Installing Linux on a Toshiba Tecra M5

From Poggs' Wiki

I had the pleasure of using a Toshiba Tecra M5, was an upgrade from my Tecra M3. It's a well-built laptop with the following hardware:

• Intel 3945ABG wireless network card
• Intel 82573L Gigabit network card
• NVIDIA Quadro NVS 110M graphics card
• UPEK Fingerprint sensor

Processor

This machine has a Pentium-M Yonah processor. The Linux kernel needs to be configured to use a Pentium-M, not a Pentium 4, as these are a heavily-modified Pentium III design.

All-in-one patch

I have created an all-in-one patch for the Tecra M5 - however, since I no longer use the M5, it is somewhat outdated.

Wireless adapter

Intel are developing a Linux driver for the ipw3945 adapter. Support comprises of three parts:

• Kernel module
• Firmware blob
• Supervisory daemon

All may be downloaded from the page above, but are packaged in Debian for convenience.

Wired adapter

The wired network adapter is supported in the 2.6.17 kernel and above:

Device Drivers  --->
 Network device support  --->
  Ethernet (1000 Mbit)  --->
   <M> Intel(R) PRO/1000 Gigabit Ethernet support                                                                                                                        
   [*]   Use Rx Polling (NAPI)
   [ ]   Disable Packet Split for PCI express adapters

The latest version of the e1000 driver from Intel may also be used instead.

Graphics adapter

The NVIDIA adapter is supported using the package on the NVIDIA UNIX graphics drivers page. Debian users may install the nvidia-glx and nvidia-kernel-source packages to have graphics support built alongside the kernel.

Fingerprint sensor

I have been unable to get the fingerprint sensor to work. An ITP for a Debian package, bug #345270 has been opened but as of the time of writing, nothing further has happened.

Trusted Platform Module (TPM)

Kernel support exists for the TPM in the machine, but it is relatively hidden. The following kernel configuration will enable it:

  Device Drivers  --->
   Plug and Play support  --->
    [*] Plug and Play support
    [*]   Plug and Play ACPI support (EXPERIMENTAL)
   Character devices  --->
    Character devices  --->
     <M> TPM Hardware Support
     <M>   Infineon Technologies TPM Interface