Installing Mandrake Linux on a Toshiba Satellite 3000 - S353

Pre install Mandrake Install Xwindows Updates

Satellite 3000-S353 Hardware specs

20 gig hd

Geforce2go vid card

cirrus logic CS4299 sound chip

realtek network card

smartmedia card slot

firewire port

3 usb ports

Mine has 256 megs of ram but I think 128 is standard

crappy lucent winmodem (unsupported in linux)


Pre Install
I moved my windows partition over leaving about 6 megs for a linux install using Partition Magic.

I made the root partition about 3.5 gigs, a 256 meg swap partition, and the rest into a /home partition.


Mandrake 8.1 install

see updates below for mandrake 9.0 installation


Boot up from the mandrake cd and do a typical install except for the following. in Xwindows setup, opt not to boot directly into Xwindows as the included

nvidia driver doesnt work. Just pick generic laptop display at 1024x768 and set the resolution at 1024x768 16bit color.dont try to test it. mandrake
will make an /etc/X11/XF86Config-4 file that we will edit later.


Xwindows Setup

Once I rebooted I fired up links and downloaded the nvidia drivers from www.nvidia.com .

You will need both the glx file and the kernal file. I used the rpms rather than compiling from a .tar file. I also chose the kernal file specifically made for mandrake 8.1

Install the kernal file and then the glx file. then edit your /etc/X11/XF86Config-4 file.

Under modules section add Load "glx" and remove Load "dri" if present.

Under the monitor section I noticed some entries that started Sony Vaio? I commented these out.

Under the device section change the driver from "nv" to "nvidia"

If you want a copy of my XF86Config-4 file just email me at afleak@cybercivilian.com

Once you have done this typing startx should get Xwindows loaded. You will get an nvidia logo before the desktop displays. There are some opengl games included with the mandrake install that are good for testing your setup.

Other Hardware Setup

Mandrake succesfully detected my network card and sound card at install and they work fine.

Sound is a little quiet until you go into the mixer and bump up the volume slider a bit.

I don't use the firewire port so i cant verify it but the smartmedia slot does work.

The only other thing I noticed is that the cdrom wasn't set to use supermount. I went into the Mandrake Control Center and set it to supermount and rebooted.
It works fine now.


Update!!
I recently installed Mandrake 9.0 on this laptop. The install was very easy and everything is working as before plus the firewire port is initialised. Power management can tell if the AC cord is plugged in or not but it doesn't see the battery. In Xwindows setup you can pick the geforce2 integrated chip and get Xwindows working without any problems but if you want 3d opengl acceleration you still need to install the kernel and glx files from nvidia's site and install as above. There weren't any mandrake 9.0 specific kernel files available when I installed it so I got the source rpms and installed from them. Email me if you need to help with installing from source rpms.

If you have any questions email me at afleak@cybercivilian.com




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