Gentoo Linux - Toshiba Satellite X200/X205

I have recently acquired a Toshiba Satellite X200-20S laptop. Whilst it shipped with Windows Vista it was never my intention to run it as the primary OS. The primary OS for this machine will be Gentoo Linux.

This is my first post in what might be a series of configuration notes for the aforementioned setup.

First of all I will say this is a very nice (and high spec) laptop. The screen (1680x1050) is stunning compared to the one on my old Acer Aspire 1355LC.

Specs:

CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo T7300 @ 2GHz, FSB 800MHz, 4MB L2 Cache
WIFI: Intel Wireless Link 4965AGN
CHIPSET: Intel PM965
RAM: 2GB DDR2 667MHz [4GB Max Capacity]
HDD1: 160GB
HDD2: 160GB
OPTICAL DRIVE: HD-DVD ROM, DVD-RW
SCREEN: 17.1” Toshiba TruBrite WSXGA+ 1680x1050
GFX: Nvidia 8700M GT, 512MB Dedicated VRAM 16x PCI Express Bus
SOUND: Intel HD Audio, Harman Kardon Speakers
OTHER: HDMI & VGA Out, Bluetooth, IEEE1394, RJ45, RJ11, 6in1 Card Reader, Expresscard Slot + even more.

Installing:

Note: *Arch keyword for all x86-64 compatible architectures is amd64. To get Gentoo to install I used a 2007.0 (*amd64) livecd to boot the system. I used “gentoo nox” as a boot paramter as the livecd didn’t like the gfxcard. The installation was carried out by hand as the graphical installer refused to work.

I used the second hard disk, /dev/sdb for my linux paritions. The first hard disk, /dev/sda, has the intel turbo memory and it made sense to leave this for vista to use since its supposed to be able to use it.

CPU Notes:

The T7300 is a 65nm, standard voltage memrom Core 2 Duo CPU.

Safe Cflags (GCC 4.2**)

32bit(x86)
CHOST=”i686-pc-linux-gnu”
CFLAGS=”-march=prescott -O2 -pipe -fomit-frame-pointer”
CXXFLAGS=”$(CFLAGS)”
64bit(x86_64/amd64)
CHOST=”i686-pc-linux-gnu”
CFLAGS=”-march=nocona -O2 -pipe”
CXXFLAGS=”$(CFLAGS)”

**Note: GCC 4.3 has -march=core2 support but Gentoo currently only supports GCC 4.2.

Network:

The 2007.0 live cd does not support the wireless chipset. I carried out my install using the wired connection.

The installation process is pretty similar to any other until the kernel compilation. I have a bootable kernel but nothing that is optimised as of yet. I might save that for next time.

Current Status:

Laptop boots, framebuffer has been disabled do to a driver conflict when exiting/reloading xorg (ie when logging out of gnome). Xorg is working and gdm/gnome load and operate fine. The wifi is working after some hassle.

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6

SC
gimmal@gmail.com
62.68.66.137
2008-06-16
05:27:33
Found your blog series, here, on the X205 Linux, it looks informative. Would you happen to have any idea of how to get an X205 notebook to activate its bluetooth support under Linux? GNOME isn't recognizing any bluetooth adapater as being present, so I'm assuming that you have to do something to activate it, but I have no idea what that would be -- will try turning on the switch for the wlan-iface, maybe the bluetooth stuff will show up on the next boot... (I can't get the IWL wlan support working under 2.6.24 --though it might work fine with the IPW stuff under 2.6.18 -- and I have the firmware installed for the wlan card. I'm using Debian kernel sources, here, building from scratch. Bluetooth, with its obex stuff, could at least work for quick file-over-the-air transfers, but I can't seem to get that working, either. Basically, I've been trying to get my Toshiba X205 to talk to my Nokia N810, under linux, had no luck as of yet, under kernel 2.6.24 -- might just have to step back to 2.6.18. 2.6.26 is from the current Debian 'sid' branch anyway, and it might not be all properly supported with the libs in 'etch', I wonder.... wonder, wonder.....)
Quantum
quantum@deltanova.co.uk
86.21.12.166
2008-06-16
19:02:53
It would seem that bluetooth isnt supported in CONFIG_ACPI_TOSHIBA in the kernel. There do seem to be a few random accounts of patches for other models of toshiba laptop. The downside is that the patch will not work with a 64bit system (which i run). Hopefully this will be resolved in a newer kernel, once that happens bluetooth should mainly work. There is a guide at http://gentoo-wiki.com/HOWTO_mobile_phone,_Bluetooth_and_GNOME which will only be of use with a patched kernel. The bluetooth seems to be a Taiyo Yuden EYTFXCS Class 2 Bluetooth Module. I'd be interested to hear if you get it working. See http://www.deltanova.co.uk/linux/gentoo-linux-toshiba-satellite-x200x205/ for links to my notes on setting up other parts of the laptop.
DVSoftware
dvsoftware@gmail.com
89.216.119.187
2008-08-02
03:57:28
install the omnibook driver and load it with 'modprobe omnibook ectype=12' that will activate the bluetooth module
Quantum
quantum@deltanova.co.uk
86.9.33.78
2008-08-02
14:54:51
Thanks for the tip I've managed to get my bluetooth working at long last. The Gentoo bluetooth guide includes details of additional system level settings. http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/bluetooth-guide.xml This forum post goes into detail about gnome integration http://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic-t-636449-highlight-gnome obex.html
Luke
lukemiddlehurst@googlemail.com
77.97.126.134
2008-10-18
22:26:50
Hi Quantum, I have a Toshiba Satellite U300, which also has a Taiyo Yuden EYTFXCS bluetooth chip. I have been looking everywhere for information on how to solve the problem with it now being detected in linux. I run Ubuntu Linux instead of Gentoo, but even so, it would be very very useful if you could post a little more information on how you did this. cheers
Erode
erode@devnull.com
193.54.193.1
2009-03-13
19:13:01
How did you get to have the turbo memory mapped to /dev/sda ?
Quantum
admin@deltanova.co.uk
78.86.91.0
2009-03-13
20:14:11
The laptop I have contained two hard disks /dev/sda included turbo memory where as /dev/sdb did not. To the best of my knowledge turbo memory is a Windows only feature. Since I am dual booting the laptop I have left Windows Vista on the drive with turbo memory as it can take advantage of this to increase performance. My Gentoo install on /dev/sdb is just using a standard hard drive that does not have turbo memory fitted.
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