This is a guide to running Linux with the Toshiba Satellite A105 laptop. The A105 is a lower end model laptop which features good Linux support with minimal configuration required.
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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| Name | Toshiba Satellite A105 |
| Processor | Intel Core T2050 1.66 GHz |
| Screen | 15.4” WXGA |
| RAM | 1GB |
| HDD | 100GB |
| Optical Drive | DVD+-RW |
| Graphics | Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 950 |
| Network | 10/100 Ethernet, Intel 3945 802.11g Wireless |
| Other | 4 x USB2.0, 1 x Firewire |
| Device | Compatibility | Comments |
|---|---|---|
| Processor | Yes | |
| Screen | Yes | |
| Optical Drive | Yes | |
| Graphics | Yes | |
| Sound | Yes | Use the snd-hda-intel module |
| Ethernet | Yes | |
| Wireless | Yes | Use ipw3945 module (Deprecated in 2.6.24+, use in kernel driver with firmware from your distribution software repository) |
| Bluetooth | Not Tested | |
| 56K Modem | Not Tested | |
| USB | Yes | |
| Firewire | Not Tested | |
| Card Reader | Not Tested | |
| PCMCIA | Not Tested | |
| ExpressCard Slot | Not Tested |
As standard the native resolution of the A105 is 1280×800 however due to the way the Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 950 functions this screen resolution would not be usable right away.You can view our guide about the Intel GMA 950 here for a method to fixing this.
The Toshiba Satellite A105 needs some minor extra configuration to get it working properly under Linux but after this is done the laptop works very well
Discussion
I'm using Fedora 8 and where can I get drivers for a wireless card? They didn't come with the CD.
Started with 2.6.18 and had proper battery status and hibernation functionality with GNOME, no frequency scaling. Kernel bump to 2.6.27.7 fixed cpu frequency scaling and broke battery status functionality in GNOME. Tried again with 2.6.27.8 and now neither work. Wifi works perfectly using in-kernel iwlwifi driver for Intel 2945ABG wireless along with user-space firmware in debian repository http://packages.debian.org/etch/firmware-iwlwifi
Upgraded from debian etch to sid and everything works. LCD backlight controls still dont work.
still having troubles
Yeah, almost everything is working. Ubuntu and Suse are good systems for this laptop, though don't think that everything is good. I never managed to make my LCD brightness be controlled by Fn key, whatsoever. Recompilation of the kernel didn't help me, neither in SuSE nor in Ubuntu.
The rest functions are really good, I had only small troubles with it (e.g. 945 chipset does not support 3d, though Windows works with it).