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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Page Contents Authors Introduction Editing This Page Specifications Linux Compatibility Notes Related Resources Summary

Authors

Bill Giannikos (bill2 at giannikos.com.au)

Introduction

This is a guide to running Linux with the Toshiba Portege R200 laptop, model PPR20A-02Q003. You will need a recent Linux distribution to get this laptop working well.

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Specifications

Name	Toshiba Portege R200
Processor	Intel Pentium-M 1.2Ghz
Screen	12.1"
RAM	512MB
HDD	60GB
Optical Drive	None
Graphics	Intel Extreme Graphics
Network	10/100/1000 Ethernet + Atheros 802.11g Wireless + Bluetooth
Other	Fingerprint Reader + 2 x USB2.0

Linux Compatibility

Device	Compatibility	Comments
Processor	Yes	Use speedstep-centrino module
Screen	Yes
Graphics	Yes	Use i810 module
Sound	Yes	Use Alsa snd_intel8x0 modules
Ethernet	Yes	Use sk98lin or sky2 module
Wireless	Yes	Use ath_pci module, from Madwifi module
Bluetooth	Not Tested
56K Modem	Not Tested
USB	Yes
Firewire	Not Tested but should work
SD Card Reader	Not Tested, probably wont work
PCMCIA	Not Tested but should work

Notes

Since there is no optical drive included with the R200, you will need either a usb optical drive or to do a network boot install.

I didn't get a chance to test the modem in the R200, but from experience it should work with either the smartlink module or the Linuxant module.

The network card wont have modules for the majority of Linux distributions available at the moment (as of May 9th 2006). You will need to compile and install the latest sk98lin module. This shouldn't be necessary for distributions running the 2.6.16 or greater kernel.

Related Resources

Preparing your laptop for Linux
Increasing battery life

Summary

There is a little messing about to get the Toshiba Portege R200 working for some Linux distributions, but if your using Fedora Core 5 or something else with a 2.6.16 or greater kernel you should be fine.

If you are looking to purchase this laptop you can visit Toshiba's Portege page.

Have you installed Linux on this laptop? If so how about leaving a comment about your success in the comments section below.