Toshiba_Satellite_P100

Introduction

This is a hardware reference/Gentoo Linux installation guide for the Toshiba Satellite P100 notebook series.

The Satellite P100 series is Toshiba's desktop replacement notebook series as of Q2-Q4 2006. It is based on the Intel Centrino (codename Napa) platform which consists of either a Core (codename Yonah) or Core 2 (codename Merom) CPU, a Intel mobile 945 express series chipset (82945 northbridge and ICH7 southbridge) and a Intel PRO Wireless 3945ABG Wi-Fi adapter. Depending on the model the notebook features either an integrated Intel graphics adapter or an nVidia Geforce Go 7xxx series graphics adapter.

Externally the laptop features a reasonably sleek casing (some models featuring coloured lids, different countries appear to have different coloured lids for otherwise identical models), 17" widescreen display (with glossy coating), and harman/kardon speakers. Models equipped with nVidia graphics also feature blue LEDs under the speakers. External connectivity includes 4x USB, 1x 4-pin firewire, 1x LAN, 1x modem, 1x DVI, 1x VGA, 1x TV-out, 1x PC Card, 1x ExpressCard, 1x multi-format media card slot, 1x line-in jack, 1x microphone jack and 1x headphone (with combined S/PDIF on certain models) jack.

As can be expected from a high performance desktop replacement notebook battery life is not extensive. In practise one can expect approximately 2 hours of light usage (under both Linux and Windows XP) from a fully charged 6000mAh battery. These notebooks are also reasonably heavy (3.3+ kg) and large (394 x 275 x 34.9mm/41.9mm).

Official Linux support from Toshiba is non-existant in at least Australia, however the components of the notebook are generally well supported by the software included in modern Linux distributions. The Express Media Player software provided with the laptop utilises a 2.4 series Linux kernel and numerous other GPL software packages, though the extent of customisation of this software is not yet known. Worldwide unofficial support is provided via the Toshiba Digital Media Engineering "Linux Information for TOSHIBA PC" website [1].

To Do

• Try to get all hardware working and tested
• Revise make.conf, xorg.conf, .config and any other relevant files to include
• Flesh out Installation
• Flesh out Further Configuration
• Add relevant links/resources

Outstanding Issues

This section lists all outstanding issues with the laptop that do not yet have a solution. If you have a fix for any of these, please remove it from this list, and add the solution to an appropriate section below.

• Blue lights under speakers cannot be disabled
• Laptop runs very hot. PSPA3E model idles at around 65C for the CPU, and around 62C for the GPU. GPU reaches over 100C under heavy load. The GPU fan never seems to turn on. This appears to be fixed by running bios 2.40, not 3.30
• Fan speeds cannot be measured by ACPI or by nvidia driver or by lm_sensors
• LCD cannot be dimmed. Fn Keys work, but cant be controlled by software
• Not all Fn Keys work

Hardware

Series Specs

Specific Models Tested

Satellite P100 PSPA6A-01J017 Satellite P100 PSPA3A-0R2078FR Satellite P100 PSPA3E-02G013G3

Linux Support

Installation

Preparation

If using a pre-v2.4 BIOS download and update to the latest BIOS available from your regional Toshiba support site. It is available in both a DOS bootdisk and a Windows application from the Australian support site [2], though if you wish to use the DOS bootdisk you will need to use an external USB floppy drive or create a bootable CD.

From the factory the laptop was set up with a single large NTFS partition (containing the default Windows XP install) as the first partition on the primary disk and a smaller Linux partition (containing the Express Media Player software) as the fourth partition.

The Toshiba recovery disk utilises Windows PE and what is likely a rebadged imaging application to either recover the default installation or erase the installed hard drive. The recovery options provided are:

• Recover to out-of-box-state
• Recover without changing the hard drive partitions
• Recover to a custom size partition

Base system installation

Basically follow the Gentoo handbook and you will be right.

# Core Solo/Duo GCC 4.1
#CFLAGS="-O2 -march=prescott -fomit-frame-pointer -pipe"
# Core Solo/Duo GCC 4.2
#CFLAGS="-O2 -march=prescott -mtune generic -fomit-frame-pointer -pipe"
# Core 2 Solo/Duo GCC 4.1
#CFLAGS="-O2 -march=nocona -fomit-frame-pointer -pipe"
# Core 2 Solo/Duo GCC 4.2
#CFLAGS="-O2 -march=nocona -mtune generic -fomit-frame-pointer -pipe"
CHOST="i686-pc-linux-gnu"
CXXFLAGS="${CFLAGS}"
MAKEOPTS="-j3"

INPUT_DEVICES="evdev keyboard mouse synaptics"
VIDEO_CARDS="nv nvidia vesa"
LINGUAS="en_GB"

Code maturity level options  --->
General setup  --->
Loadable module support  --->
Processor type and features  --->
Power management options (ACPI, APM)  --->

Further Configuration

CPU

See this HowTo.

Power Management

ACPI appears to work with a 2.6.18-gentoo-r3 kernel.

acpid

It seems that TOSHIBA uses a modified (or erroneous) ACPI implementation in its BIOS and thus automatic temperature-referenced cooling of CPU and VGA are possible under Windows only. Under Linux, the fans do not turn on at all! (as of 12-24-2006).

Update: Under BIOS version 3.30 (published on 01-18-2007) the fans seem to work correctly.

Update 2: I am not so sure about that - under bios 3.30, my gpu fan never turned on, but under bios 2.40, it does

Graphics Card

LCD Resolution

Various models are rated at either 1440x900 and 1680x1050 native resolution in official documents. In Australia it appears that for the two models of P100 being manufactured at any given time the lower spec model features the 1440x900 resolution, while the higher spec model features the 1680x1050 resolution. The Q3-2006 models appear to have featured the reverse, that is the lower spec model featured the 1680x1050 resolution and the higher spec mdoel featured the 1440x900 resolution (this is printed in retailer and official literature, it doesn't seem right to me, can anyone confirm this with the actual hardware?).

vsync/hsync

Intel GMA

See this HowTo.

nVidia

VIDEO_CARDS="nv nvidia vesa"

Standard install with binary driver appears to work fine. 3D acceleration under x.org 7.1 with no compositing (eye candy) effects or compositing related driver options turned on results in ~12,600 fps in glxgears. Seems to be working then.

ISSUE: Model with Geforce go 7600 gets 2500 fps in glxgears under beryl, and 4900 under metacity. Is this normal?

TODO: Compositing

ISSUE?: Dropping performance? Results of ~2,500 fps in glxgears. Related to hardware protection due to overheating?

ISSUE?: Issues with fan control? One or two people have complained about this with Suse 10.1. Suse 10.1 appears to have numerous people reporting other issues I have not experienced. Needs testing.

Audio

In order to get audio working on an early model P100 with an older distribution one requires the following modifications:

• alsa-driver-1.0.14-rc1 and up include support within the hda-intel driver for the Conexant codec used on these notebooks (ALSA_CARDS="hda-intel" in /etc/make.conf)
• The buggy DSDT must be fixed. Follow the instructions at ACPI/Fix common problems on debugging and fixing the DSDT. Fixed DSDTs for certain laptop/BIOS combinations have been uploaded to [4]. Also see [5]. These DSDT modifications have been successfully tested on the following:
  • PSPA6A-01J017, v2.40 BIOS, gentoo-sources-2.6.19-r2, alsa-driver-1.0.14-rc1
  • PSPA6E-03302CEN v3.30 BIOS, sabayon-sources-2.6.20, alsa-driver-1.0.14-rc2
  • PSPA3E-02G013G3 (P100-217), v3.30 BIOS, gentoo-sources-2.6.19-r4, alsa-driver-1.0.14-rc2

As of September 2007 the necessary components to provide out of the box sound support are in place. You will require the following software:

• Laptop BIOS flashed to version 3.80 or later
• Kernel 2.6.22 or later
• ALSA-driver 1.0.14 or later

Build the kernel with modular sound support, but no OSS or ALSA support. Emerge the alsa-driver and alsa-utils packages (remember to place ALSA_CARDS="hda-intel" in your /etc/make.conf before doing so), use alsaconf to set up the sound card and then start the ALSA service. You should now have working sound.

Input

Keyboard Hotkeys

It is possible to bind the extra hotkeys at the top of the keyboard to do useful things. Merge x11-misc/hotkeys and create the following .def file in either $HOME/.hotkeys or /usr/share/hotkeys:

 <?xml version="1.0"?>

 <definition>
   <config model="Toshiba Satellite P100">
     <userdef keycode="237" command="amarok">Amarok</userdef>
     <Play keycode="162" />
     <Stop keycode="164" />
     <PrevTrack keycode="144" />
     <NextTrack keycode="153" />
   </config>
   <contributor>
     <name></name>
     <email></email>
   </contributor>
 </definition>
 

Then you can set Kbd=toshiba_satellite_p100 in $HOME/.hotkeys/hotkeys.conf or /etc/hotkeys.conf. Configuring the actual hotkey bindings is done in hotkeys.conf

(31/08/2007) I added the following for the "FN" Esc to Mute Music .....Just put it in above script
<userdef keycode="160" command="amixer sset PCM toggle">Sound ON/OFF</userdef>
Then added hotkeys for my user to Autostart in KDE ...

Synaptics Touchpad

INPUT_DEVICES="evdev keyboard mouse synaptics"

Works fine using X.org synaptics driver.

Read Synaptics Touchpad for more info

Fingerprint reader

See this guide.

Sample X.org Config

Section "Files"
    RgbPath     "/usr/share/X11/rgb"
    FontPath    "/usr/share/fonts/misc:unscaled"
    FontPath    "/usr/share/fonts/Type1"
    FontPath    "/usr/share/fonts/TTF"
    FontPath    "/usr/share/fonts/corefonts"
    FontPath    "/usr/share/fonts/freefonts"
    FontPath    "/usr/share/fonts/sharefonts"
    FontPath    "/usr/share/fonts/ttf-bitstream-vera"
    FontPath    "/usr/share/fonts/75dpi:unscaled"
    FontPath    "/usr/share/fonts/100dpi:unscaled"
EndSection

Section "Module"
    Load        "dbe"
    SubSection  "extmod"
        Option  "omit xfree86-dga"
    EndSubSection
    Load        "glx"
    Load        "synaptics"
    Load        "type1"
    Load        "freetype"
EndSection

Section "ServerFlags"
# Option "DontVTSwitch"
# Option "DontZap"
# Option "DontZoom"
    Option      "blank time"    "5"     # 10 minutes
    Option      "standby time"  "10"
    Option      "suspend time"  "15"
    Option      "off time"      "20"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
    Identifier  "Keyboard1"
    Driver      "keyboard"
    Option      "AutoRepeat"    "500 5"
    Option      "XkbRules"      "xorg"
    Option      "XkbModel"      "pc104"
    Option      "XkbLayout"     "us"
EndSection


Section "InputDevice"
    Identifier "Touchpad"
    Driver "synaptics"
    Option "Protocol"           "Auto"
    Option "SendCoreEvents"
    Option "Device"             "/dev/input/event1"
    Option "ZAxisMapping"       "4 5 6 7"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
    Identifier  "Inbuilt LCD"
    Option      "dpms"
EndSection

Section "Device"
    Identifier  "nVidia GeForce"
    Driver      "nvidia"
    Option      "NoLogo"        "true"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
    Identifier  "Screen 1"
    Device      "nVidia GeForce"
    Monitor     "Inbuilt LCD"
    DefaultDepth 24
    SubSection "Display"
        Depth           24
        Modes           "1680x1050"
    EndSubsection
    SubSection "Display"
        Depth           16
        Modes           "1680x1050"
    EndSubsection
    SubSection "Display"
        Depth           8
        Modes           "1680x1050"
    EndSubsection
EndSection

Section "ServerLayout"
    Identifier  "Main Layout"
    Screen      "Screen 1"
    InputDevice "Touchpad" "CorePointer"
    InputDevice "Keyboard1" "CoreKeyboard"
EndSection
 

Networking

Wired

The onboard ethernet adapter is an Intel PRO/1000, use the e1000 driver provided in the kernel.

WLAN

See this guide.

Bluetooth

The bluetooth adapter is connected to the USB bus, but is initially disconnected when powering on. You need to install the omnibook module (at least version 20070211 - available in portage) to enable the bluetooth adapter.

• emerge -va omnibook
• echo "options omnibook ectype=14" > /etc/modprobe.d/omnibook
• update-modules
• modprobe omnibook

This should give you a new usb device when you run lsusb (from usbutils)

From here, follow the gentoo bluetooth guide [6]. The kernel driver you need for this hardware is HCI USB driver

Usage Notes

A reasonably full charge (5940mAh according to /proc/acpi/battery/BAT1/info) on the 9-cell Li-Ion battery (6000 mAh design capacity) lasts about 2 hours when running a Gnome desktop, doing minimal processing and running with the "conservative" cpu governer.

The blue LEDs under the speakers are best described as bloody annoying (particularly in dark situations). They are unable to be switched off by any inbuilt means. They can only be turned off by disconnecting their cable. It is located under the keyboard on the right side of the keyboard cable, above the fingerprint reader connector. You will have to unscrew the keyboard to reach the connector, so this may void your warranty!

Keyboard is a little cramped due to the included numberpad, though placement of keys is reasonably standard.

Virtualisation

Placeholder for the release of kernel 2.6.20. The Core Duo chips in these notebooks should in theory support Intel VT extensions.

• Note: do not assume the VT is enabled on any notebook, it seems (sadly) common-place for manufacturers to disable the VT extension (and not provide an option in the bios to re-enable it) at the firmware level. It can be re-enabled if the manufacturer ever releases an updated bios to include this feature. Example thread about this problem on HP Business Notebooks (note, thread does not discuss consumer models, only business models): http://forums1.itrc.hp.com/service/forums/bizsupport/questionanswer.do?threadId=1051601

Comments on note: The P100 series of Satellite notebooks do have VM extensions enabled by default.

Warning: although vmx is not disabled in the firmware, it is disabled by the bios! On a 3.60 Phoenix bios there is no way to enable it.

VT is still disabled in bios 4.20 without any way to enable it. After buggy bios problems for sound/GPU fan, thanks again to those bloody bastards from Toshiba: Next time my bucks will go to another manufacturer, probably Lenovo. This is the only brand that never caused me such headaches running linux on laptops.

Maybe some legal action could be possible: The specs do not tell VT is disabled, so it should defaults to intel T2300 and upper specs which include VT.

Links

• [7]

Media:Beispiel.ogg