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 Authors Introduction Editing This Page Specifications Linux Compatibility FC5 Notes openSuse 10.1 Notes Related Resources Summary

Authors

Bill Giannikos (bill2 at giannikos.com.au) (Fedora Core 5)
Henry Collingridge (henry at collingridge.net) (openSuse 10.1)

Introduction

This is a guide to running Linux with the Toshiba Tecra M5 laptop, model PTM51A-030007. You can get this laptop working with Fedora Core 5, but it is not perfect. With openSuse 10.1, it works very well.

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Specifications

Processor	Intel Core Duo T2500 - 2GHz
Screen	14.1"
RAM	1024MB
HDD	100GB
Optical Drive	Double Layer DVD+-RW Drive
Graphics	nVIDIA Quadro
Network	Gigabit Ethernet, 802.11g Wireless and Bluetooth
Other	3 x USB and Firewire

Linux Compatibility

Device	FC5	Comments	openSuse 10.1	Comments
Processor	Yes	Use speedstep-centrino module	Yes	None
Screen	Yes	None	Yes	None
Optical Drive	Yes	Burning not tested, but should work	Yes	None
Graphics	Yes		Yes	None
Sound	No		Yes	None
Ethernet	Yes	None	Yes	None
Wireless	Yes	Use ipw3945 driver	Yes	ipw3945 driver is install ed - ensure regulatory daemon is installed!
Bluetooth	Not Tested	None	Not Tested	None
56K Modem	Not Tested	None	Not Tested	None
USB	Yes	None	Yes	None
Firewire	Not tested	Should work	Not tested	None
SD Card Reader	Not tested	Probably wont work	Not tested	(Exploratory test negative)
PCMCIA	Not tested	Should work	Yes	Only tested with a PCMCIA CF card reader

FC5 Notes

The open source nv driver included with Fedora Core 5 does not support the nVidia Quadro chip. However you can get this working using the proprietary nvidia driver. For a simpler install, you may like to use the ATrpms repository. Because of a bug in the kernel shipped with Fedora Core 5 you should upgrade to the latest kernel version before installing this driver.

Under FC5 the sound simply does not work, even with the latest ALSA drivers. There is no output from the speakers at all.

openSuse 10.1 Notes

Obtain and build the NVidia driver from source. The machine will run using a stock generic driver, but until you install the NVidia driver, you will get some artifacts on the screen, some of which make use difficult.
Also there appears to be a problem that prevents the screen coming back to life after it has gone to sleep. I find that pulling out the power lead and plugging it back in fixes this.
It may be of interest to know that I have successfully installed the compiz and xgl packages, as well as xwinwrap. XGL works very well with the NVidia card even though the configuration complains that the card isn't in the supported hardware database.
I originally tried Fedora Core 5 but I had a few problems getting the wireless networking to work reliably. I also tried RHEL 4 and couldn't even get ethernet going. This was not a problem under openSuse 10.1 as both ethernet and wireless worked without any (significant) configuration. Note: Since writing this, I have found that under some circumstances, the wireless card is detected but does not start up. The problem here is that sometimes during installation, the ipw3945 regulatory daemon is not installed automatically. The solution is to use Yast to locate the package from the install media and install it.
Sound works with no adjustments necessary.

Related Resources

Preparing your laptop for Linux
Configuring a nVidia graphics chip
Configuring the ipw3945 driver for the Intel 3945ABG wireless controller
Increasing battery life

Summary

Apart from the sound problem under FC5 this laptop is fine. Hopefully the sound system will be fixed in later versions of ALSA.
Under openSuse 10.1, no problems have been discovered.

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

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