On 29/12/10 15:16, [email protected] wrote:
So, I bought a new computer at the (ahem) Boxing Day Sales.
It happens :)
It's a Toshiba and I'd like some advice on
(a) heaving the (obligatory) Windows out of the system and
(b) installing the latest Ubuntu.
When buying laptops, its extremely hit and miss. Also ive not found
individual brands to be consistenly good or bad, its very much luck of
the draw as to what happens to be in the machine vs whats supported in
linux.
Anything that sells well (i.e. is mid market) and uses lots of Intel &
Realtek hardware will generally be a winner - although not so much in
terms of performance.
By that i mean that Intel video is generally well supported, although
they are slow. Also Realtek hardware is also generally well supported,
but is also often slow.
Wifi is extremely hit and miss.
Also youll almost certainly have more fiddle and disappointment with
hardware that is new to the market, vs 6-9 months old. But this can also
vary greatly.
In all of the above, i disclaim heavily that YMMV.
You can improve your mileage by installing the latest kernel available.
[I'm surprised at the reaction of some people on learning of my
intentions. Some regard me as a mindless iconoclast (don't mind that),
others give me a penny lecture on the superiority of Microsoft over
everything (do mind that).]
Sounds like what happens when you mention you believe in god... *boomtish*
So:---
1) Have never considered the 64-bit version of Ubuntu. Are there any caveats?
In some cases, some java has 32bit binaries. Java is not actually that
platform independent (youll notice that feature isnt touted much these days)
Adobe Flash is available in 64bit again. Its 'beta' or 'alpha' or something.
Other than that, you get 2x more general purpose registers, SSE2 by
default, access to as much memory as you could want etc.
Ive personally run amd64/x86_64 (depending on how you like it) on
everything i own since 2004. Ive also run FreeBSD/AMD64 for several
years now. We also run everything as amd64 in my neck of the woods at my
workplace (a large well known telco).
2) There's a TV tuner in it (didn't ask for it, but it came anyhow). Will
wiping Windows and installing Ubuntu affect this?
Depends on the chip. =
3) Whilst trolling the Web, came across mention of a Toshset package,
installation of which causes all Toshiba-related Ubuntu problems to
evaporate. It's the result of someone reverse-engineering some Toshiba
interfaces. Has anyone heard of Toshset?
d...@soundwave:~$ apt-cache show toshset
Package: toshset
Priority: optional
Section: utils
Installed-Size: 252
Maintainer: Debian QA Group <[email protected]>
Architecture: amd64
Version: 1.75-2
Depends: libc6 (>= 2.7), libgcc1 (>= 1:4.1.1), libpci3 (>= 1:3.1.4),
libstdc++6 (>= 4.1.1), zlib1g (>= 1:1.1.4)
Filename: pool/main/t/toshset/toshset_1.75-2_amd64.deb
Size: 74178
MD5sum: f5be2ba2eaef44a6a109dc157ba9ac27
SHA1: 95f67ce2201a67f048bcd78d2a73f79384e3fa3c
SHA256: 0e0a5c45f072bec1b657c96cf2b90db460eb93517e3868b93b9fc605f317773b
Description: Access much of the Toshiba laptop hardware interface
Toshset is a command-line tool to allow access to much of the
Toshiba laptop hardware interface developed by Jonathan Buzzard. It can do
things like set the hard drive spin-down time, turn off the display
and set the fan speed without the help of the kernel.
Toshset requires an experimental version of the toshiba_acpi kernel module
with an ACPI-enabled kernel. Otherwise it works only if the laptop
supports
the old APM BIOS. (The last of these was produced something like 5
years ago)
Please read README.Debian how to install the experimental version of the
toshiba_acpi kernel module. (Ubuntu users don't need it)
.
This package also includes the Toshsat1800-irdasetup by Daniele Peri. It
can be used to configure IrDA for laptops with ALI1533 bridge (LPC47N227
SuperIO), smc-ircc and not initializing BIOS (tested on Toshiba Satellite
1800-514). Homepage: http://www.csai.unipa.it/peri/toshsat1800-irdasetup/
Homepage: http://www.schwieters.org/toshset/
Tag: admin::configuring, admin::power-management, hardware::laptop,
implemented-in::c, implemented-in::c++, interface::commandline,
role::program, scope::utility, use::configuring
Any help etc.
If youre really hesitant. Clone off the HDD using clonezilla or
something. Then stick in the install disk of your distribution of
choice. Its highly unlikely that the laptop will burst in to flames as a
result :)
Dean
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