Slackware on Toshiba

I am using a Toshiba L10 notebook with SuSE 10. On my PC I have installed Slackware 10.2. I am using Slackware since 9.1 release until now). What is it that makes a linux distribution better that other on a laptop.. SuSE looks nice but loads a lot of memory.. on my PC Slackware looked even nicer with fluxbox, rox, gkrellm and there was less memory(even with KDE loaded) used than in SuSE. So... all the drivers I need are in the Kernel source? How do I have to compile the kernel in order to make it work 100%(apm is enough for power management or I must install additional software)? I liked using Slackware... changing settings just by modifying some text files... you know Slackware... but now SuSE seems so strange to me.. Should I keep SuSE on my laptop or I could install Slackware without any problem?(I am afraid I could not make all the hardware work as it should)
Thanks!

This is a modern laptop, it will use ACPI, not APM. You'll need to look at one of the various guides for compiling a kernel. For a laptop, I would recommend you use a 2.6 kernel.

You can install and run Slackware on a laptop - but as its a laptop you will need some extra software to take advantage of all its features and/ or power saving (I was planning to write up something more detailed at some future point, but this will do). Other distributions often bundle this kind of software, but Slackware does not, so it is up to you to get it and install it.

Off the top of my head:

1. TouchPad drivers for X.Org - http://web.telia.com/~u89404340/touchpad/

2. Laptop Mode Tools (will reduce hard drive writes in battery mode, can do some basic CPU freqency changing)

3. CPU frequency changing daemon (e.g. cpufreqd - a program that can change the CPU speed depending on the power status)

You'll also need to track down any other drivers you might need (if this laptop has wireless, you'll need to get the drivers yourself), plus there may be other drivers for controlling the LCD backlight for Toshiba laptops.

So, to summarise: yes, you can install and run Slackware on your laptop, but you will have to put some extra work in if you want all the power management/ battery saving features, etc.

You will be able use ACPI functions, but it's a little limited with it being a fairly modern laptop. The Smart Battery System will get your battery functions going, and sleep/hibernation/etc. is fairly straightforward. I couldn't find any tools that would handle adjusting the screen brightness, though some will probably be on their way.

The wireless card should be an INPROCOMM IPN2220, which is straightforward to configure with ndiswrapper. You can grab the drive file from http://www.fouldsy.com/linux/files/neti2220.inf which is running perfectly on mine.

The rest of your hardware such work straight out of the box without much hassle, save for the internal modem. I've never tried it, but apparently drivers are available if you wish to try it. For more info, follow the link in my signature

Toshiba laptops are generally well supported by Linux. Actually I am writing this from a Satellite Pro 4300. I installed Slackware on it, and just about everything, including the touchpad, worked out of the box.

I didn't have to compile a kernel, just used the pre-compiled 2.6.13 from /testing.

So if you really don't feel comfortable with SuSE, and want to replace, this will probably easily done.

However, there's at least one aspect in SuSE that might be very interesting to you, if you want to use your laptop in various networks: The profile manager. With this you can configure profiles for various environments, with different web browser proxy settings, fixed IP addresses or DHCP and so on, and swith between them easily. It's really a very clever solution, once you figure out how it works, and although it's open source, it is currently included in SuSE only (to my knowledge).

Apart from that: I like SuSE and Slackware equally.

gargamel

How do you have your acpi setup with 2.6.13?? Did it just work out of the box so to speak??

I just installed 10.2 on a toshiba 6100 pro and everything is working well but I would like to control the cpu speed, battery and fan etc... I have read a 100 threads and haven't seen any complete guide yet..

thx for any help

EDIT: I found this site and now have everything with acpi working just fine... http://fnfx.sourceforge.net/index.php?section=doc

To be precise:

The kernel 2.6.13 that comes with Slackware 10.2 has ACPI support compiled into it by default. No need to compile your own kernel for ACPI capable laptops. Now, my notebook is an old model that can't use all ACPI features. I'd probably need APM on that computer instead of ACPI. Even now the screen saver works fine and saves power.

I found that the KDE control center has a sophisticated power management configuration module, which gives me some very good hints that I should re-compile my kernel with APM, as ACPI is not fully supported by my hardware.

On newer machines with more comprehensive ACPI support Slackware 10.2 with kernel 2.6.13 should work just fine, provided the hardware is supported, which is the case with most Toshiba laptops.

Good luck!

gargamel

Originally Posted by gargamel Toshiba laptops are generally well supported by Linux. Actually I am writing this from a Satellite Pro 4300. I installed Slackware on it, and just about everything, including the touchpad, worked out of the box.

I would say this is partially correct. Some Toshiba laptops come with a bios by Phoenix, which does not behave well all the time.

I have SuSE 9.2 running on an A70. Initially, hyperthreading would freeze the system when starting KDE (had to disable it in the bios). After a motherboard replacement (yes I had some problems) there were ACPI problems with the new bios. I had to de-compile the factory DSDT, repair it and recompile. Some things still don't work, but at least hyperthreading does.

Also, internal modems tend to be a pain.

Hi,
I installed slack to my notebook Toshiba M45 S269 and it worked great, except the network not working....

I dowloaded sk98lin driver, installed it as a module, using insmod/modprobe....

but still not working....

Any suggestions, please?

by the way, I'm 100% new to Linux or any OS...but since I learnt driving by learning from a manual sticker, I decided to take Slack as my first OS....

Many thanks!


johnuseast@yahoo.com

I also tried Knoppix and Ubuntu live CD on my Toshiba, neither could detect the ethnet card on my M45 S269....