Linux Laptop

Nov 2003

Toshiba 1805-S207

Laptop hardware inventory

Item	Description
System	Intel Celeron 1.1GHz, 256MB RAM, Floppy, Serial, Parallel, IrDA, RCA TV Out, RJ45 Lan, RJ11 Modem, 2xUSB, PS/2 Keyboard, 2xPCMCIA Slot (32 Bit Card bus supported)
Video	Trident CyberALADDiN-T integrated controller 16MB external UMA VRAM video memory - XFree86 4.2.0+ (14.1" TFT Max 1024x768x16M)
LAN	Intel Pro 10/100 compatible (eepro100)
IDE Controller	ALI15X3 Chipset Rev 195
Hard Drive	Toshiba MK2018GAP ATA Disk Drive (20GB)
CD-RW/DVD-ROM	Toshiba DVD-ROM SD-R2102 ATAPI CD/DVD-ROM Drive (Uses SCSI-EMU)
Sound	AK4543 Codec Chip ALi M1535 (module 'trident')
TouchPad	Alps Touchpad/generic PS/2 Mouse
USB	OHCI Controller

Note: To get full screen video you can pass the kernel a VGA mode 791 (mode=791 in your grub.conf).

First Install - Red Hat 7.2

Red Hat 7.2 - Custom Install
Kernel 2.4.7-10 (Default)
*KDE 3.0 (Default is 2.2 http://www.kde.org/)
*XFree86 4.2.0 (Default is 4.1.x http://www.xfree86.org/)
*WLAN-NG (Extra Download http://www.linux-wlan.com/
Grub in MBR and dual boot WinXP (Need it M$ holds the only way to configure the machine - NO BIOS)

Item	Status
X Windows	Works - default XFree86 4.1.x does NOT work with the Trident CyberAladdin display chipset so had to install 4.2.0. No issues after XFree86 Update.
Sound	Default - No problems, had to load sound modules in /etc/modules.conf
LAN	Default - No problems uses eepro100 module
WLAN	Works - I have a linksys WPC11 Card which was not supported by default. Downloaded WLAN-NG and was able to get it working. WEP and all card functions work as well.
Modem	Unknown - I haven't needed it - untested
CD-ROM/DVD	Default - CD-ROMs work, haven't tried any DVDs yet
APM	Default - Battery life and fan control works great, not sure about suspend.

NOTE: About a WEEK after I did the first install RH7.3 came out. And guess what, it had XFree86 4.2.0, KDE3 and a bunch of other things that would have saved me HOURS of work. Oh well, that's how it goes. If you want to install something, do yourself a favor and use 7.3

Second Install - Red Hat 7.3

Red Hat 7.3 - Custom Install
Kernel 2.4.18-3 (Default)
KDE 3.0 (Default)
XFree86 4.2.0 (Default)
WLAN-NG (Extra Download http://www.linux-wlan.com/
Grub in MBR and dual boot WinXP (Need it M$ holds the only way to configure the machine - NO BIOS)

Item	Status
X Windows	Works - default XFree86 4.2.0 suppots the video chipset.
Sound	Default - had to add modules to /etc/modules.conf to load on boot.
LAN	Default - No problems uses eepro100 module
WLAN	Works - I have a linksys WPC11 Card which was not supported by default. Downloaded WLAN-NG and was able to get it working. WEP and all card functions work as well. NOTE: the RPMs for this package at the time of writing this (May 20th 2002) ONLY worked with the STOCK 2.4.7-10 kernel. You have to download the source as well as the PCMCIA-CS package and compile them to get it to work with the newer kernel in 7.3
Modem	Unknown - I haven't needed it - untested
CD-ROM/DVD	Default - CD-ROMs work, haven't tried any DVDs yet
APM	Default - Battery life and fan control works great, not sure about suspend.

Third Install - Gentoo Linux 1.4

Gentoo Linux 1.4 Pentium3 GRP CD
Kernel 2.4.23 (Default)
KDE 3.1.4
XFree86 4.3.0
WLAN-NG
Grub in MBR and dual boot WinXP (Need it M$ holds the only way to configure the machine - NO BIOS)

Item	Status
X Windows	Works great.
Sound	Default - No problems, had to load sound modules in /etc/modules.conf
LAN	Default - No problems uses eepro100 module
WLAN	Works - WPC11 Card using the same wlan-ng drivers, but they are included in portage (Gentoo Package System)
Modem	Unknown - I haven't needed it - untested
CD-ROM/DVD	Default - Works great both CD and DVDs
APM	Default - Battery life and fan control work.

Because the CPU on this laptop is only a 1.1GHz Celeron, I went with a GRP (group) Gentoo install. This used pre-compiled binaries that were optimized for a Pentium3 CPU. It runs much faster then with Redhat. Of course, you can still go with source at a later date if you have lots of spare time.