萬法唯心 – Impermanence » Installing Ubuntu on Toshiba Tecra S1

System info of Toshiba Tecra S1:

BIOS: Version 2.50
system-version T831T-11Q4L
Ubuntu Version – Currently using Feisty 7.04, previously worked on 6.10 Edgy and 6.04 as well
Kernel – currently using 2.6.20-15-generic, had problem with 2.6.20-14 but 2.6.20-13 works

Hardware Components	Status	Notes
Pentium M 1.5GHz	Works	No special procedure
15″ XGA TFT Screen	Works	Default settings works
External VGA – 19″ Xerox XA7	Works	See this post for xorg settings
ATI Radeon 9000 Mobility	Works	Read this post for 3D support
1280MB RAM (1.2G DDR-266)	Works	No special procedure
40GB HDD 5400 RPM	Works	No special procedure
DVD/CD-RW Combo Drive	Works	No special procedure
WLAN (Intel PRO/Wireless 802.11B)	Works	No special procedure
LAN	Works	No special procedure
56k Modem	Untested	No special procedure
SD Card reader	Untested	No special procedure
Lithium-Ion Battery	Works	No special procedure
Sound Card	Works	No special procedure
SD Card reader	Works	No special procedure
USB 2	Works	Plug and Play works for external harddisks including k800i

Basic Installation of Ubuntu:

Very simple to install with graphics interface, can test if everything works first before installation with the live CD.
Ubuntu is a free distribution, can download from the Official Website
A very useful online guide (wiki) for Ubuntu
Post-Install modifications/tweaks – there are many tutorials online, here is one that I wrote for my laptop

Setting up additional features for Ubuntu

Unresolved issues

Couldn’t get Direct 3D to work on external monitor at 1280×1024 resolution, therefore Beryl can only work on 1024×768.

Configuration Files

Sources.list – /etc/apt/sources.list – follow this guide to add extra repositories
Menu.lst – /boot/grub/menu.lst – Startup menu for choosing which OS to enter
Xorg.conf – /etc/X11/xorg.conf – Some changes to get 1280×1024 resolution to work on 19″ Xerox XA7

Section “Monitor”
Identifier “Xerox XA7″
Option “DPMS”
HorizSync 31-82
VertRefresh 60-75
EndSection

Some useful commands

sudo – wherever you want admin access
sudo aptitude search <application name> – search for a application that you can download and install
sudo aptitude install <application name> – download and install a application
sudo gedit <file name> – use gedit to edit a file, can use sudo nano <file> in recovery mode
sudo fdisk -l – list all the hard disks available
ifconfig – same as ipconfig in windows
ctrl + z – stop a running command in terminal
ctrl + alt + backspace – restart Xorg
mount myiso.iso /mnt/iso/ -o loop – mount an iso image