Greetings,
I got an old Toshiba Satellite 1800-100 to configure and play around
with. Firstly I tried to get gentoo working with distcc but after some
time I gave up because I couldn't compile Xorg and even with distcc it
was too slow. Then I tried Ubuntu which worked fine. The installation
was almost as easy as what I remember form SuSE and aptitude and apt-get
are extremly powerfull. They are much easier to use than emerge or
yast2. The package database seems to be much more frequently updated
than that under Debian Sarge. For some reason I also thought that there
is no root-user on ubuntu. On my system su and logging in over ssh with
username root all work well.
I only have some problems with 2d-graphics. When I try to play
Flash-games they are extremly slow and the cursor flickers while it is
over the movie. Fading effects, e.g. what happens with the background
when one clicks on System -> Log Out in Gnome 2.10, and scrolling are
also slow. The former owner of the laptop said that he experienced
somthing similar with Fedora. Easy things such as moving windows still
work well. I found out that the grahics card is a trident CyberBlade:
0000:01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: Trident Microsystems
CyberBlade/i1 (rev 5d)
I tried googling for the card/laptop but I could only find things that
are too old. I also had a look at xorg.conf and /var/log/Xorg.0.log but
could not find anything there:
[xorg.conf]
...
Section "Device"
Identifier "Trident Microsystems CyberBlade/i1"
Driver "trident"
BusID "PCI:1:0:0"
VideoRAM 8192
EndSection
...
[/var/log/Xorg.0.log]
...
(WW) Open APM failed (/dev/apm_bios) (No such file or directory)
...
I heard that some people have problems with ACPI and that using APM
instead should work. I am not sure what ubuntu uses as I have not
compiled this kernel myself. Whatever it does use, it seems to work. I
can powersave the monitor, display battery usage and even hibernate.
Any help welcome.
Happy Hacking,
Robert Himmelmann
Buddha said: "I consider the positions of kings and rulers as that of
dust motes. I observe treasures of gold and gems as so many bricks and
pebbles. I look upon the finest silken robes as tattered rags. I see
myriad worlds of the universe as small seeds of fruit, and the greatest
lake in India as a drop of oil on my foot. I perceive the teachings of
the world to be the illusion of magicians. I discern the highest
conception of emancipation as a golden brocade in a dream, and view the
holy path of the illuminated ones as flowers appearing in one's eyes. I
see meditation as a pillar of a mountain, Nirvana as a nightmare of
daytime. I look upon the judgment of right and wrong as the serpentine
dance of a dragon, and the rise and fall of beliefs as but traces left
by the four seasons."
