Upgrading to Fedora Core 3 on a Toshiba M35-S320

Updated: 1/21/05

OS upgrades are always filled with unpleasant surprises, but updating my FC2 laptop to run FC3 was pretty straightforward. If you need instructions on creating a dual-boot system on a Windows laptop, you might want to start here. If you already have a working dual-boot system, or just want a linux-only Toshiba, continue on.

First, I put the first FC3 CD into the drive and rebooted. My partitions were already set up, but I reformatted /, /boot, and swap partitions; I kept the /home partition intact. I did an everything install, and like my FC2 experience, had no problems.

Setting up X required much less work this time around. I downloaded the latest nVidia driver (1.0-6629) and followed the install instructions in the README file. I added the proper modelines for 1280x800 support in /etc/X11/xorg.conf, changed the HorizSync and VertRefresh settings, and everything just worked. The trackpad and USB mouse are working fine without adding the Synaptics driver or adding another section to the config file. Also, the rather infamous Toshiba keyboard-repeat seems to be fixed without having to resort to any of the usual hacks. A copy of my new xorg.conf file is here.

By default, the nvidia module will not load on reboot (something to do with udev). The workaround is to run the following as root:

cp -a /dev/nvidia* /etc/udev/devices
chown root.root /etc/udev/devices/nvidia*

To get the builtin wireless working, download and install the latest ipw2200 drivers. Version .13 is confirmed to work. Load the firmware in /lib/firmware, and follow the install instructions for the driver. After installing the drivers via make install, reboot and it should all just work.

I can mount data CDs in /media/cdrecorder, which is the mountpoint specified in /etc/fstab. Why /mnt/cdrom isn't good enough anymore, I don't know. Ejecting CDs now works fine. Earlier, I was unable to eject them unless I was root and ran eject hdc, but this was fixed after updating the system not too long ago.

Besides the above, here's what I know works:

  • Wired networking
  • USB mouse
  • Ripping CDs

I haven't had the chance to test that everything on the laptop is working as it should, however. Here's what I don't know about:

  • Firewire
  • Playing DVDs
  • Infra-red networking
  • Wireless networking via pcmcia
  • Burning CD-ROMs

That's it for now. If you have any questions, feel free to ask. You should also check out Mauriat Miranda's excellent FC3 install guide.