Wigglit's Notes On Linux and the Toshiba 1805-S274

I use Slackware on a daily basis, with 9.1 being the current version of choice, though I've used Slackware since version 3.3. These particular Slackware notes apply to most modern versions (8.0 and up).

The data files below will help someone out regarding getting Linux running on this make and model of laptop.

Slackware 8.1 includes XFree86 version 4.2.0, which supposedly supports this notebook's Trident CyberAlladin-T (AKA CyberBlade XPm). I say 'supposedly' because I couldn't get v4.2.0 to work at all, so I decided to remove v4.2.0 and install v4.1.0. The older version doesn't support the CyberBlade XPm, so you'll have to use the framebuffer. More info regarding this video card is here and here. It took me 5 minutes to configure X and get the framebuffer working, using my old XF86Config file that I used with Suse. See more about XFree86 and this notebook below, in the Suse section.

The stock Slackware 8.0 (2.4.9) and Slackware 8.1 (2.4.18) kernels don't have APM compiled into them. I recompiled the 2.4.18 kernel with APM and it works fine. Slackware 9.0 and up have APM compiled as a module, if you're using a default install. When I installed 9.1 on the Toshiba, I attempted to use the ACPI kernel with 9.1 but couldn't get the laptop to shut down. I immediately reinstalled using the bare.i kernel since I'm more comfortable using APM.

The next project will be to get the DVD player to play commercial movies by way of the Mplayer software. I've only gotten The Matrix to play once, and the sound was lagging considerably when watching the movie. With Slackware comes Mplayer but it isn't compiled to run encrypted DVDs (This is purposely done, so Slackware wouldn't be liable...doesn't take a brainiac to figure that out). When I got The Matrix to play, I'd had to hack the makefile for the source quite a bit, then use these arcane commandline switches. Sadly, I wasn't taking any notes when I did this, so I'll have to attempt it again in the near future.

Regarding wireless, I promised more info on getting wifi to work with linux. Here it is. I'm still utilizing the Linksys WPC11 wireless PCMCIA network card in Slackware. The methods I'm about to discuss work in Slackware 8.0, 8.1, 9.0 and 9.1. 9.0 and 9.1 seem to use orinoco drivers instead of prism drivers. I COULD fix this by installing prism drivers but the orinoco driver seem to work without problems (so far). When and if problems arise, I'll move to the prism drivers and update this page.

Now, my particular laptop accepts a CAT5 connection and will also run PCMCIA wifi (and also USB wifi adapters). I've usually relied upon the PCMCIA method of internet connectivity. Slackware 9.1 (and 9.0) accept PCMCIA cards via the Hotplug function now, which makes things very easy to set up. I usually just insert my wifi card into the PCMCIA slot and hear the computer 'beep'. Follow along by doing what I do. :o) After insertion of the card, type 'dmesg' in a shell and you should see something akin to the below:

orinoco_lock() called with hw_unavailable (dev=ce66f800)
hermes.c: 4 Dec 2002 David Gibson 
orinoco.c 0.13d (David Gibson  and others)
orinoco_cs.c 0.13d (David Gibson  and others)
eth1: Station identity 001f:0005:0001:0003
eth1: Looks like an Intersil firmware version 1.3.5
eth1: Ad-hoc demo mode supported
eth1: IEEE standard IBSS ad-hoc mode supported
eth1: WEP supported, 104-bit key
eth1: MAC address 00:06:25:A8:EA:50
eth1: Station name "Prism  I"
eth1: ready
eth1: index 0x01: Vcc 5.0, irq 3, io 0x0100-0x013f
eth1: New link status: Connected (0001)
eth1: New link status: Disconnected (0002)
eth1: New link status: Connected (0001)

This shows that the wifi card has been recognized and that a device name was assigned to it (eth1, in this case). To use the card, you have to know how you're going to use the card. Most people gain internet access via WAP (wireless access point) and this is what we'll do. I've not net experimented with adhoc (direct computer(s)-to-computer(s) connections) yet, but when I do, this page will be updated. You'll want to assign a WAP for the card to access. If you type 'iwconfig' (using 'sudo' or as the superuser), you'll see your wifi card's stats:

ron@toshi:~$ sudo /usr/sbin/iwconfig
lo        no wireless extensions.

eth0      no wireless extensions.

eth1      IEEE 802.11-DS  ESSID:""  Nickname:"Prism  I"
          Mode:Managed  Access Point: 00:00:00:00:00:00  Bit Rate:11Mb/s
          Tx-Power=15 dBm   Sensitivity:1/3
          Retry min limit:8   RTS thr:off   Fragment thr:off
          Encryption key:off
          Power Management:off
          Link Quality:0/92  Signal level:-68 dBm  Noise level:-122 dBm
          Rx invalid nwid:0  Rx invalid crypt:0  Rx invalid frag:0
          Tx excessive retries:0  Invalid misc:0   Missed beacon:0

As you can see, there's no ESSID and the MAC address for the card isn't showing. The wifi card needs to be set up to access the WAP:

ron@toshi:~$ sudo /usr/sbin/iwconfig eth1 essid applejack
ron@toshi:~$ sudo /usr/sbin/iwconfig
lo        no wireless extensions.

eth0      no wireless extensions.

eth1      IEEE 802.11-DS  ESSID:"applejack"  Nickname:"Prism  I"
          Mode:Managed  Access Point: 00:00:00:00:00:00  Bit Rate:11Mb/s
          Tx-Power=15 dBm   Sensitivity:1/3
          Retry min limit:8   RTS thr:off   Fragment thr:off
          Encryption key:off
          Power Management:off
          Link Quality:0/92  Signal level:-68 dBm  Noise level:-122 dBm
          Rx invalid nwid:0  Rx invalid crypt:0  Rx invalid frag:0
          Tx excessive retries:0  Invalid misc:0   Missed beacon:0

Now, you need to establish an interface. I'm using 'eth1' as an interface so I'd type: "ifconfig eth1 up". After doing this, to check the status, I'd type: "ifconfig":

 eth1      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:06:25:A8:EA:50
          UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:100
          RX bytes:0 (0.0 b)  TX bytes:0 (0.0 b)
          Interrupt:3 Base address:0x100

Next, run 'iwconfig':

eth1      IEEE 802.11-DS  ESSID:"applejack"  Nickname:"Prism  I"
          Mode:Managed  Frequency:2.437GHz  Access Point: 00:07:23:78:95:80
          Bit Rate:2Mb/s   Tx-Power=15 dBm   Sensitivity:1/3
          Retry min limit:8   RTS thr:off   Fragment thr:off
          Encryption key:off
          Power Management:off
          Link Quality:90/92  Signal level:5/153  Noise level:117/153
          Rx invalid nwid:0  Rx invalid crypt:51  Rx invalid frag:0
          Tx excessive retries:0  Invalid misc:0   Missed beacon:0

If you're not utilizing data encryption to connect to the WAP, then you should be set for online activity (provided your routing table is set up...that's beyond the scope of the topic). Some people use WEP, so we'll establish this now. You'll have to know what bit size your WAP is set to use but I normally use 128-bit. Type 'iwconfig eth1 key (your key here)'. Do this without the parentheses:

iwconfig eth1 key xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

I've put the 'xxxx's there because there's no way in a hot day in Hell I'm going to share my encryption with the world. Replace the x's with your own key. To check the WEP status:

root@toshi:~# iwconfig
lo        no wireless extensions.

eth0      no wireless extensions.

eth1      IEEE 802.11-DS  ESSID:"applejack"  Nickname:"Prism  I"
          Mode:Managed  Frequency:2.437GHz  Access Point: 00:07:23:78:95:80
          Bit Rate:2Mb/s   Tx-Power=15 dBm   Sensitivity:1/3  
          Retry min limit:8   RTS thr:off   Fragment thr:off
          Encryption key:xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx   Security mode:open
          Power Management:off
          Link Quality:88/92  Signal level:5/153  Noise level:117/153
          Rx invalid nwid:0  Rx invalid crypt:291  Rx invalid frag:0
          Tx excessive retries:0  Invalid misc:0   Missed beacon:0

If you haven't set your interface IP yet, try this: 'ifconfig eth1 10.150.1.171'. Now you'll have to set your routing table up (if you're running two interfaces like I am):

root@toshi:~#  route add -net 10.150.1.0 netmask 255.255.255.0 dev eth1
root@toshi:~#  route add default gw 10.150.1.1 eth1
root@toshi:~# route
Kernel IP routing table
Destination     Gateway         Genmask         Flags Metric Ref    Use Iface
10.150.1.0      *               255.255.255.0   U     0      0        0 eth1
10.150.1.0      *               255.255.255.0   U     0      0        0 eth0
10.0.0.0        *               255.0.0.0       U     0      0        0 eth1
loopback        *               255.0.0.0       U     0      0        0 lo
default         10.150.1.1      0.0.0.0         UG    0      0        0 eth1
default         10.150.1.1      0.0.0.0         UG    1      0        0 eth0

Lastly, check to see that you can get outside of your local network:

root@toshi:~# ping -I eth1 www.unixfool.com
PING www.unixfool.com (216.0.115.49) from 10.150.1.171 eth1: 56(84) bytes of data.
64 bytes from www.unixfool.com (216.0.115.49): icmp_seq=1 ttl=240 time=207 ms
64 bytes from www.unixfool.com (216.0.115.49): icmp_seq=2 ttl=240 time=199 ms
64 bytes from www.unixfool.com (216.0.115.49): icmp_seq=3 ttl=240 time=138 ms

--- www.unixfool.com ping statistics ---
3 packets transmitted, 3 received, 0% packet loss, time 2016ms
rtt min/avg/max/mdev = 138.879/181.863/207.709/30.605 ms
root@toshi:~#

UPDATE (2 Jan 03): I've now created a script that gets my wifi card online. Because I sometimes use both the wifi card and the integrated ethernet card simultaneously (as you can see in the about routing output), getting them both running is sometimes cumbersome. Usually, I will be online with one of the two interfaces and I'll decide I want to use them both. I'll post the script sometime soon. Also, if anyone knows how to get 'iwconfig' to store its settings, let me know. The man pages are very vague.

You can also use 'ping www.unixfool.com' if you've no other interfaces to deal with.

Whew! I hope this has helped! Let me know if any of this is faulty and keep in mind that not every system's going to be set up as mine is, so you may still run into problems if you've modified your Slackware setup beyond a fresh install.

Also, MySQL is borked after doing a fresh install of Slackware 9.1 (unless Patrick, Slackware's owner, has fixed this by now). You can find a fix by visiting http://www.unixfool.com/mysql-slack.shtml

Alot of the above can be done via editing the /etc/pcmcia/wlan-ng.opts file, also.

I've been running a Linksys WPC11 wireless PCMCIA network card with this notebook. In XP, this card is simple to set up and get working. Linux, on the other hand, is a pain because you have to make sure you have certain software and make sure your configuration files are edited correctly. They also have to jive with your wireless access point. I've had the wifi card working in Linux for almost a month. It works fine, although I couldn't figure out a way to use the network card with WEP (in Linux), so I deactivated WEP. This is only for a short time, until I figure out why I can't get it to work in WEP. A bit about WEP: WEP is wireless encryption, a security measure. I'm not going to regurgitate what WEP is or give you my philosophy on why WEP sucks. It does NOT suck. It's definitely not as secure as it should be, but some security is better than NO security. I'm not really worried about someone hacking my notebook while I'm using the wifi card withouth WEP. My notebook (or anyone else's notebook) isn't like typical desktops. It's not a server, meant to run with uptimes approaching 365 days. I turn it off daily and sometimes hourly, depending on many things. If someone manages to hack me, I STILL have my unorthodox passwords to rely on. I've edited /etc/inetd.conf and also killed most daemons that usually run by default. I've hardened my notebook somewhat...standard procedure. Those of you visiting my site for info should be aware of how insecure wireless can be. There are LOTS of people out there into the 'wardriving' and 'warwalking' thing and will try to, at the very LEAST, get access to your internet connection for a free ride. This, I don't mind (I live in a cul-de-sac and my home is sort of in a depression and out-of-the-way). I DO mind cracking. That's why I hardened my notebook. It pays to be prepared.

Will I post my /etc/pcmcia/wlan-ng.opts file, to help the linux wireless neophyte? Probably not, as I hate editing that file and that's what I'll have to do if I post it here, since it'll have sensitive data. I'm telling you right now that ANY misplaced deadspace or even a 'legitimate' space between lines will fsck up your configuration. If you want to hack this file, you'd better do a backup of the original first! I'd said that I wouldn't post my config files.

UPDATE (2 Nov 02): I got my notebook's sound to work in Linux last night (8 Oct 2002). I was IRC'ing at OPN's #slackware and saw someone that was asking for help on his linux box's sound. Someone suggested a module, and since I wasn't busy, decided to also follow along. First, I did 'modprobe ac97_codec' and the system accepted that. I got all excited but when I tried to run XMMS or MPG123, dialog boxes appeared, stating I didn't have sound properly configured. I asked #slackware if I needed some other module, and, in fact, I did. The kicker was to find out which exact modules I needed. I knew I couldn't find any documentation on an ALi M1535 in /usr/src/linux/Documentation, so I became frustrated...again. I'd been working on getting sound configured since I've owned this laptop. So, I started loading two modules at a time, then trying XMMS. Once I had six modules loaded, XMMS worked. I've yet to whiddle down which exact ones I need, but here's what I did:

Keep in mind, this is for Slackware 8.1, although the below commands aren't distro-specific -

1. As root, type 'modprobe ac97_codec' and press the Enter key
2. type 'modprobe trident'
3. type 'modprobe sound' (this one may or may not be needed...XMMS will play without it, it seems but I keep it loaded anyways)
4. type 'modprobe soundcore'
5. type 'chmod 666 /dev/dsp'
6. type 'chmod 666 /dev/mixer'
7. and type 'chmod 666 /dev/audio'

Sound should work after you try this (provided you have those modules...if not, you can make those particular modules). the sound.o and soundcore.o modules might be essential to get sound working. What's important is that sound is working...I'll figure out which aren't needed later and post another update. Also, make sure you run the chmod commands.

As of 2 Nov, I found a problem with the above. Sound won't start working until I open either gmix or kmix. No adjustment of settings are needed, which is strange! I've not found a way to get around this (yet). I'll post here when a remedy is found.

The below information covers my installation of BackTrack v2.0. I'd previously been using an install of Slackware 10.1 but hadn't been using (or updating) the system...it was gathering dust:

As of April 21, 2007, I'm now running BackTrack v2.0 on the Toshiba.

BackTrack is based off Slax. BackTrack is also a merge of Whax and Audit...both were pen-testing distributions. I'd given Whax a try in the past (and also Whoppix) but had never installed them to the hard drive (they are live-cd distributions. BackTrack was easier to install to hard drive than Hakin9 (also a security-based live-cd). I'm very happy with BackTrack, but that's probably because I'm very familiar with Slackware. BackTrack detected almost all of my laptop's hardware, including the modem (but it didn't know what else to do with it).

I'm currently using Fluxbox on this system. The base install also has KDE, which runs fine on this laptop, but I've found that Fluxbox has less overhead. I can tell that they've lightened KDE, though.

I'll report any obvious (and non-obvious) issues as I detect them, but the install is very solid so far.

The below information covers when I installed Suse onto my notebook. I'm not running Suse anymore but the below info can still help others who want to get XFree86 working on their Toshiba 1805-S274s:

I installed Suse Linux 7.1 on my Toshiba 1805-S274 notebook on 13 February. In fact, I HTML'd this page using Quanta,an HTML coding tool for Linux. Anyways, this computer dualboots Windows XP and Suse. The notebook itself has a PIII 1.1GHz CPU (non-mobile), an 8X DVD/8X CDRW combination drive, 15" active matrix screen, integrated 10/100Mbps Intel NIC card, and two USB slots. In fact, here's the manufacturer data in .PDF format.

Suse integrates nicely with this notebook, though the video card and monitor are not supported with this package, though an upgraded X version should solve this (I'm using the 4.0.1 version).

The Linux OS installed without problem and I actually used Suse's install DVD! The configuration process is whereI ran into problems. The monitor and video card couldn't be detected, along with the sound card. This notebook uses the Trident CyberAlladin-T video card and an ALi (Acer Laboratories, Inc.) M1536 soundcard. All that's important with the monitor itself is the horizontal and vertical refresh rates (be careful with this, as you can destroy your monitor with the wrong rates). The Toshiba's manufacturer info didn't list the horizontal frequencies.

I got the X server semi-working by trying to use older vid card drivers for a different Trident card. I also got the X configurator to probe the card and used 15-59Hz as horizontal and 30-75Hz as vertical for the refresh frequencies, which worked after trying numerous other frequencies. It ran under a mode of 1024 x 768, but only half of it showed. I had to use a frame buffer.

I didn't know what a frame buffer was. I found a reference to it, prior to configuration, while I was perusing the web for Linux and Toshiba info (http://www.hartzler.net/satellite/). That page was no real help, but what it did was give me a clue on what to fix next.

I went to the Suse 7.1 Handbook, a very thick and thorough book on the ins-and-outs of Suse Linux. Specifically, I went to page 249, subsection 8.3.3. The info that helped me the most was the The Graphics Card is Not Supported section. You don't have the book? Here's the scans:

After following the instructions, I cranked up an X session by typing 'startx' and it worked, full screen and all!

Here's a copy of my XF86Config and dmesg files. Those may help others to get their X-server working on their Linux'd Toshiba notebooks.

The included modem is a winmodem. I've heard that you can get it running using the lucent linux drivers but haven't tried it yet. Once I've got it up and running, I'll post all the data on this page.

The soundcard is the Acer Laboratories (ALi) M1535. Suse 7.1 won't detect this card automatically.

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Copyright © 2003-2007 Ronald Sinclair (Substitute 'AT' in the email address with '@' when attempting to email)
Revised: 1 May 2007
URL: http://www.unixfool.com/

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