Ubuntu and the Toshiba NB300 / NB305

[AndrewX192]

Thanks Sobolosrios and Andrew! Andrew's fix works for my nb305 perfectly. Would you mind sharing how you tweaked the battery life?

Great to here that it's working for you. I am currently changing my Ubuntu setup such that I have a hybrid SD/HDD boot for even better power management. I'l get the fixes up for power management once I have them all tested. You can try powertop for now and see what you can get.

Also, has anyone had success with the Toshiba HDD protection sensor?

[jmesmon]

I bisected the fn-key brightness adjustment failure.

Bug on the kernel's bugzilla:
https://bugzilla.kernel.org/show_bug.cgi?id=16405

First Bad commit:
[74a365b3f354fafc537efa5867deb7a9fadbfe27] ACPI: Populate DIDL before registering ACPI video device on Intel

Edit:
Temporary patch I've applied to git kernel to get brightness adjustment to work:

From ff3487138494a284542a8b25b083f332d4d75727 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: John Mesmon <jmesmon@gmail.com>
Date: Thu, 22 Jul 2010 23:41:12 -0400
Subject: [PATCH] acpi i915: be sure acpi video is registered

Even on error, intel_opregion_init needs to call acpi_video_register if
it has been defered due to the detection of opregion support in
drivers/acpi/video.c.
---
 drivers/gpu/drm/i915/i915_opregion.c |    3 +++
 1 files changed, 3 insertions(+), 0 deletions(-)

diff --git a/drivers/gpu/drm/i915/i915_opregion.c b/drivers/gpu/drm/i915/i915_opregion.c
index 8fcc75c..c92163c 100644
--- a/drivers/gpu/drm/i915/i915_opregion.c
+++ b/drivers/gpu/drm/i915/i915_opregion.c
@@ -533,6 +533,9 @@ int intel_opregion_init(struct drm_device *dev, int resume)
 	return 0;
 
 err_out:
+	if (!resume)
+		acpi_video_register();
+
 	iounmap(opregion->header);
 	opregion->header = NULL;
 	return err;
-- 
1.7.1.1

[nedflenders]

Hey Toshiba NB3005 owners,

Just wanted to drop a line on this.

In order to get bluetooth working, their are just a few simple steps now.
You no longer need to edit omnibook source and compile.

Just run this command and bluetooth will enable:

sudo modprobe omnibook ectype=14

You will also see the bluetooth icon appear on the taskbar.

You can make the module start on boot:

make a file called omnibook.modprobe in /etc/modprobe.d/ and place the module options in it:

options omnibook ectype=14 userset=1

append “omnibook” to /etc/modules to load it at boot:

$ sudo su
# echo “omnibook” > /etc/modules

My system info:
flenders@TOSH:~$ uname -a
Linux TOSH 2.6.32-23-generic #37-Ubuntu SMP Fri Jun 11 07:54:58 UTC 2010 i686 GNU/Linux
Lucid 10.04 LTS

[AcidSyl]

John, thanks a lot for finding out how to fix the brightness keys.

Since I am a Ubuntu beginner, I have no idea how to actually install the patch. Is there any easy way to do this?

[slj]

I found a better fix for suspend/hibernate that doesn't drain power down.
When the netbook is starting up, press F2 to enter the BIOS, goto the "Advanced" tab and select "Dynamic CPU Frequency Mode:" and set it to "Always low". I'm now working on a solution for the capslock light, and screen backlight controls. I've also made some changes which get me 8-9 hours of battery life, which is better but still a ways off of what Windows gets.

Just wanted to note that Andrew's fix worked for me--suspend/hibernate are now functional. My computer is a NB305-N310 running Ubuntu release 10.04.

Thanks!

[zairulazwan]

But if i only use ubuntu no other OS do i still need to edit GRUB

[slj]

But if i only use ubuntu no other OS do i still need to edit GRUB

I didn't need to edit GRUB and I'm in your situation--no other OS is installed on my computer.

[sobolosrios]

I found a better fix for suspend/hibernate that doesn't drain power down.
When the netbook is starting up, press F2 to enter the BIOS, goto the "Advanced" tab and select "Dynamic CPU Frequency Mode:" and set it to "Always low". I'm now working on a solution for the capslock light, and screen backlight controls. I've also made some changes which get me 8-9 hours of battery life, which is better but still a ways off of what Windows gets.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't this make it so that the CPU always runs at 1.0Ghz? While reasonable at times, this might not always be desirable performance wise.

[Domin8]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't this make it so that the CPU always runs at 1.0Ghz? While reasonable at times, this might not always be desirable performance wise.

i found this

For computers that are equipped with a mobile Pentium® processor with Intel® SpeedStepTM technology, you can set the CPU Frequency Mode as:

Dynamically Switchable —This mode is the default setting for your computer, and automatically changes the processor’s frequency depending on the power source:

❖ AC Power — If your computer is connected to the AC adapter, the CPU frequency mode is set to High for faster processing.

❖ Battery Power — If your computer is running on battery power, the CPU frequency mode is set to Low for slower processing, however, the processor will increase its speed when additional processing power is required. Switching the CPU to Low allows you to conserve power and extend the operating time of your battery.

Always High — Sets the CPU speed to High for both battery and AC power.

Always Low — Sets the CPU speed to Low for both battery and AC power.
By changing any of the options that appear in the dialog boxes and clicking Apply, you can reconfigure that function. Any options that you change will not take effect until after you restart your computer.

it seems as though always low would be better for battery life then, albeit not running at full speed. i wonder if its noticeable though...

[Optimus Prime]

it seems as though always low would be better for battery life then, albeit not running at full speed. i wonder if its noticeable though...

This is not quite true. Matthew Garrett has compiled some observations on power management which include this topic.

http://www.codon.org.uk/~mjg59/power...practices.html