toshiba

Install Ubuntu 14.04 on a Chromebook

There are plenty of sites out there that give advise on this topic, unfortunately most of them are highly ad-infested to the point of being unreadable as well as only containing single bit rather that an overall picture. This is a collection of useful links to source materials as well as steps necessary to install.    by  Joe Wilcox  Resource Links Crouton Github: https://github.com/dnschneid/crouton - Thank you David Schneider for the excellent work !!! Developer Info for Chromebooks: https://www.chromium.org/chromium-os/developer-information-for-chrome-os-devices Put Cromebook into "developer mode" Back up any data as the process wipes the system Create a restore image for Chrome OS (install the Restore Image Chrome Extension for this task) Enter Developer Mode - hold down ESC and Refresh (F3) keys and press the Power button Download Crouton Script Download link for installer: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/dnschneid/crouton/master/installer/crouton Installing Crouton CTRL+Alt+t to open Cronos Prompt + type "shell" to enter proper bash shell. To see the list of supported releases: sh -e ~/Downloads/crouton -r list To see a list of the supported desktop envoironments (target names): sh -e ~/Downloads/crouton -t help I generally install LXDE on 'resource-challenged' devices. shell sudo sh -e ~/Downloads/crouton -r RELEASENAME -t TARGETNAME -e The '-e' at the end is optional to encrypt the chroot. Which is probably a good idea as the Chromebook in developer mode is completely open and allows any user to access. If you do not specify the Release it defaults to Ubuntu 12.04 (precise) My default install would be: sudo sh -e ~/Downloads/crouton -r trusty -t…

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Installing Ubuntu on Toshiba Z930 Ultrabook

Since I have been really happy with the performance and mobility on the Toshiba Ultrabooks (see previous blog entries) I have now chosen to stay with a tried brand and uprgrade to the Z930 i7 model. Unfortunately this now comes with added hurdles by our good friends at Microsoft in the form of UEFI and the pre-installed disaster that is Windows 8. Instead of totally wiping the system as I did with the Z830 model I decided to install next to Windows 8 as lots of people have reported problems with the UEFI bootloader and the BIOS if you start messing with the pre-installed partitions (specially the EFI partition). EDIT (2013-06-10): It turns out that Ubuntu works just fine without the factory partitions (which I found out accidentally & not necessarily planned ... see cautionary note at the end of this article). The important part is the "Fix GRUB bootloader" section below as the unit refuses to boot without that step. Hat tip and thank you to the boot-repair developers ! Install procedure Resize Windows partition I resized the Windows partition in the Windows Control Panel (after I spent considerable time actually finding the damn thing in that crazy Metro UI) and removed all the Windows Crapware that comes pre-installed with this thing (such as Norton Security, Microsoft Office and other annoying ad-ware). I decieded to use 200GB for the Ubuntu system leaving roughly 40GB for Windows. Boot off the Ubuntu 13.04 USB Keep F12 key pressed on power up…

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Getting a handle on Ubuntu mobile power management

To get an idea on the current power usage and some suggestions on how to improve power-management 'powertop' is a must-have. sudo apt-get install powertop Powertop Screenshot For some more detailed suggestions this is a good start: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/PowerManagement/ReducedPower

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Turning the Toshiba Z830 into a Ubuntu Ultrabook

EDIT: Here are some tweaks if you install 12.04 (Precise Pangolin). Since I will have to do a fair amount of traveling in the next year I was in need of upgrading my trusted workhorse of Toshiba Qosmio F60 to a more portable option that will be easier on the shoulders during long travels. After doing some research into which of the major manufacturers offer the best support for a Linux based Operating System it came down to a final two: the Intel i7 variants of Samsung Series 9 and the Toshiba Z830. Thanks to these sites for some useful content: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/HardwareSupport/ http://www.linlap.com/wiki/toshiba+portege+z830-10f http://blog.stevenocchipinti.com/2011/12/toshiba-portege-z830.html http://www.bestultrabooks.co/ In the end it came down to Toshiba having full-size VGA, HDMI and Ethernet connectors at the rear of the unit (no need for carrying adapters) and getting a very decent price rebate for the Toshiba. The first and only task in the included Windows 7 OS was to create a recovery USB drive using the Toshiba included utility (on the desktop). You need a 12GB USB stick (found out the hard way after buying an 8GB version with the unit on advice of the sales guy). After booting from a USB stick created from the Ubuntu 11.10 ISO (http://www.ubuntu.com/download/ubuntu/download) with Ubuntu Bootdisk Creator (or alternatively UnetBootin) I opted to wipe the whole SSD drive. If you are not sure that you want to stick with Ubuntu it might be safer to try running from USB or dual-boot. Note: you need to use the USB3…

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Upgrade to Firefox 4 on Ubuntu 10.04

Since some older hardware (Toshiba Satellite A300 for example) has issues with the current version of Grub as well as the newer Kernel I still need to run 10.04 on some machines. However since the 10.04 Repository still uses Firefox 3.6 you need to add a PPA repo to upgrade to Firefox 4. Either go to Ubuntu Software Center > Software Sources and click the 'Other Software' tab. Press 'Add' and enter ppa:mozillateam/firefox-stable After adding the PPA you will be prompted to update your sources. Once done you can head to System > Administration > Update Manager to perform an upgrade Alternatively you can do this via Terminal (Applications > Terminal). add-apt-repository ppa:mozillateam/firefox-stable apt-get update apt-get upgrade

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