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Toshiba Satellite A215-S7427
Introduction
This my notes on getting openSuSE 10.3 (x85_64) Linux running on a Toshiba Satellite A215-S7427 laptop from Fry's. This is an AMD based laptop with AMD components. Others in the series (s742?) should have identical wireless and graphics, just different size memory or hard disk (or installed software).
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 Satellite A215-S7427 |
| Processor | AMD Athlon64 X2 TK-55 1.8GHz |
| RAM | 2GB |
| HDD | ATA 80GB |
| Optical Drive | ATA DVD+-RW SuperMultidrive (Matshita DVD-RAM UJ-850S) |
| Graphics | ATI Radeon X1200(RS690M), external & svidio |
| Screen | 15.4” WXGA |
| Network | 10/100 Ethernet Realtek RTL8101E |
| Wireless | b/g Realtek RTL8187B See notes |
| Mouse | SynPS/2 Snyaptics Touchpad |
| Sound | HDA ATI SB |
| 56K Modem | Si3054 |
| External Bus | 4 x USB2.0, 1 x i.Link(1394), Express Bus slot |
| Other | 5 in 1 memory card reader (SD/SDIO/MMC/MS/MSPro), xD-Picture card |
Linux Compatibility
| Device | OpenSuSE 10.3 | Fedora 8 | Comments |
| Processor | Yes | ||
| Screen | Yes | ||
| HDD | Yes | ||
| Optical Drive | Yes | I've only used it to read CD's and DVD's at this point. | |
| Graphics | Yes | Frame buffer currently. Not tried the External graphics. | |
| Sound | No | Still not working even with published Toshiba tricks. Need to look for newer driver. | |
| Ethernet | Yes | ||
| Wireless | Investigating | See notes below | |
| 56K Modem | Not Tested | ||
| USB | Limited | I've been experiencing issues on SuSE with some hardware not being recognized, like some thumb drives, mice, webcams. | |
| Firewire | Not Tested | ||
| xD,SD Card Reader | Not Tested | Initial tests indicating an issue on SuSE | |
| PCMCIA | Not an Available hardware feature | ||
| ExpressCard Slot | Not Tested | ||
| Bluetooth | Adapter is seen, but the manufacture claims there is no antenna. I also have no BT devices to test with. |
Notes
Realtek TRL8187B(8197) - Need the rlt8187B driver set from RealTek. May have to ask for them as it may not be on their download site. May have to update the r8187_core.c file to add in definitions for 'r8197'. More on this later.
ATI Radion Graphics - The display comes up by default in Frame buffer mode 1024×800. I installed the ATI drivers, but have not experienced any difference.
I tried Fedora 7 before going to opensuse10.3, but I experienced issues with the APCI, and CPU managment. and the default X configuration May try Fedora 8 after it comes out. Fedora 8 Live x86-64 seems to run out of the box with the video, but not the wireless or sound.
Discussion
I've just installed Suse 11.0 on a Toshiba A215-S7428. This worked much better than Suse 10.3. It now has sound and configure the ATI card without problem (needed to update to the latest proprietary drive through 1-click install). I'm still trying to get wireless though… if I manage that, I'll leave another comment
Limited USB
I'm having the same trouble as you concerning USB limitations. I've done some testing and everything seems to work on kernel 2.6.19. Anything after that is when it stopped working. I've done the tests quite a while back, so I forgot whether 32-bit or 64-bit distro matters…
I just now figured this out. It's weird when my system recognizes my mouse, but when I unplug it and plug it back in, tail -f /var/log/messages won't show anything. A few days ago, I tried hooking BlackBerry cellphone to transfer files, but it wasn't recognized. Not until I did lsusb. That command also works for my mouse, so now I don't have to restart my system every time the mouse gets unplugged.