This guide is intended to provide you details on how well this laptop works with Linux and which drivers you need to configure. For details on how to actually install and configure the required drivers have a look at our guides section for distribution specific instructions.

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

Introduction

This is a guide to running Linux with the Toshiba Satellite A65 laptop. The A65 is quite a standard laptop with quite a powerful processor although battery life is not great.

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Specifications

Processor	Intel Pentium4 3.2 GHz
Screen	15" XGA
RAM	512MB
HDD	60GB
Optical Drive	DVD+-RW
Graphics	ATI Mobility Radeon 7000
Network	10/100 Ethernet, Atheros 802.11g Wireless
Other	3 x USB2.0

Linux Compatibility

Device	Compatibility	Comments
Processor	Yes
Screen	Yes
Optical Drive	Yes
Graphics	Yes
Sound	Yes	Use the snd-atiixp driver
Ethernet	Yes
Wireless	Yes	Use the madwifi driver
56K Modem	Not Tested
USB	Yes
PCMCIA	Not Tested

Notes

For the A65's Radeon 7000 you can use either the open source radeon driver or ATI's proprietary fglrx driver. For installation instructions for the fglrx driver you can view our Configuring an ATI graphics chip guide.

Related Resources

Preparing your laptop for Linux
Configuring an ATI graphics chip
Increasing battery life

Summary

There were no problems in getting the Toshiba Satellite A65 working with any modern Linux distribution.

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

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