Ubuntu Linux on a Toshiba Satellite U300

by filed under Linux.

In a few words…
Toshiba Satellite U300-11S works quite well, almost everything worked without too much troubles (the only device that doesn’t work at all is the internal modem, the only device that works just partially is the webcam).

Specifications

Toshiba Satellite U300-11SThe exact model I have tested is Satellite U300-11S. – Intel Core 2 Duo T7100 – Ram 1024 Mb – HDD 160 Gb – GPU Intel GMA X3100 (up to 251 Mb) – Webcam 1.3Mpx – Bluetooth – Wireless a/b/g – Display 13,3″ TruBrite – DVD Super Multi Double Layer – Windows Vista Home Premium (the bad, I’ve already asked toshiba to give me the money back)

lspci output

ale@toshiba-u300:~$ lspci 00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Mobile PM965/GM965/GL960 Memory Controller Hub (rev 03) 00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Mobile GM965/GL960 Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 03) 00:02.1 Display controller: Intel Corporation Mobile GM965/GL960 Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 03) 00:1a.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB UHCI Contoller #4 (rev 03) 00:1a.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB UHCI Controller #5 (rev 03) 00:1a.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller #2 (rev 03) 00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) HD Audio Controller (rev 03) 00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) PCI Express Port 1 (rev 03) 00:1c.1 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) PCI Express Port 2 (rev 03) 00:1c.2 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) PCI Express Port 3 (rev 03) 00:1c.3 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) PCI Express Port 4 (rev 03) 00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB UHCI Controller #1 (rev 03) 00:1d.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB UHCI Controller #2 (rev 03) 00:1d.2 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB UHCI Controller #3 (rev 03) 00:1d.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller #1 (rev 03) 00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 Mobile PCI Bridge (rev f3) 00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 82801HEM (ICH8M) LPC Interface Controller (rev 03) 00:1f.1 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801HBM/HEM (ICH8M/ICH8M-E) IDE Controller (rev 03) 00:1f.2 SATA controller: Intel Corporation 82801HBM/HEM (ICH8M/ICH8M-E) SATA AHCI Controller (rev 03) 00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) SMBus Controller (rev 03) 03:00.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8101E PCI Express Fast Ethernet controller (rev 01) 04:00.0 Network controller: Intel Corporation PRO/Wireless 3945ABG Network Connection (rev 02) 0a:01.0 FireWire (IEEE 1394): Ricoh Co Ltd R5C832 IEEE 1394 Controller (rev 05) 0a:01.1 Generic system peripheral [0805]: Ricoh Co Ltd R5C822 SD/SDIO/MMC/MS/MSPro Host Adapter (rev 22) 0a:01.2 System peripheral: Ricoh Co Ltd R5C843 MMC Host Controller (rev 12) 0a:01.3 System peripheral: Ricoh Co Ltd R5C592 Memory Stick Bus Host Adapter (rev 12) 0a:01.4 System peripheral: Ricoh Co Ltd xD-Picture Card Controller (rev 12)

lsusb

ale@toshiba-u300:~$ lsusb Bus 006 Device 001: ID 0000:0000 Bus 007 Device 004: ID 04f2:b008 Chicony Electronics Co., Ltd ...

Linux distribution

The distribution I have installed is Kubuntu 7.10 (Gutsy Gibbon) 64 BIT version.

Audio

Don’t work out of the box, to fix it: apt-get install linux-backports-modules-2.6.22-14-generic A small issue remains, the volume control is bound to the headphones instead of the speakers, to control the speaker volume you must use the software controls. The integrated microphone works just fine.

Graphic adapter

Don’t work out of the box, to fix it: wget http://ppa.launchpad.net/kyle/ubuntu/pool/main/x/xserver-xorg-video-intel/xserver-xorg-video-intel_2.1.1-0ubuntu10_amd64.deb sudo dpkg -i xserver-xorg-video-intel_2.1.1-0ubuntu10_amd64.deb then: dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg External monitors works great: just use something like this: xrandr --output VGA --auto 3D acceleration is quite good and glxgears gives about 1150 FPS.

Bluetooth

Thanks to Mihail (see comment) we now know how to make it work. See also this page for source compilation and other details: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=316358 If you don’t want to compile yourself, here is my working module for kernel 2.6.22-14-generic: omnibook.ko Copy the .ko file to /lib/modules/2.6.22-14-generic/kernel/drivers/misc/ as root, then run depmod -a modprobe omnibook cat /proc/omnibook/bluetooth Yuo should see the message: Bluetooth adapter is present and enabled. dmesg Check dmesg output, you should see something like: [ 1660.325466] omnibook: Driver version 2.20070211-trunk. [ 1660.325534] omnibook: Toshiba Satellite U300 detected. That’s all, your bluetooth is enabled. To enable permanently you need to load the module at startup like explained in the above mentioned forum page.

Networking

Works fine, both ethernet and wifi. Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8101E PCI Express Fast Ethernet controller (rev 01) Network controller: Intel Corporation PRO/Wireless 3945ABG Network Connection (rev 02) The wireless adapter works with a non free driver, ubuntu installed it automatically. WPA/PSK encryption works, other configrations not tested.

Card reader

Works fine, tested only with an SD card.

ACPI

Not tested much:
  • suspend to RAM works
  • hibernate works.
Sometimes (at random) closing/opening the lid does not trigger suspend, software and harware (on/off button) controls work allways ok.

Webcam

Webcam doesn’t work out of the box, to fix it (partially) you must install the right driver, follow the instructions from http://linux-uvc.berlios.de I was able to record a short video with ffmpeg, other programs just segfault.

Modem

The modem is not supported at the moment: see this link The softmodem chip 0x11c11040 is not yet supported under Linux. Code must be developed by manufacture LSI Inc. See details in http://linmodems.technion.ac.il/bigarch/archive-seventh/msg00915.html Read InfoGeneral.txt about alternatives modem hardware. Identifying PCI bus slots with candidate modems. === Finished modem firmware and bootup diagnostics section. === === Next deducing cogent software === Analysing card in PCI bus 00:1b.0, writing to scanout.00:1b.0 The High Defintion Audio card with PCI ID 8086:284b may host a soft modem chip. IDENT=Agere_11c11040_chip_is_not_supported

Conclusion

I like it, it’s a small but not too small laptop, quite affordable and Linux runs well. Everything works (almost perfectly) except the internal modem. I just hope they will give the money back for the unused Windows licence.

50 Responses to “Ubuntu Linux on a Toshiba Satellite U300”

  • Ruben

    Can you tell us what is the wireless chipset?
    An ‘lspci’ would also be very appreciated.

    Thanks!

  • Alessandro Pasotti

    Yes, the keyboard seems quite poor (too flexible) in the hjkil zone, but I didn’t notice overheat on the keyboard, instead I notice overheat at the left side of the touchpad.

  • Seb

    Thanks for this post, I’m looking forward to get that notebook and I’m only a Linux user.

    Btw, under Gnome, you can assign the volume control to the audio channel you want.

    On my Satellite L100, the function keys used to control the volume but it stopped working a while ago. Now I need to assign the key to PCM in the audio prefs. Not sure if this would work with a dimmer though.

  • Johan Tidemand

    Thx alot for the great post. Was just looking for an audio fix for my new Toshiba u300 🙂

  • seng

    Hi!
    How is battery life? I have a u300 and i get 20-30% less battery life compared to vista… do u know a way to fix it?
    thanks!

  • Luke

    I have this laptop – U300 14B, installed linux, works great as you say, only problem i can find is that i cant seem to get the bluetooth working on it!! any suggestions?

  • Alessandro Pasotti

    Hi Luke,

    I did’nt test bluetooth yet, but it seems like the bt chip is not recognized by the system…

    I will add a note in the article to indicate that BT should be further investigated.

  • ZeligWeb

    Hi,

    Ubuntu 7.10 doesn’t detect my Bluetooth adapter. I know its there because Windows Vista does show the adaptor and it works just fine.

    When I run lspci I don’t see any Bluetooth reference.

    Running lsusb doesn’t show any Bluetooth adaptor either, just the Chicony USB webcam.

    hcitool dev nor hciconfig show Bluetooth devices.

    I made sure I had bluez-utils & gnome-bluetooth by running:

    $ sudo apt-get install bluez-utils gnome-bluetooth

    Any ideas? Has anyone had positive experiences with their Toshiba Satellite Pro U300 and its Bluetooth adapter?

    Zelig

  • Andrew Gee

    Hey,

    I got a U300 recently. The problem I have is that the integrated microphone doesn’t work. I just get nothing when I try to record from it.

    Thanks
    Andrew

  • Alessandro Pasotti

    @Joaquim:

    I agree it’s confusing, but since AMD was the first to release a consumer 64 bit processor, for historical reasons the 64 bit versions of Linux are named amd64.

    Both Intel and AMD 64 bit CPU share the same specifications, so the amd64 packages are suitable for both CPU families.

  • Mihail Keepa

    Bluetooth works well on u300!
    You have to use omnibook driver to enable this.
    NOTICE to edit laptop.h source, add this:
    {
    .callback = dmi_matched,
    .ident = “Toshiba Satellite U300”,
    .matches = {
    DMI_MATCH(DMI_SYS_VENDOR, “TOSHIBA”),
    DMI_MATCH(DMI_PRODUCT_NAME, “Satellite U300”),
    },
    .driver_data = (void*) TSM70
    },
    in the middle, and have fun!

  • Alessandro Pasotti

    @Mihail

    Thanks!!! It works, I will update the article accordingly and load a pre-compiled module for the lazy boys 😉

  • Luke

    hmm…tried using that precompiled module, su’d, copied it to the specified directory, started running the commands as given at the top, modprobe omnibook returns

    FATAL: Error inserting omnibook (/lib/modules/2.6.22-14-generic/kernel/drivers/misc/omnibook.ko): Invalid module format

    as i’ve been using linux only a few months, when I saw this…well, I’m not quite sure what to do! I thought about editing the code directly, but where is the omnibook source located?

    cheers

    luke

  • Alessandro Pasotti

    @Luke

    Check that download is correct with
    md5sum omnibook.ko
    should return:
    e24c72fc0a072ce4271875228c2e7532

    Make sure you are using exactly the same kernel version and linux distribution (mine is ubuntu gutsy amd64).

    You must download omnibook sources as indicated in the ubuntuforum article, they are not installed by default.

  • Luke

    ahh…mine is ubuntu gutsy i386… 32 bit architecture isn’t it…not 64… what difference will this make though? It’s a U300 14B…

  • Alessandro Pasotti

    On a core 2 duo you can install 64 bit distributions.
    32 bit will also work but will be somewhat slower.

    The drawback of 64 bit distributions is that you will have a hard time finding (closed source) codecs for some multimedia formats (like mms for instance).

  • fastjet

    Hello there,

    I followed the cmd for the lazyboy.It doesnt work.
    I followed this http://www.itopen.it/2007/11/22/ubuntu-linux-toshiba-satellite-u300/
    and I followed this http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=316358

    No luck to active the bluetooth. I will give it one more try.

    dmesg
    omnibook: Driver version 2.20070211-trunk.
    omnibook: Unknown model.
    omnibook: dmi feature has no backend table, io_op not initialized.
    omnibook: version feature has no backend table, io_op not initialized.
    omnibook: Enabled features: dmi version.
    r8169: eth0: link down
    r8169: eth0: link up
    remove_proc_entry: /proc/omnibook busy, count=1
    omnibook: Module is unloaded.
    omnibook: Driver version 2.20070211-trunk.
    omnibook: Unknown model.
    omnibook: dmi feature has no backend table, io_op not initialized.
    omnibook: version feature has no backend table, io_op not initialized.
    omnibook: Enabled features: dmi version.
    omnibook: Module is unloaded.
    omnibook: Driver version 2.20070211-trunk.
    omnibook: Unknown model.
    omnibook: dmi feature has no backend table, io_op not initialized.
    omnibook: version feature has no backend table, io_op not initialized.
    omnibook: Enabled features: dmi version.
    omnibook: Module is unloaded.
    omnibook: Driver version 2.20070211-trunk.
    omnibook: Unknown model.
    omnibook: dmi feature has no backend table, io_op not initialized.
    omnibook: version feature has no backend table, io_op not initialized.
    omnibook: Enabled features: dmi version.
    omnibook: Module is unloaded.
    omnibook: Driver version 2.20070211-trunk.
    omnibook: Unknown model.
    omnibook: dmi feature has no backend table, io_op not initialized.
    omnibook: version feature has no backend table, io_op not initialized.
    omnibook: Enabled features: dmi version.

  • Adam

    I have the u300-13u model. I’m noticing the fan on the left hand side (closest to the screen) coming on every few minutes or even every 30 seconds for a 5 second burst even when I only have a web browser running. I’ve got Ubuntu Gutsy running at the moment.

    Firstly, does this happen on your models and secondly, does anyone know of any way of controlling this activity (modifying the tolerances for the fans or something similar)?

    Thanks
    Adam

  • Alessandro Pasotti

    Hi Adam,

    Yes, this happens to me too.

    I don’t know how to control this, but whenever this happens I check the CPU activity with the command “top” and I see firefox or other applications eating up to 60% CPU.
    When the CPU activity is relatively high the CPU can become hot and the fan starts automatically.

  • Luke

    I keep on finding little things not quite working with ubuntu on this laptop (u300 14b). I cannot seem to get compiz working on it, the GM965/GL960 graphics controller is not supported so I can’t get nice little effects with it such as those in compiz-fusion. I am still trying to get the bluetooth working on it, I cannot get DVD playback even with all the gstreamer plugins and even with xine. If anyone has an answer to any number of these problems, i would be grateful.

  • Gaglia

    Ciao, tnx for this great howto! 😀 I managed to make everything work fine on Ubuntu 7.10 32bit, except for the internal modem and the webcam. Tough if the webcam is of minor concern to me, i’d like very much to use the internal modem. Can you tell me if in the meantime a driver has been developed? And, if not, is there anything we can do? (ex.: an online petition asking for a driver etc.)

  • Luke

    Even though I cant show off the wonders of compiz-fusion, its still a great linux runner isnt it… anyone who can get that to work, i will love them forever…(well, not really, but you know what i mean).

  • netasceta

    Thanks for the great howto and the deep research.

    I got today my U300-14q but I’m getting trouble with video.

    First, laptop’s screen looks ok but 1/4 shifted is not used by the bar. Second, I only was able to mirror monitors and didn’t manage to extend the laptop’s screen to my LCD monitor.

    Do you mind to post your xorg.conf to try with your settings?

    Thanks a lot in advance,

    m.

  • kaotiklabs

    If you have a Toshiba Satellite Pro U300-13h the correct code to add in laptop.h is the next:

    {
    .callback = dmi_matched,
    .ident = “Toshiba Satellite Pro U300”,
    .matches = {
    DMI_MATCH(DMI_SYS_VENDOR, “TOSHIBA”),
    DMI_MATCH(DMI_PRODUCT_NAME, “Satellite Pro U300”),
    },
    .driver_data = (void*) TSM70
    },

    See ya mates!

  • al

    for those who run into the same problem:

    ubuntu 7.1 (32bit) – the only option during the install was to use the whole harddrive (no option of partitioning)

    took me a while to find out why, but the toshiba had 4 partitions on it already(d:, recovery partition, etc) and that seems to be the maximum. I had to delete the d:\ in windows and then it worked fine.

  • Antonio

    Hi all,

    my U300-13E with ubuntu hardy heron is working fine. Only modem agere now LSI “11c1:1040” is not working. Any news from LSI about support?
    Thanks
    Antonio

  • Anonymous

    On the bluetooth Front, The module for the Toshiba Satellite U300 14B seems to be a Taiyo Yuden EYTFXCS Class 2 Bluetooth Module. not sure whether that omnibook module will work for this chip…

  • Luke

    The webcam for this laptop does work – try aMSN as a client, that works for me, no other program seems to work as of yet…

    compiz fusion will work on this laptop, even without proper drivers i believe. If you get the appropriate modules from synaptic or aptitude, and when trying to enable them, it reports that they cannot be enabled, try executing the following at the terminal…

    SKIP_CHECKS=yes compiz –replace ccp &

    🙂

  • Enrico

    Hi,
    thanks for this great description.
    I have a Toshiba U305 – S7467 and it works great (with Ubuntu Hardy Heron) with the exception of modem and Bluetooth.
    I compiled the omnibook module modifying the laptop.h in a way similar to the one suggested by kaotiklabs, but I have not been lucky?
    Any input or help? I don’t think that U300 pro and U305-7467 uses a different blueetooth chip, so my hope is to be able to activate it.
    Thanks,
    Enrico

  • Yen

    Thanks 4 you advance. Now I have a new Ubuntu 8.04 and a lot of things work better!! but not bluetooth and mic. 4 mic – when I installed new ALSA and play volume control evrything is ok;)

  • Peter

    Hello,

    I used this page to configure Kubuntu on my Satellite U300-14U, which all seemed to work well as described here.

    However, since the last update (21) of my kernel on Kubuntu 8.04, there seems to have been a change in the driver of my wireless device: some wireless networks are listed, others aren’t (amongst which my home network).
    If I reboot with kernel 19, all is well again, and the same wireless networks as before are listed.

    Has anyone noticed this problem?
    Does anyone know about the difference? Are some wireless networks somehow ‘filtered’ differently?

  • Jan

    Hi, I have Toshiba U300-11Z with Ubuntu 8.10 on it. I’ve upgraded recently from 8.04 – everything seems to work quite fine with the only exception of the sound. I’ve fixed the problem with no sound by uninstalling PulseAudio but still I have a problem with the “hard” sound control – once I touch it, an icon of sound control appears and remains twinkling and the computer freezes. Tnx for any idea.

  • Luke

    Regarding Bluetooth:

    The speech marks around the code posted by mihal need to be replaced by the ones in the code already – i.e. copying and pasting from the website doesnt work. The bluetooth finally works brilliantly

  • Luke

    @ Jan:

    I have experienced the same problem. Using the laptop’s built in sound control wheel on the side causes an iterative increase in volume and is horrible. I have done some research, and I have found the solution. It is a problem with evdev. Download the evdev source at http://packages.ubuntu.com/source/karmic/xserver-xorg-input-evdev and then unzip it, and edit src/evdev.c. Find the following lines

    /* filter repeat events for chording keys */
    if (value == 2 &&
    (ev->code == KEY_LEFTCTRL || ev->code == KEY_RIGHTCTRL ||

    ev->code == KEY_LEFTSHIFT || ev->code == KEY_RIGHTSHIFT ||
    ev->code == KEY_LEFTALT || ev->code == KEY_RIGHTALT ||
    ev->code == KEY_LEFTMETA || ev->code == KEY_RIGHTMETA ||
    ev->code == KEY_CAPSLOCK || ev->code == KEY_NUMLOCK ||
    ev->code == KEY_SCROLLLOCK)) /* XXX windows keys? */
    return;

    Immediately after these lines, add:

    /* fix events for volume keys */
    if(ev->code == KEY_VOLUMEDOWN || ev->code == KEY_VOLUMEUP) //MODIFY THIS LINE
    {
    //post a keydown and then a keyup, as media keys have no automatic key-up
    xf86PostKeyboardEvent(pInfo->dev, code, 1);
    xf86PostKeyboardEvent(pInfo->dev, code, 0);
    return;
    }

    Then make sure you have the correct programs for compiling:

    sudo apt-get install build-essential libtool automake gcc xorg-dev xutils-dev

    cd back out of the src directory, and run:

    ./configure

    make

    sudo make install

    sudo cp /usr/local/lib/xorg/modules/input/evdev_drv.so /usr/lib/xorg/modules/input/

    and hey presto.

    I found this solution at http://www.tsenyurt.com/2009/03/29/ubuntu-volume-wheel-problem-fix/

    hope this helps

  • Alessandro Pasotti

    @Luke,

    thank you for your comments, if somebody still need to be convinced about the advantages of open source, this is the definitive proof that cooperation and the possibility to modify the software can solve all problems.

  • Kain

    Dear Author,

    Do you have a module for bluetooth adapter for kernel 2.6.32-25?

    Thank you and wait for your reply.

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