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Installing Debian Etch Toshiba Qosmio F15

Last updated: 19-Oct 2007

General Hardware Specifications of Qosmio: Intel Pentium M 1.8 MHz 512 MB Ram, 40 GB SATA + 60 GB SATA HD, DVD-RW, 17 LCD 1440x900, 4xUSB Firewire, SD and CF slots, TV tuner

Hardware Components	Status under Linux	Notes
Pentium 4 Processor, 1.8 GHz	Works	Speedstep requires 'speedstep_centrino' and 'cpufreq_ondeman' modules in /etc/modules
17 Wide superbright TFT Display	Works	Set manually to 1440x900 in xorg.conf
NVidia NV43 [GeForce Go 6600]	Works	Stock nvidia-kernel driver
512MB, SDRAM, 2DIMMs	Works	No special procedure required during installation
40 GB SATA + 60 GB SATA Hard Drives	Works	Installed to 2nd (60 GB) HD, Lilo allows choice between Windows and Linux
SD and CF card slots	Do not work	Texas instruments 'tifm' driver not in 2.6.18 kernel
Integrated Network Card	Works	No special procedure required during installation
Internal 56k Modem	Works	Uses snd_intel8x0 driver
DVD-RW Drive	Works	No special procedure required during installation
Intel Pro/Wireless 2200BG Wireless Networking	Works	ipw2200 modules
Lithium-Ion Battery	Works	No special procedure required during installation
Intel 82801 Sound Card	Works	No special procedure required

This laptop is operating under Kernel 2.6.18-5

Basic Installation of Debian Etch:

Why to use Debian Etch
Obtaining Debian Etch
Installing
Post-Install modifications/tweaks

Setting up additional features for Debian Etch

Getting Suspend-to-Disk to operate correctly

Installed hibernate module, set user as member of powerdev, installed hal-device-manager

Getting the touchpad to operate as more than a PS/2 mouse

Added synaptics settings to xorg.conf:

        Option          "SHMConfig"     "true"
        Option          "MinSpeed"      ".5"
        Option          "MaxSpeed"      "2"
        Option          "TopEdge"       "0"
        Option          "LeftEdge"      "0"
        Option          "RightEdge"     "900"
        Option          "BottomEdge"    "700"

By using a debian backport.org kernel version 2.6.22, I was able to get the card reader to work flawlessly (ti-fm).

Unresolved issues

Can't get suspend to Ram working. Card reader doesn't work. TV Tuner doesn't work (chip recognized, but tuner not).

Configuration Files

More Specific Information. Specific stuff such as:

Contact Information (Optional)

dominic at lbs dot ca

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