX generated XFree86 config file
# Created on: 2004-11-02T01:21:56-0600.
#
# Version: 4.8
# Contact: Marcus Schaefer <sax@suse.de>, 2002
#
# Automatically generated by [ISaX] (4.8)
# PLEASE DO NOT EDIT THIS FILE!
#
Section "Files"
  FontPath     "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/misc:unscaled"
  FontPath     "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/local"
  FontPath     "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/75dpi:unscaled"
  FontPath     "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/100dpi:unscaled"
  FontPath     "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/Type1"
  FontPath     "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/URW"
  FontPath     "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/Speedo"
  FontPath     "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/PEX"
  FontPath     "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/cyrillic"
  FontPath     "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/latin2/misc:unscaled"
  FontPath     "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/latin2/75dpi:unscaled"
  FontPath     "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/latin2/100dpi:unscaled"
  FontPath     "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/latin2/Type1"
  FontPath     "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/latin7/75dpi:unscaled"
  FontPath     "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/baekmuk:unscaled"
  FontPath     "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/japanese:unscaled"
  FontPath     "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/kwintv"
  FontPath     "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/truetype"
  FontPath     "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/uni:unscaled"
  FontPath     "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/CID"
  FontPath     "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/ucs/misc:unscaled"
  FontPath     "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/ucs/75dpi:unscaled"
  FontPath     "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/ucs/100dpi:unscaled"
  FontPath     "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/hellas/misc:unscaled"
  FontPath     "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/hellas/75dpi:unscaled"
  FontPath     "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/hellas/100dpi:unscaled"
  FontPath     "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/hellas/Type1"
  FontPath     "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/misc/sgi:unscaled"
  FontPath     "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/xtest"
  FontPath     "/opt/kde3/share/fonts"
  InputDevices "/dev/ttyS0"
  InputDevices "/dev/ttyS1"
  InputDevices "/dev/ttyS2"
  InputDevices "/dev/ttyS3"
  InputDevices "/dev/ttyS4"
  InputDevices "/dev/ttyS5"
  InputDevices "/dev/ttyS6"
  InputDevices "/dev/ttyS7"
  InputDevices "/dev/ttyS8"
  InputDevices "/dev/psaux"
  InputDevices "/dev/logibm"
  InputDevices "/dev/sunmouse"
  InputDevices "/dev/atibm"
  InputDevices "/dev/amigamouse"
  InputDevices "/dev/atarimouse"
  InputDevices "/dev/inportbm"
  InputDevices "/dev/gpmdata"
  InputDevices "/dev/mouse"
  InputDevices "/dev/usbmouse"
  InputDevices "/dev/adbmouse"
  InputDevices "/dev/input/mice"
  InputDevices "/dev/input/event0"
  InputDevices "/dev/pointer0"
  InputDevices "/dev/pointer1"
  InputDevices "/dev/pointer2"
  InputDevices "/dev/pointer3"
EndSection

Section "ServerFlags"
  Option       "AllowMouseOpenFail"
  Option       "RandR" "on"
EndSection

Section "Module"
  Load         "extmod"
  Load         "speedo"
  Load         "v4l"
  Load         "freetype"
  Load         "type1"
  Load         "glx"
  Load         "dbe"
  Load         "dri"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
  Driver       "Keyboard"
  Identifier   "Keyboard[0]"
  Option       "Protocol" "Standard"
  Option       "XkbLayout" "us"
  Option       "XkbModel" "pc104"
  Option       "XkbRules" "xfree86"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
  Driver       "mouse"
  Identifier   "Mouse[1]"
  Option       "ButtonNumber" "5"
  Option       "Device" "/dev/mouse"
  Option       "Name" "Autodetection"
  Option       "Protocol" "ExplorerPS/2"
  Option       "Vendor" "Sysp"
  Option       "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
  Driver       "mouse"
  Identifier   "Mouse[3]"
  Option       "Buttons" "5"
  Option       "Device" "/dev/input/mice"
  Option       "Name" "Autodetection"
  Option       "Protocol" "explorerps/2"
  Option       "Vendor" "Sysp"
  Option       "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
  Option       "CalcAlgorithm" "CheckDesktopGeometry"
  DisplaySize  320 240
  HorizSync    28-60
  Identifier   "Monitor[0]"
  ModelName    "1024X768@60HZ"
  Option       "DPMS"
  VendorName   "--> LCD"
  VertRefresh  40-60
  UseModes     "Modes[0]"
EndSection

Section "Modes"
  Identifier   "Modes[0]"
  Modeline      "640x480" 23.06 640 656 720 800 480 481 484 497
  Modeline      "1280x800" 71.25 1280 1328 1352 1440 800 802 808 823
  Modeline      "1024x768" 61.89 1024 1080 1184 1344 768 769 772 794
  Modeline      "1024x768" 65.00 1024 1048 1184 1344 768 771 777 806 -HSync -VSync
  Modeline      "640x480" 23.06 640 656 720 800 480 481 484 497
EndSection

Section "Screen"
  DefaultDepth 24
  SubSection "Display"
    Depth      15
    Modes      "640x480"
  EndSubSection
  SubSection "Display"
    Depth      16
    Modes      "640x480"
  EndSubSection
  SubSection "Display"
    Depth      24
    Modes      "1280x800" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
  EndSubSection
  SubSection "Display"
    Depth      32
    Modes      "640x480"
  EndSubSection
  SubSection "Display"
    Depth      8
    Modes      "640x480"
  EndSubSection
  Device       "Device[0]"
  Identifier   "Screen[0]"
  Monitor      "Monitor[0]"
EndSection

Section "Device"
  BoardName    "Radeon 9000"
  Driver       "radeon"
  Identifier   "Device[0]"
  Screen       0
  Option       "Rotate" "off"
  VendorName   "ATI"
EndSection

Section "ServerLayout"
  Identifier   "Layout[all]"
  InputDevice  "Keyboard[0]" "CoreKeyboard"
  InputDevice  "Mouse[1]" "CorePointer"
  InputDevice  "Mouse[3]" "SendCoreEvents"
  Option       "Clone" "off"
  Option       "Xinerama" "off"
  Screen       "Screen[0]"
EndSection

Section "DRI"
    Group      "video"
    Mode       0660
EndSection

Closing Thoughts

    All in all the suse install was a no brainer. I tried several other distros with varied luck and finally
have settled on Suse. I use gentoo on my other pc's but the hardware on the A70  is esoteric enough
to make that install very tedious.  Suse's  hardware autodetection is  great.  Suse 9.2 is available as
of this writing and I may  upgrade to that shortly. 
The kernel I am currently using is Suse 2.6.5-7.111-smp
    I would be interested in hearing from anyone who has succesfully used the ATI video drivers with
this laptop. email me at afleak<nospam> at computx.us.

Updates

I finally found the time to install gentoo on this laptop and now have it working properly. If anyone would like to read my notes on the gentoo install they are available here.

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