openSUSE Testimonial (Toshiba Tecra)

English Open Chat
#1

Over the weekend I was involved with the computers for our Church’s annual flea market and auction. One person is donating their old Toshiba Tecra (1.7 GHz, 512 MB Ram) to the Church which I will be wiping the drive for and setting it up for church use.

I figured I wanted to get some information on the system, and see how well Linux works on it (:D).

So I threw in the Ubuntu (10.04) USB stick and tried it. I know there is an issue with the Intel graphics (which is why my home laptop isn’t moving to 10.04 soon) but it was a different version. No dice, it didn’t boot up.

So I tried Fedora (12), because it’s pretty good with running on systems and I was curious as to how “open” could the laptop run (without proprietary drivers)… Still no-go. It got further but would freeze up.

I was pretty discouraged and wonder if the Toshiba’s did something to make Linux not work on it.

So I plopped in openSUSE, figuring that I tried the other two, so there’s why not try this too? Not to mention there have been some situations where openSUSE installs where others have failed.

I didn’t have much expectation, but I gave it a whirl. Guess wha? Although it obviously did not like the video too much, it DID work! It didn’t find the wireless card, even though that is supposed to be an Intel one, but it was up and I could poke around some!

So make that 2x that openSUSE has worked where others have failed.

I hope to fool around with it a little before putting Windows on it and giving it to the church. I’ll probably try the openSUSE Gnome just because I’m more familiar with Gnome than KDE.

#2

Hi
What model Tecra? I have a M3, with nvidia graphics and it works fine,
that being said I have the bluetooth module and use to patch the
kernel, but this all works out of the box along with the intel wireless
now.

–
Cheers Malcolm °¿° (Linux Counter #276890)
SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 11 (x86_64) Kernel 2.6.27.45-0.1-default
up 15:41, 4 users, load average: 0.50, 0.28, 0.26
GPU GeForce 8600 GTS Silent - CUDA Driver Version: 195.36.15

#3

I’m not sure which model it is. I haven’t found any indicators on the case yet.

I believe it has Intel wireless, graphics, etc. (Centrino?). Tonight I can see about posting the specs.

#4

Where or how can I find out which version of the Tecra it is? I can boot into the installed Windows (XP) if the information would be there.

#5

On 5/10/2010 9:16 AM, dragonbite wrote:
>
> Where or how can I find out which version of the Tecra it is? I can
> boot into the installed Windows (XP) if the information would be there.
>
>

11.2 works great on my Tecra S3. Full Kwin effects using the driver from
nvidia, and not from the repo.

HT

#6

Hi
Should be on the label on the bottom of the device, or the BIOS should
tell you the model.

You can also run dmidecode (as root user) which should provide some
details.

–
Cheers Malcolm °¿° (Linux Counter #276890)
SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 11 (x86_64) Kernel 2.6.27.45-0.1-default
up 17:36, 4 users, load average: 0.02, 0.22, 0.26
GPU GeForce 8600 GTS Silent - CUDA Driver Version: 195.36.15

#7

Ok, according to the label it is Tecra A4 - S313, and the network is (possibility of error, I was typing this in from a different computer because I cannot get wireless working on it yet).


00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Mobile 915GM/GMS/910GML Express Graphics Controller (rev 03)
00:02.1 Display controller: Intel Corporation Mobile 915GM/GMS/910GML Express Graphics Controller (rev 03)

...

05:04.0 Network controller: Intel Corporation PRO/Wireless 2200BG[Calexico2] Network Connection (rev 05)
#8

Ok, I’ve managed to get booted up and connected to the internet, though using Ubuntu 9.10 (10.04 didn’t work, but 9.04 did… the second time around).

So the results of lspci are as such:

ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ lspci
00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Mobile 915GM/PM/GMS/910GML Express Processor to DRAM Controller (rev 03)
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Mobile 915GM/GMS/910GML Express Graphics Controller (rev 03)
00:02.1 Display controller: Intel Corporation Mobile 915GM/GMS/910GML Express Graphics Controller (rev 03)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) PCI Express Port 1 (rev 04)
00:1c.1 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) PCI Express Port 2 (rev 04)
00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) USB UHCI #1 (rev 04)
00:1d.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) USB UHCI #2 (rev 04)
00:1d.2 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) USB UHCI #3 (rev 04)
00:1d.3 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) USB UHCI #4 (rev 04)
00:1d.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller (rev 04)
00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 Mobile PCI Bridge (rev d4)
00:1e.2 Multimedia audio controller: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) AC'97 Audio Controller (rev 04)
00:1e.3 Modem: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) AC'97 Modem Controller (rev 04)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 82801FBM (ICH6M) LPC Interface Bridge (rev 04)
00:1f.2 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801FBM (ICH6M) SATA Controller (rev 04)
01:00.0 Ethernet controller: Marvell Technology Group Ltd. 88E8053 PCI-E Gigabit Ethernet Controller (rev 15)
05:04.0 Network controller: Intel Corporation PRO/Wireless 2200BG [Calexico2] Network Connection (rev 05)
05:06.0 CardBus bridge: Texas Instruments PCIxx21/x515 Cardbus Controller
05:06.2 FireWire (IEEE 1394): Texas Instruments OHCI Compliant IEEE 1394 Host Controller
05:06.3 Mass storage controller: Texas Instruments PCIxx21 Integrated FlashMedia Controller
05:06.4 SD Host controller: Texas Instruments PCI6411/6421/6611/6621/7411/7421/7611/7621 Secure Digital Controller
#9

I hope to fool around with it a little before putting Windows on it and giving it to the church

Had a goog laugh on this line. And a lot of thoughts…:wink:

#10

And for the record, NO I am not going to be putting on Ubuntu Satanic Edition on it! It doesn’t matter that there is no actual “Satanic” material on it.>:)