Toshiba A75: Linux Distribution Comparison
I'm a longtime Slackware user (see my Toshiba A75-Slackware page), but I've recently decided to branch out and try other Linux/BSD distributions on my laptop. This is an ongoing project and I'll post the results below. Last updated: 22 January 2005
Goal: Identify which *nix os/distribution works best/easiest with the Toshiba A75 (hyperthreaded mobile Pentium / ATI Radeon Mobility 9000 / Atheros (madwifi) wireless).
Notes so far:
Mini tests - distros which I tried but which didn't work for some reason:
Ubuntu - installed it, and it could see the wireless device, but I couldn't connect to the web (not sure if it was a dhcp issue, dns, or what). I tried using the gnome network tool but it crashed when I tried it. This happened consistently on two installs. I'm dependent on wireless now so I decided to wait until for the next version before testing further.
Fedora - wasn't able to install Fedore Core 3, I had a problem where the installer couldn't read the partition table and aborted the install. There's a bugzilla bug for this. I think this is related to my repartitioning the drive with PartitionMagic in Windows. Others have successfully installed Fedora - see Fedora Core 3 Tips & Hints for more tips on getting Fedora installed.
So far: If you want a distribution that "just works", Kanotix is the winner - every thing works without special configuration, and, also being a livecd, it's easy to get up and working right way. If you're familiar with Linux and want a distribution you can tweak and customize, take a look at Gentoo - everything works here too (even if it takes a little longer) and it's the most fun I've had with Linux in a long time...
If you have ideas for distros which would be good to try on this type of laptop, email me and let me know at jeffmccoy@yahoo.com.
Groundrules: I've decided to evaluate each distribution based on how well/easily it can do the following tasks. These are all very subjective; they're what I, personally, want/need the laptop to be able to do. The plan is to install a distro and use it long enough to go through the tasks below - I'll try for at least a week per distro (unless the networking has trouble, then it may not last that long...):
Install - To make matters easier, I'm going to install to an existing partition, not partition the entire disk. This will leave the install portion of the test a little incomplete - some distros include extensive partitioning tools, while others are more basic - but to keep things safer and easier for me, I've pre-partitioned the disk, and I'm going to install to an existing partition. Also, to be simpler, I'll keep the entire distro on one partition (rather than use separate ones for /usr, /boot, /home, etc).
Networking - The Toshiba A75 has a modem, ethernet port (Realtek 8139) and wireless (Atheros). I don't have dialup so I'm not going to test the modem, but I'll test the other two. Since the Realtek 8139 seems to be the most widely supported ethernet chipset I don't see a lot of problems there, but the Atheros will be the real test.
Sound - Get sound working (use Alsa). Toshiba A75 has is AC97 using snd-atiixp module.
Video & X11- get video working at 1280x800 resolution with xfree/xorg radeon driver or commercial ati drivers. Be able to use the touchpad (identified as Alps) and an external USB scroll mouse at the same time.
USB Devices- be able to mount/use usb thumb drive (actually I have a compact flash card that goes into a usb thing that plugs into the computer, it's about the same size as a thumb drive) and an external usb hard drive (Maxtor One-Touch).
Fonts/Mozilla - install TTF fonts, including Asian ones, and be able to view Asian language web pages in Mozilla (using tw.yahoo.com as an example).
Java program - Be able to run a Java program. In particular, I use Secure Data Manager to manage passwords, Plcash to manage finances, and Jedit for editing.
DVD - Play a DVD. Either use vlc, ogle, xine or mplayer, or choose between all.
Video/Movie - Play a downloaded video (for the test, a movie trailer using Sorensen codec).
Realplayer - Install/run Realplayer and listen to the BBC.
Install Checkinstall & compile a program. I use checkinstall to easily create software packages (rpm, tgz or debs) - when it's installed and working, just type checkinstall instead of make install, and a software package is created and installed. For the compiling a program test, I'll choose a fairly simple program without complicated dependencies - like emelfm file manager or bsd-games (to get boggle working! some bsd games packages leave it out..).
Install gramps. Gramps is a more complicated program. It's a family history program based on Gnome2, it also requires gnome-python bindings, etc. It's a really nice family history program so I'd like to be able to run it. It doesn't matter to the test if I have to compile by hand or I can get it installed in binary form.
Install and use webmin. While some distros include a lot of custom admin tools, if I'm going to be trying out very different systems, I'd like a common way to administer them.
Play tuxracer (3d game). If possible, get the appropriate video drivers to play tuxracer.
Think of the long term. A subjective last test. One thing I've liked about Slackware is that, while it can be a challenge to get set up, it's relatively straightforward to maintain over time. I've found with others that sometimes things are set up ok right away, but after a while, the system gets messed up (this is probably due to my inexperience with other distributions so I'm not trying to criticize anything in particular). In any case, I'm going to try, as objectively as possible, to also look ahead and, based on a few days with a distribution, see how easy/difficult I think it would be to maintain long term.