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Toshiba Portege M400
Introduction
This is a guide to running Linux with the Toshiba Portege M400 laptop. The Portege M400 is a small size laptop but it still includes components for a middle range laptop.
This guide is intended to provide you details on how well this laptop works with Linux and which modules you need to configure. For details on how to actually install and configure the required modules have a look at our guides section for distribution specific instructions.
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Specifications
| Name | Toshiba Portege M400 |
| Processor | Intel Core Solo T1300 1.6GHz |
| Screen | 12.1” XGA |
| RAM | 512MB |
| HDD | 60GB |
| Optical Drive | DVD-ROM/CD-RW |
| Graphics | Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 950 |
| Network | 10/100/1000 Ethernet, Intel 3945 802.11g Wireless |
| Other | 3 x USB2.0, 1 x Firewire, Fingerprint Reader |
Linux Compatibility
| Device | Compatibility | Comments |
|---|---|---|
| Processor | Yes | |
| Screen | Yes | |
| Optical Drive | Yes | |
| Graphics | Yes | Use the i810 module |
| Sound | Yes | Use the snd-hda-intel module |
| Ethernet | Yes | |
| Wireless | Yes | Use ipw3945 module |
| 56K Modem | Not Tested | |
| USB | Yes | |
| Firewire | Not Tested | |
| Card Reader | Yes | |
| PCMCIA | Not Tested | |
| Fingerprint Reader | Yes | |
| Touchscreen | Yes | Doesn't work well in SDL games that resize the screen |
| Screen buttons | No |
Notes
I haven't been able to confirmed this, but there may be a problem running this laptop with kernel version 2.6.17. 2.6.16 and 2.6.18 or higher should work fine. This does not seem to apply for Ubuntu 6.10.
Summary
Configuration of the Toshiba Portege M400 for Linux was no problem at all with the internal hardware automatically detected and installed properly. Modern distributions will also handle its “fakeraid” out of the box.
Discussion
Hi ,
Is there any way i can access/edit bios while on ubuntu 10.04 as I dont see any options to go in bios when i boot up , i have tried that Esc and F1 thing it only shows me the bios settings but doesnt allow me to change anything or asks me for the password.
Hi
I am kinda new to linux but lovin it , I just need to know how can i activate features of tablet pc on fedora 13 as none of them is working it works like a normal laptop , do i have to install something or is there any guide available for that ?
Kind Regards
Fetch the updates to Fedora 13 - there was a bug in the initial release of Fedora 13 which stops X detecting the tablet features.
using stylus on portege
I'm running Ubuntu 9.04 now and the stylus seems to get detected automatically. this didn't work in previous versions, so I'm relieved not to have to set it up by hand.
I havent tried the hardware buttons though, i don't tend to use them.
The one problem i do have is that sometimes when booting it freezes, doesn't even get as far as the boot screen and the fan seems to want to make it take off it runs so fast. its not a dust problem, i've cleaned it thoroughly. the only thing that helps is to remove the power lead and battery then re-attach them. from what i've seem it seem to be a “feature” of these models, i've got two and they both do it.
It worked fairly well for me except sometimes the bios loads weird and my dual boot window doesn't show up(i use the linux boot screen not the windows one) in which case i just enter the bios load default values then save. For some reason this works.
What about stylus usage and hardware keys?
How would i go in order to use the stylus? I'm on Kubuntu 8.04 Live atm.
I know the screen is made by wacom and uses wacom drivers whatever the OS. Perhaps the wacom-tools from the cd are rather old.
And is there any GUI to get the hardware keys configured?