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Toshiba Satellite A200-237

Johan Vromans
Articles » Toshiba A200 » Fedora 10 » Overview



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Installing Fedora 10

First, while running Fedora 9, I used the LVM to create a 15GB partition F10Root. I also created a file list of all packages installed on Fedora 9. And backupped /boot/grub/grub.conf

since Anaconda tend to replace that with a newer one and I still like to be able to boot the old system for a while.

I have the Fedora install files on a server on the LAN, so I booted the notebook with the Fedora 10 install kernel using PXE.

The rest of the install went smooth. And fast. I instructed Anaconda to include the Fedora updates saving a lot of time.

After reboot I got kernel 2.6.27.5-117.fc10 (install kernel) that was booted with options noapic acpi=no. So I removed these settings and added vga=791 instead.

As usual, I installed the Tux on Ice enabled kernel. I changed grub.conf to boot this kernel with vga=791 to enable the frame buffer. Reboot.

Processor OK Dynamic frequency switching can be seen on power applet
Display OK 1280 x 800
CD/DVD R/RW OK  
Graphics OK No accellerated graphics
Touchpad OK Cursor movement, H/V scroll, not mouse clicks
USB OK  
Battery OK Percentage, estimated time
Ethernet OK  
Wireless OK  
Bluetooth OK See Notes
Hibernate (SwSusp) OK  
Hibernate (TuxOnIce) OK  
Suspend (to RAM) FAIL Does not resume
Sound OK Record and playback
VGA-Out OK See Notes
S-Out   Not tested
Webcam OK  
Fn keys FAIL See Notes
56k modem   Not tested
Firewire OK  
SD Card Reader OK See Notes
PCMCIA   Not tested

Notes:

  • The expected battery time is not available, only an estimate is given. This is also the case under Windows so it is probably not a Linux problem.
    A fully charged battery lasts for about 90 minutes only on an lightly loaded system. This is very disappointing. Moreover, after four months this is already reduced to just over one hour.
  • The Touchpad, WiFi and Bluetooth must be enabled from Windows since the Fn keys cannot be used to control them!
    Bluetooth can be enabled with help of the OmniBook kernel module.
  • When 'Hibernate' is selected through the Power Manager, it executes the software suspend hibernate, not TuxOnIce.
  • As opposed to many other members of the Satellite A200 series this model has a Phoenix BIOS, and hence does not have Linux support for several specific Toshiba features like Fn keys. Some keys, however, work:
    Fn-Esc (Mute): Works.
    Fn-F2 (Suspend): Works (Generates ACPI event).
    Fn-F6 / Fn-F7 (Brightness): Works. However, something in my system seems to switch the display to full brightness again after a couple of seconds.
    Multi-media button Stop: Ejects the CD/DVD.
  • SD Card Reader works for SD cards, with newer kernels also for Sony MemorySticks.
  • When an external monitor is connected and activated using xrandr --auto, the LCD bleaches and does not come back anymore. An X-server restart is necessary.
  • Mouse clicks (taps) on the TouchPad can be reenabled by installing a fixed synaptics driver. See Issue 439386 for details.


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articles/Toshiba-Satellite-A200-237/fedora10/index.html last modified 10:34:33 24-Jun-2009