Looking for seal of approval on Toshiba Satellite for Ubuntu

[nogoodreason]

I plan to buy the following laptop and run Ubuntu on it. I am, however, quite the Linux n00b and felt it would be wise to get the seal of approval from you guys before placing the order.

I'm also wondering whether to put x64-bit Ubuntu on there, or whether that'll just open it up to a world of extra conflict issues. :S

The laptop is:
TOSHIBA Satellite T130-16W [click for full spec]

CPU Intel® Pentium® Processor SU4100
- 1.30 GHz
- 800 MHz FSB
- 2 MB L2 Cache

RAM 3GB installed DDR3 RAM (800 MHz)
- 4GB maximum RAM capacity
Graphics card Mobile Intel® GMA 4500M
Screen type Widescreen LCD
Screen resolution - WXGA
- 1366 x 768 pixels
Screen size 13.3"
Screen features LED backlighting, 16:9 aspect ratio
Hard drive 320GB SATA 5400rpm
Optical disk drive None
Memory card reader 1 x 5-in-1 Bridge Media slot (supports SD™ Cards up to 16 GB, Memory Stick® up to 256 MB, Memory Stick Pro™ up to 4 GB, MultiMedia Card™ up to 1 GB and xD-Picture Card™ up to 2 GB)
USB 3 x USB 2.0 (including 1 supporting Sleep-and-Charge)
FireWire No
Modem/Ethernet 1 x RJ-45 Ethernet port
Wi-Fi 802.11b/g/n WLAN

In future I may move up to 4GB RAM and a better hard drive once SSDs drop in price.

[strikoo]

Probably the worst solution for Ubuntu is a Toshiba notebook.
There are some threads on notebook recommendations so take a look at them.

[nogoodreason]

Probably the worst solution for Ubuntu is a Toshiba notebook.

Why do you say that? Would this be because of the hardware they use?

[PhaseTwenty]

I have a Satellite P200 (about July 2007) where most everything I care about works, with some exceptions. I haven't tried the webcam so I don't know the state of that, however the bluetooth is a story where it takes some work to get working in my model http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=316358

[nogoodreason]

Any idea how much of that has been fixed with later distros of Ubuntu?

To be honest, things like Bluetooth aren't a huge concern. As long as I can use it well enough, access WiFi and get the most out of my battery, I'm happy.

[PhaseTwenty]

I just installed Lucid on this thing and I'm investigating a possible improvement: the bluetooth seemed to work on the Live CD but it's not working now in the real installation.

[lisati]

Here's a thread about the experiences of Toshiba users: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1467727

[squee]

I plan to buy the following laptop and run Ubuntu on it. I am, however, quite the Linux n00b and felt it would be wise to get the seal of approval from you guys before placing the order.

I'm also wondering whether to put x64-bit Ubuntu on there, or whether that'll just open it up to a world of extra conflict issues. :S

The laptop is:
TOSHIBA Satellite T130-16W [click for full spec]

CPU Intel® Pentium® Processor SU4100
- 1.30 GHz
- 800 MHz FSB
- 2 MB L2 Cache

RAM 3GB installed DDR3 RAM (800 MHz)
- 4GB maximum RAM capacity
Graphics card Mobile Intel® GMA 4500M
Screen type Widescreen LCD
Screen resolution - WXGA
- 1366 x 768 pixels
Screen size 13.3"
Screen features LED backlighting, 16:9 aspect ratio
Hard drive 320GB SATA 5400rpm
Optical disk drive None
Memory card reader 1 x 5-in-1 Bridge Media slot (supports SD™ Cards up to 16 GB, Memory Stick® up to 256 MB, Memory Stick Pro™ up to 4 GB, MultiMedia Card™ up to 1 GB and xD-Picture Card™ up to 2 GB)
USB 3 x USB 2.0 (including 1 supporting Sleep-and-Charge)
FireWire No
Modem/Ethernet 1 x RJ-45 Ethernet port
Wi-Fi 802.11b/g/n WLAN

In future I may move up to 4GB RAM and a better hard drive once SSDs drop in price.

I know that this is late, but in the search for answers myself I came across your post as I have the same machine as yourself.

First off it is a good machine, but not with Ubuntu.
- I had issues with the wifi (cant even remember how I fixed that),
- mics dont work (at least on skype),
- external audio jack doesnt work,
- screen brightness cant be changed (my current big gripe),
- multi-touch doesnt work,
- the sleep/charge USB thing doesnt work.

There are better laptops out there for ubuntu. I'm just glad I didnt blindly wipe Windows7 off the machine like I have done in the past. With this, it is still required.

[danielgrosvenor]

Thanks for sharing your experience.

In the end I went with a Dell Inspiron 1370. I took the plunge and totally wiped all traces of Windows and just went straight in with Lucid Lynx. There were a few minor niggles (mainly to do with screen brightness) but an afternoon of Googling and Terminal tweaking was enough to set them straight, and I'm now very happy with this machine. It was a similar price to the Toshiba but I'd say is a much sturdier build with equally great battery life, and - as the previous poster has illustrated - the Dell is much more Linux-compatible.

[ice333]

I'm just about to buy a Toshiba because they are a damn good brand of machine, well made and reliable, this thread caught my eye and somehow I just knew there would be problems with Linux (all & any distros) & new, modern up to date laptops........I have had success/luck with Linux Mint 8 on a desktop but then I dont bother with wireless and have a simple integrated intel graphics, this is probably why it runs ok, if I had an ATI or NVidia or wanted hassle free wireless I wouldn't touch Linux with a bargepole and this is why I wouldn't even think of trying to install Linux on a laptop, too many thousands of horror stories and general heartache involved.

To the OP, I wish you luck with your Toshiba, my advice is give Win 7 a try, I hear its great and everything works on laptops really well.

It's a shame, a real shame, but I can see why so many folks say that "Linux Sucks", because, um, actually it does, badly