Toshiba Satellite A300-07F with Kubuntu Jaunty 9.04

A few days ago, I got a Toshiba Satellite A300-0F7 15.4" laptop, and proceeded to install Kubuntu Jaunty Jackelope (9.04) on it. I chose the 64-bit (amd64) version to install.

The following article highlights several areas that I struggled with, and solutions, where possible, in the hope that this would help someone.

To minimize the risks of returning the laptop to the store, I usually take a live CD of the operating system I intend to install, and test the demo unit there. This at least gives me an idea of what areas need work, vs. those that work out of the box.

Hardware

This is the output of lspci:

00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Mobile 4 Series Chipset Memory Controller Hub (rev 07)
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Mobile 4 Series Chipset Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 07)
00:02.1 Display controller: Intel Corporation Mobile 4 Series Chipset Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 07)
00:1a.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB UHCI Controller #4 (rev 03)
00:1a.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB UHCI Controller #5 (rev 03)
00:1a.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller #2 (rev 03)
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) HD Audio Controller (rev 03)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) PCI Express Port 1 (rev 03)
00:1c.1 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) PCI Express Port 2 (rev 03)
00:1c.4 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) PCI Express Port 5 (rev 03)
00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB UHCI Controller #1 (rev 03)
00:1d.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB UHCI Controller #2 (rev 03)
00:1d.2 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB UHCI Controller #3 (rev 03)
00:1d.3 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB UHCI Controller #6 (rev 03)
00:1d.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller #1 (rev 03)
00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 Mobile PCI Bridge (rev 93)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation ICH9M LPC Interface Controller (rev 03)
00:1f.2 SATA controller: Intel Corporation ICH9M/M-E SATA AHCI Controller (rev 03)
00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) SMBus Controller (rev 03)
02:00.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8101E/RTL8102E PCI Express Fast Ethernet controller (rev 02)
03:00.0 Network controller: Intel Corporation Wireless WiFi Link 5100
04:06.0 FireWire (IEEE 1394): Ricoh Co Ltd R5C832 IEEE 1394 Controller (rev 05)
04:06.1 SD Host controller: Ricoh Co Ltd R5C822 SD/SDIO/MMC/MS/MSPro Host Adapter (rev 22)
04:06.2 System peripheral: Ricoh Co Ltd R5C592 Memory Stick Bus Host Adapter (rev 12)
04:06.3 System peripheral: Ricoh Co Ltd xD-Picture Card Controller (rev 12)

And this is lshw, with the serial numbers, MAC address, ...etc. removed:

description: Notebook
product: Satellite A300
vendor: TOSHIBA
version: PSAG8C-0F7013
serial:
width: 64 bits
capabilities: smbios-2.4 dmi-2.4 vsyscall64 vsyscall32
configuration: boot=normal chassis=notebook uuid=21751EF0-6290-11DE-BBA9-001E33CD5DA7
*-core
description: Motherboard
product: Portable PC
vendor: TOSHIBA
physical id: 0
version: Base Board Version
serial: Base Board Serial Number
slot: Base Board Chassis Location
*-firmware
description: BIOS
vendor: INSYDE
physical id: 0
version: 1.90 (03/20/2009)
size: 1MiB
capabilities: pci upgrade shadowing cdboot bootselect socketedrom edd int13floppynec int13floppytoshiba int13floppy360 int13floppy1200 int13floppy720 int13floppy2880 int9keyboard int10video acpi usb
*-memory
description: System Memory
physical id: 13
slot: System board or motherboard
size: 4GiB
*-bank:0
description: SODIMM Synchronous 800 MHz (1.2 ns)
product: E9E9E9E9E9E9E9E9E9E9E9E9E9E9E9E9E9E9
vendor: Samsung
physical id: 0
serial:
slot: DIMM0
size: 2GiB
width: 64 bits
clock: 800MHz (1.2ns)
*-bank:1
description: SODIMM Synchronous 800 MHz (1.2 ns)
product: EBEBEBEBEBEBEBEBEBEBEBEBEBEBEBEBEBEB
vendor: Samsung
physical id: 1
serial:
slot: DIMM2
size: 2GiB
width: 64 bits
clock: 800MHz (1.2ns)
*-cpu
description: CPU
product: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU T6500 @ 2.10GHz
vendor: Intel Corp.
physical id: 1e
bus info: cpu@0
version: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU T6500 @ 2.10GHz
slot: CPU
size: 1200MHz
capacity: 2100MHz
width: 64 bits
clock: 800MHz
capabilities: fpu fpu_exception wp vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht tm pbe syscall nx x86-64 constant_tsc arch_perfmon pebs bts rep_good pni dtes64 monitor ds_cpl est tm2 ssse3 cx16 xtpr pdcm sse4_1 xsave lahf_lm cpufreq
*-cache:0
description: L2 cache
physical id: 1f
slot: Unknown
size: 2MiB
capacity: 2MiB
capabilities: synchronous internal write-back unified
*-cache:1
description: L1 cache
physical id: 21
slot: Unknown
size: 32KiB
capacity: 32KiB
capabilities: synchronous internal write-back data
*-cache
description: L1 cache
physical id: 20
slot: Unknown
size: 32KiB
capacity: 32KiB
capabilities: synchronous internal write-back instruction
*-pci
description: Host bridge
product: Mobile 4 Series Chipset Memory Controller Hub
vendor: Intel Corporation
physical id: 100
bus info: pci@0000:00:00.0
version: 07
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
configuration: driver=agpgart-intel module=intel_agp
*-display:0 UNCLAIMED
description: VGA compatible controller
product: Mobile 4 Series Chipset Integrated Graphics Controller
vendor: Intel Corporation
physical id: 2
bus info: pci@0000:00:02.0
version: 07
width: 64 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: msi pm bus_master cap_list
configuration: latency=0
*-display:1 UNCLAIMED
description: Display controller
product: Mobile 4 Series Chipset Integrated Graphics Controller
vendor: Intel Corporation
physical id: 2.1
bus info: pci@0000:00:02.1
version: 07
width: 64 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: pm bus_master cap_list
configuration: latency=0
*-usb:0
description: USB Controller
product: 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB UHCI Controller #4
vendor: Intel Corporation
physical id: 1a
bus info: pci@0000:00:1a.0
version: 03
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: bus_master cap_list
configuration: driver=uhci_hcd latency=0 module=uhci_hcd
*-usb:1
description: USB Controller
product: 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB UHCI Controller #5
vendor: Intel Corporation
physical id: 1a.1
bus info: pci@0000:00:1a.1
version: 03
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: bus_master cap_list
configuration: driver=uhci_hcd latency=0 module=uhci_hcd
*-usb:2
description: USB Controller
product: 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller #2
vendor: Intel Corporation
physical id: 1a.7
bus info: pci@0000:00:1a.7
version: 03
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: pm debug bus_master cap_list
configuration: driver=ehci_hcd latency=0 module=ehci_hcd
*-multimedia
description: Audio device
product: 82801I (ICH9 Family) HD Audio Controller
vendor: Intel Corporation
physical id: 1b
bus info: pci@0000:00:1b.0
version: 03
width: 64 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: pm msi pciexpress bus_master cap_list
configuration: driver=HDA Intel latency=0 module=snd_hda_intel
*-pci:0
description: PCI bridge
product: 82801I (ICH9 Family) PCI Express Port 1
vendor: Intel Corporation
physical id: 1c
bus info: pci@0000:00:1c.0
version: 03
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: pci pciexpress msi pm bus_master cap_list
configuration: driver=pcieport-driver
*-network
description: Ethernet interface
product: RTL8101E/RTL8102E PCI Express Fast Ethernet controller
vendor: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd.
physical id: 0
bus info: pci@0000:02:00.0
logical name: eth0
version: 02
serial:
size: 10MB/s
capacity: 100MB/s
width: 64 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: pm msi pciexpress msix vpd bus_master cap_list ethernet physical tp mii 10bt 10bt-fd 100bt 100bt-fd autonegotiation
configuration: autonegotiation=on broadcast=yes driver=r8169 driverversion=2.3LK-NAPI duplex=half latency=0 link=no module=r8169 multicast=yes port=MII speed=10MB/s
*-pci:1
description: PCI bridge
product: 82801I (ICH9 Family) PCI Express Port 2
vendor: Intel Corporation
physical id: 1c.1
bus info: pci@0000:00:1c.1
version: 03
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: pci pciexpress msi pm bus_master cap_list
configuration: driver=pcieport-driver
*-network
description: Wireless interface
product: Wireless WiFi Link 5100
vendor: Intel Corporation
physical id: 0
bus info: pci@0000:03:00.0
logical name: wmaster0
version: 00
serial:
width: 64 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: pm msi pciexpress bus_master cap_list logical ethernet physical wireless
configuration: broadcast=yes driver=iwlagn ip=192.168.0.3 latency=0 module=iwlagn multicast=yes wireless=IEEE 802.11abgn
*-pci:2
description: PCI bridge
product: 82801I (ICH9 Family) PCI Express Port 5
vendor: Intel Corporation
physical id: 1c.4
bus info: pci@0000:00:1c.4
version: 03
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: pci pciexpress msi pm bus_master cap_list
configuration: driver=pcieport-driver
*-usb:3
description: USB Controller
product: 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB UHCI Controller #1
vendor: Intel Corporation
physical id: 1d
bus info: pci@0000:00:1d.0
version: 03
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: bus_master cap_list
configuration: driver=uhci_hcd latency=0 module=uhci_hcd
*-usb:4
description: USB Controller
product: 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB UHCI Controller #2
vendor: Intel Corporation
physical id: 1d.1
bus info: pci@0000:00:1d.1
version: 03
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: bus_master cap_list
configuration: driver=uhci_hcd latency=0 module=uhci_hcd
*-usb:5
description: USB Controller
product: 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB UHCI Controller #3
vendor: Intel Corporation
physical id: 1d.2
bus info: pci@0000:00:1d.2
version: 03
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: bus_master cap_list
configuration: driver=uhci_hcd latency=0 module=uhci_hcd
*-usb:6
description: USB Controller
product: 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB UHCI Controller #6
vendor: Intel Corporation
physical id: 1d.3
bus info: pci@0000:00:1d.3
version: 03
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: bus_master cap_list
configuration: driver=uhci_hcd latency=0 module=uhci_hcd
*-usb:7
description: USB Controller
product: 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller #1
vendor: Intel Corporation
physical id: 1d.7
bus info: pci@0000:00:1d.7
version: 03
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: pm debug bus_master cap_list
configuration: driver=ehci_hcd latency=0 module=ehci_hcd
*-pci:3
description: PCI bridge
product: 82801 Mobile PCI Bridge
vendor: Intel Corporation
physical id: 1e
bus info: pci@0000:00:1e.0
version: 93
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: pci bus_master cap_list
*-firewire
description: FireWire (IEEE 1394)
product: R5C832 IEEE 1394 Controller
vendor: Ricoh Co Ltd
physical id: 6
bus info: pci@0000:04:06.0
version: 05
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: pm bus_master cap_list
configuration: driver=ohci1394 latency=64 maxlatency=4 mingnt=2 module=ohci1394
*-system:0
description: SD Host controller
product: R5C822 SD/SDIO/MMC/MS/MSPro Host Adapter
vendor: Ricoh Co Ltd
physical id: 6.1
bus info: pci@0000:04:06.1
version: 22
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: pm bus_master cap_list
configuration: driver=sdhci-pci latency=32 module=sdhci_pci
*-system:1 UNCLAIMED
description: System peripheral
product: R5C592 Memory Stick Bus Host Adapter
vendor: Ricoh Co Ltd
physical id: 6.2
bus info: pci@0000:04:06.2
version: 12
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: pm bus_master cap_list
configuration: latency=0
*-system:2 UNCLAIMED
description: System peripheral
product: xD-Picture Card Controller
vendor: Ricoh Co Ltd
physical id: 6.3
bus info: pci@0000:04:06.3
version: 12
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: pm bus_master cap_list
configuration: latency=0
*-isa
description: ISA bridge
product: ICH9M LPC Interface Controller
vendor: Intel Corporation
physical id: 1f
bus info: pci@0000:00:1f.0
version: 03
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: isa bus_master cap_list
configuration: latency=0
*-storage
description: SATA controller
product: ICH9M/M-E SATA AHCI Controller
vendor: Intel Corporation
physical id: 1f.2
bus info: pci@0000:00:1f.2
logical name: scsi0
logical name: scsi5
version: 03
width: 32 bits
clock: 66MHz
capabilities: storage msi pm bus_master cap_list emulated
configuration: driver=ahci latency=0 module=ahci
*-disk
description: ATA Disk
product: TOSHIBA MK5055GS
vendor: Toshiba
physical id: 0
bus info: scsi@0:0.0.0
logical name: /dev/sda
version: FG00
serial:
size: 465GiB (500GB)
capabilities: partitioned partitioned:dos
configuration: ansiversion=5 signature=6d760c77
*-volume:0
description: EXT3 volume
vendor: Linux
physical id: 1
bus info: scsi@0:0.0.0,1
logical name: /dev/sda1
logical name: /
version: 1.0
serial:
size: 454GiB
capacity: 454GiB
capabilities: primary bootable journaled extended_attributes large_files ext3 ext2 initialized
configuration: created=2009-08-31 21:50:17 filesystem=ext3 modified=2009-09-01 13:52:50 mount.fstype=ext3 mount.options=rw,relatime,errors=remount-ro,data=ordered mounted=2009-09-01 12:29:07 state=mounted
*-volume:1
description: Extended partition
physical id: 2
bus info: scsi@0:0.0.0,2
logical name: /dev/sda2
size: 10GiB
capacity: 10GiB
capabilities: primary extended partitioned partitioned:extended
*-logicalvolume
description: Linux swap / Solaris partition
physical id: 5
logical name: /dev/sda5
capacity: 10GiB
capabilities: nofs
*-cdrom
description: DVD-RAM writer
product: CDDVDW TS-L633A
vendor: TSSTcorp
physical id: 1
bus info: scsi@5:0.0.0
logical name: /dev/cdrom
logical name: /dev/cdrw
logical name: /dev/dvd
logical name: /dev/dvdrw
logical name: /dev/scd0
logical name: /dev/sr0
version: TO01
capabilities: removable audio cd-r cd-rw dvd dvd-r dvd-ram
configuration: ansiversion=5 status=nodisc
*-serial UNCLAIMED
description: SMBus
product: 82801I (ICH9 Family) SMBus Controller
vendor: Intel Corporation
physical id: 1f.3
bus info: pci@0000:00:1f.3
version: 03
width: 64 bits
clock: 33MHz
configuration: latency=0
*-network DISABLED
description: Ethernet interface
physical id: 1
logical name: pan0
serial:
capabilities: ethernet physical
configuration: broadcast=yes driver=bridge driverversion=2.3 firmware=N/A link=yes multicast=yes

Sound

Sound on this machine is based on the ALC268 chipset.

Sound works without any hassle, both on the laptop built-in speakers, and on a headphone, when one is plugged.

The microphone works fine, when tested with:

arecord -d 10 -f cd > /tmp/test
aplay < /tmp/test

The sound mixer allows one to configure either the built-in mic, or the mic on headphones (Front mic).

Skype

Skype worked only when I changed its Microphone setting to hw(0,0), not the default device.

Intel Wireless WiFi Link 5100

This was the most challenging part to get working, mostly because of trial and error and following false leads on the web.

In a nutshell, you need both new microcode, and new drivers.

Wirless drivers

You need to download the latest drivers from Linux Wireless web site.

Download the daily snapshot, I used the 2009-08-30.

Then you need to install it as follows

# Extract the tarball, the exact name will depend on the date
tar xjf compat-wireless-2.6-2009-08-30.tar.bz2
# Change directory, again, the name will be different
cd compat-wireless-2009-08-30/
# Run make
make
# Install it 
sudo make install
# Unload the existing drivers
sudo make unload

Updated microcode

Download the microcode from Intel's Linux Wireless web site.

Then execute the following commands:

# Extract the tarball 
tar xzf iwlwifi-5000-ucode-8.24.2.12.tgz
# Copy the microcode to the firmware directory
sudo cp iwlwifi-5000-ucode-8.24.2.12/iwlwifi-5000-2.ucode /lib/firmware/

Now you are ready to start the wireless

sudo /etc/init.d/networking restart

Your wirless should work now.

I use a wpa.conf file, so that wireless works when booting, rather than prompting for a password after logging in. This way, NFS mounts work well.

Synaptics TouchPad

The laptop has a Synaptics TouchPad that interferes with the keyboard when typing. This is very annoying and frustrating, as it causes a lot of typing problems.

In order to remedy this, you need to do two things:

Creat a file called /etc/hal/fdi/policy/synaptics.fdi, containing this:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<deviceinfo version="0.2">
<device>
<match key="input.x11_driver" string="synaptics">
<merge key="input.x11_options.SHMConfig" type="string">True</merge>
<merge key="input.x11_options.TapButton1" type="string">0</merge>
<merge key="input.x11_options.TapButton2" type="string">0</merge>
<merge key="input.x11_options.TapButton3" type="string">0</merge>
</match>
</device>
</deviceinfo>

Then at the end of your ~/.bash_profile, add the following:

syndaemon -S -d -t

After rebooting, the touchpad will behave more sanely.

Ricoh 5 in 1 SD/MMC card

In order to get the SD card reader to recognize and mount memory cards, you need to create a script called /usr/local/bin/enable-mmc.sh.

Put the following in it:

#!/bin/bash

# Script to enable the MMC SD card

# Find the PCI target
TARGET=`lspci | grep R5C822 | awk '{print $1}'`

echo "PCI ID for SD reader is $TARGET"
DISABLE=`setpci -s $TARGET 0xB7`
if [ $(($DISABLE & 2)) -eq 2 ]; then
  echo "Controller already disabled. Nothing to do."
  exit 0
fi

WRITE_ENABLE=`setpci -s $TARGET 08e`
setpci -s $TARGET 0x8e=0xAA

WRITE_TARGET=`setpci -s $TARGET 08d`
setpci -s $TARGET 0x8d=0xb7
setpci -s $TARGET 0xB7=$(($DISABLE | 2))
setpci -s $TARGET 0x8e=0x$WRITE_ENABLE
setpci -s $TARGET 0x8d=0x$WRITE_TARGET

Then insert the following before "exit 0" in /etc/rc.local

# Make the SD card work
#
# Load the driver for the SD card
modprobe timf_sd 

# Run the script to properly set PCI options
/usr/local/bin/enable-mmc.sh

This script is based on this post.

Adobe Flash with Firefox and Konqueror

Adobe Flash works well even with the 64-bit Linux. I did not have to do anything special for it to work.

KDE 4.x Panel

Although the new KDE 4.x works well, I am disappointed with the fact that the panel cannot be placed vertically on the right side of the screen, like I did on KDE 3.5. On laptops, specially the new 16:9 aspect ratio ones where placing it on the bottom will eat too much screen real estate.

I am also disappointed that resizing the panel makes some icons grow in size indefinitely, unlike KDE 3.5, making it look ugly and take up too much space.