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SuSE 10 on Toshiba-G25-AV513: Linux on Laptops

Installing SuSE 10 on Toshiba Qosmio G25-AV513

Last updated: 26 Mar 06

General Hardware Specifications of Toshiba Qosmio G25-AV513:

Hardware Components

Status under Linux

Notes

Intel Pentium M 760 (2.0 Ghz, 2MB L2 cache)

Works

No special procedure required during installation.

17.0" WXGA+ TruBrite TFT Display (1440x900)

Works

Booting installation, press F2, select resolution 1280x800

Intel integrated 915PM chipset

Works

No special procedure required during installation.

1024 MB RAM (expandable to 2GB)

Works

No special procedure required during installation.

120 GB SATA (2 - 60 GB, 5400 rpm)

Works

No special procedure required during installation.
NVidia GeForce 6 Go 6600 with 128MB DDR SRAM
 Works
 No special procedure required during installation.  A better driver with 3D acceleration is available for download.

Intel PRO/100 VE Network Connection - 10/100 Base-TX Ethernet

Works

No special procedure required during installation.

Intel PRO/Wireless LAN 2915ABG Mini (802.11a/b/g)

Works

No special procedure required during installation

Toshiba Software Modem AMR-V.90/V.92 Data + Fax

Doesn't Work


Slot Loading DVD SuperMulti Double Layer Drive

Works

No special procedure required during installation

1.85 Hr Lithium-Ion Battery, 6 cells

Works

No special procedure required during installation

Built in Sound Card - AC'97

Works

No special procedure required during installation

CPU Speed stepping

Works

No special procedure required during installation

Synaptics Touchpad Mouse

Works

No special procedure required during installation. Wrote script, put on Desktop to turn off and on.

Suspend to RAM, Suspend to disk

Not Tested


SD Card reader

Not Tested


Toshiba TV Tuner
 Not Tested

General Notes
This laptop has 2 SATA hard drives.  Windows XP Media Center comes pre-installed on the first drive (C:) and the second drive is formatted NTFS with nothing on it.  You can use one drive for Windows and the other for Linux or you can split the OSes  between the two drives. 

I loaded the Qosmio G25-AV513 twice using two different filesystem configurations.  Both times the installation was very easy.  The computer was left with the second configuration (each OS on separate drives).

  1. For the first installation, I reduced the size of the NTFS partition (C:) on the first drive by 10 GB and used it for the root (/) partition.  I reformated the second drive with a 10 GB NTFS partition (D:), a 1 GB swap partition, and the rest of the disk for /home.  I starting by doing a Windows defrag and then used Partition Magic to resize the first drive's NTFS partition.  I then used Custom Partitioning during the Linux load to format the Linux partition on the first drive and to format and size all the partitions on the second drive.
  2. The second installation used the first drive for Windows and the second for Linux.  The Windows drive was used with the factory load.  With this configuration, GRUB cannot boot the Windows partition.  You must use the Qosmio boot menu (Press F12 when the machine starts, then use the arrow keys to select the boot-up device. Or, tap the left or right arrow keys while its starting up).

It is not difficult to return the system to factory configuration.  Just insert Restoration Disk 1 and use the boot menu to select the CDROM.  Insert the second Restoration Disk when prompted.  When done, boot the Qosmio Player CDROM.

Also, the Toshiba Windows utility 'TOSHIBA Assist' is the access to the BIOS.  If you remove Windows completely, you will not have any access to the machine's BIOS.  I do not know of a Linux replacement.

In order to write as well as read the NTFS partition(s), I installed the 'Paragon NTFS for Linux 5.x Personal Edition' drivers.  (This driver is not free. http://www.ntfs-linux.com/home/personal/index.htm)

This laptop is operating under Kernel version 2.6.13-15.

Basic Installation of SuSE 10 (Putting Linux on the second drive and leaving the first drive intact.):

  1. Boot Windows XP.
    1. Select TOSHIBA Assist.
    2. Select Optimize.
    3. Select TOSHIBA Hardware Settings.
    4. Select Boot Priority tab.
    5. Set HDD Priority Options to 'Builtin HDD2->Builtin HDD1'.  (If you want Windows XP as the primary OS, repeat these steps after the Linux load is complete and change it back to 'Builtin HDD1->Builtin HDD2'.
    6. Click OK.
    7. Close TOSHIBA Assist.
  2. Insert the first SuSE CD or DVD.
  3. Restart the computer.
  4. Hold down F12 during startup.  This will stop the Qosmio boot menu.
  5. Select CDROM to boot.
  6. Select F2 and choose custom resolution 1440x900.
  7. If you like to see the boot messages, add 'splash=verbose' to the Boot Parameters.
  8. When partitioning comes during the installation, be sure to use /dev/sdb to install the Linux.  Remove the existing NTFS partition and set the Linux partitions as desired.
Setting Up Additional Features for SuSE 10

Unresolved Issues

Configuration Files

More Specific Information:

Filesystem            Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/sdb2              11G  2.9G  7.2G  29% /
tmpfs                 506M   12K  506M   1% /dev/shm
/dev/sdb3              45G   15G   28G  34% /home
/dev/sda1              56G   11G   46G  19% /WindowsC
00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Mobile 915GM/PM/GMS/910GML Express Processor to DRAM Controller (rev 03)
00:01.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Mobile 915GM/PM Express PCI Express Root Port (rev 03)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) PCI Express Port 1 (rev 03)
00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) USB UHCI #1 (rev 03)
00:1d.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) USB UHCI #2 (rev 03)
00:1d.2 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) USB UHCI #3 (rev 03)
00:1d.3 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) USB UHCI #4 (rev 03)
00:1d.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller (rev 03)
00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 Mobile PCI Bridge (rev d3)
00:1e.2 Multimedia audio controller: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) AC'97 Audio Controller (rev 03)
00:1e.3 Modem: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) AC'97 Modem Controller (rev 03)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 82801FBM (ICH6M) LPC Interface Bridge (rev 03)
00:1f.1 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) IDE Controller (rev 03)
00:1f.2 Class 0106: Intel Corporation 82801FBM (ICH6M) SATA Controller (rev 03)
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation NV43 [GeForce Go 6600] (rev a2)
04:05.0 Network controller: Intel Corporation PRO/Wireless 2915ABG MiniPCI Adapter (rev 05)
04:08.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation 82562ET/EZ/GT/GZ - PRO/100 VE (LOM) Ethernet Controller Mobile (rev 03)
04:09.0 Multimedia video controller: Internext Compression Inc iTVC16 (CX23416) MPEG-2 Encoder (rev 01)
04:0b.0 CardBus bridge: Texas Instruments PCIxx21/x515 Cardbus Controller
04:0b.2 FireWire (IEEE 1394): Texas Instruments OHCI Compliant IEEE 1394 Host Controller
04:0b.3 Unknown mass storage controller: Texas Instruments PCIxx21 Integrated FlashMedia Controller
04:0b.4 Class 0805: Texas Instruments PCI6411, PCI6421, PCI6611, PCI6621, PCI7411, PCI7421, PCI7611, PCI7621 Secure Digital (SD) Controller

# Modified by YaST2. Last modification on Tue Feb  7 12:42:14 UTC 2006

color white/blue black/light-gray
default 0
timeout 60
gfxmenu (hd0,1)/boot/message

###Don't change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original name: linux###
title SUSE LINUX 10.0
    root (hd0,1)
    kernel /boot/vmlinuz root=/dev/sdb2 vga=0x364 selinux=0 resume=/dev/sdb1  splash=silent showopts
    initrd /boot/initrd

###Don't change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original name: windows###
    title Windows XP - Use Qosmio boot screen
    chainloader (hd1,0)+1

###Don't change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original name: failsafe###
title Failsafe -- SUSE LINUX 10.0
    root (hd0,1)
    kernel /boot/vmlinuz root=/dev/sdb2 vga=normal showopts ide=nodma apm=off acpi=off noresume selinux=0 nosmp noapic maxcpus=0 edd=off 3
    initrd /boot/initrd
Notes: Put the 'wifi_route_start' script in /usr/local/bin.  Link it to 'wifi_route_stop'.
#!/bin/bash
# wifi_route_start/wifi_route_stop
# Author: Dan Turley
# set -x
if [ $(id -u) -eq 0 ]; then
    SUDO=""
else
    SUDO=sudo
fi
case $0 in
*start*)
    $SUDO /sbin/ifconfig eth0 down
    ;;
*stop*)
    $SUDO /sbin/ifconfig rausb0 down 2>/dev/null
    $SUDO /sbin/ifconfig eth0 up
    sleep 1
    $SUDO /sbin/rcnetwork restart
    ;;
esac
# sudoers file.
#
# This file MUST be edited with the 'visudo' command as root.
#
# See the sudoers man page for the details on how to write a sudoers file.
#

# Host alias specification

# User alias specification

# Cmnd alias specification

# Defaults specification
Defaults targetpw    # ask for the password of the target user i.e. root
%users ALL=(ALL) ALL # WARNING! Only use this together with 'Defaults targetpw'!

# Runas alias specification

# User privilege specification
root    ALL=(ALL) ALL

# Uncomment to allow people in group wheel to run all commands
# %wheel    ALL=(ALL)   ALL

# Same thing without a password
# %wheel    ALL=(ALL)   NOPASSWD: ALL

# Samples
# %users  ALL=/sbin/mount /cdrom,/sbin/umount /cdrom
# %users  localhost=/sbin/shutdown -h now

dturley     ALL = NOPASSWD: /sbin/ifconfig eth0 up, \
            /sbin/ifconfig eth0 up, \
            /sbin/ifconfig eth0 down, \
            /sbin/ifconfig eth1 down, \
            /sbin/ifconfig rausb0 down, \
            /sbin/rcnetwork restart, \
            /usr/sbin/wifi-radar

/usr/local/bin/touchpad:
#!/bin/bash
# /usr/local/bin/touchpad
# Author: Dan Turley
# Date: March, 2006
STATUS=$(echo $(synclient -l|grep TouchpadOff|cut -d= -f2))
if [ $STATUS -eq 0 ]; then
    synclient TouchpadOff=1
else
    synclient TouchpadOff=0
fi
Touchpad_OnOff.desktop
[Desktop Entry]
Comment=Toggle touchpad on and off.
Comment[en_US]=Toggle touchpad on and off.
Encoding=UTF-8
Exec=/usr/local/bin/touchpad
GenericName=Toggle touchpad on and off.
GenericName[en_US]=Toggle touchpad on and off.
Icon=gnome-dev-mouse-ball
MimeType=
Name=Touchpad_OnOff
Name[en_US]=Touchpad_OnOff
Path=
StartupNotify=true
Terminal=false
TerminalOptions=
Type=Application
X-DCOP-ServiceType=
X-KDE-SubstituteUID=false
X-KDE-Username=
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