Portable Toshiba 1730CDT Laptop
Mandrake 8.2 installation Guide
Specifications
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8.2 Installation
The installation of Mandrake 8.2 began with ensuring there was sufficient hard drive space (I used 3.5 GB) for the Linux installation. To retain Windows Me, live partitioning software was used.
The installation of Mandrake 8.2 proceeds pretty much as intended. It's all too easy :0)
The only component that would not auto-detect during installation was the
X-Windows configuration. Choose the Generic 800x600 laptop/LCD for the screen.
All other settings are default for X-Windows.
(Note Auto-probe on the first boot will build the relevent XF86Config-4 file)
The modem coniguration in 8.2 is the same as in 8.1. See below.
Mandrake 8.1 installation Guide
8.1 Installation
The machine is provided with Windows Me and a restore CD image, but not a windows installation CD.
The installation of Mandrake 8.1 began with providing sufficient hard drive space (I used 3 GB) for the Linux installation. To retain Windows Me, partitioning software was used.
The installation of Mandrake 8.1 proceed as normal. The only difficulties being X-Windows and the Modem.
Difficulties
The setup program for the most part automates the installation. I was, however, unable to configure the screen through the setup program. I suggest skipping the configuration of X-Windows and doing this part manually.
Screen
To prevent the X-Windows from starting, start Linux at run level three.
When using lilo as a boot manager this is done by:
| Press <esc> when lilo starts then enter | ||
| Linux 3 |
Once logged in as root, make a copy of the current /etc/X11/XF86Config-4 file and edit the file to match this XF86Config-4 file. The lines that are important are as follows :
| ModeLine "800x600" 50.00 800 856 976 1040 600 637 643 666 +hsync +vsync |
and
| Subsection | "Display" | |
| Depth | 16 | |
| Modes | "800x600" | |
| EndSubsection |
To test your configuration file:
| >startx |
Note: should your configuration freeze type <ctrl>+<alt>+<backspace> to shut the X-server down.
NB: Redhat Linux users can use a similar /etc/X11/XF86Config-4 file. The socket for xfs is "unix/:7100" with Red Hat 7.x, as opposed to "unix/:-1" in previous versions (i.e. Redhat 6.x). Change :
| FontPath "unix:/-1" |
to read :
| FontPath "unix/:7100" |
Modem
The modem is a winmodem but don't let that stop you. The setup of the modem requires the installation of a loadable module that must be compiled against your version of the kernel.
There are binary installs available for the major distributions. You can download the Mandrake 8.1 or 8.2 rpm from the production site. (note: linmodem.org is a valuable source of linmodem information)
To choose the binary you need your kernal version
number :
| >uname -s -r |
To install the rpm make a directory for all external rpm's. Mine is /root/rpm
Start the package management tool. Configuration | Packages | Software Manager. Direct it to your new rpm by choosing Define sources and selecting the /root/rpm (or eqiuvalent) directory
Install the ltmodem package. Once it is installed, check that wvdial is also installed. wvdial is a dialer that simplifies the configuration of your ppp scripts.
I suggest rebooting so the loadable module is in action.
Then follow the post installation directions provided at
>/usr/share/doc/ltmodem-kv_2.4.8_26mdk-6.00b4/DOCs/post-install.html
Bios
There are BIOS upgrades that Toshiba have supplied. Check your local website. The install will automatically unzip and create a floppy. However, despite instructions to the contrary, the disk that is created is not bootable. The DOS command SYS remedies the problem.
Should DOS not be available, to you here is copy of the latest bootable image. Caution: unplug all peripherals and plug the computer to the mains as a power shortage during a bios upgrade is likely to be irrecoverable.
Useful links
Toshiba-europe's OS information guide : http://newsletter.toshiba-tro.de/main/
Linux on a laptop : http://www.linux-laptop.net/
Toshiba 1730 CDT french instructions : http://gaelane.dyndns.org/toshiba/
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