[plug] Toshiba Tecra S1

[Craig Ringer]

  > It does have an ATI Radeon 9000 graphics chip, which seems to be well
> supported by XFree86 and by ATI.

Be aware that the mobile versions of such chips are usually a very 
different thing, and often either not supported at all by the main 
drivers for the chipset, or poorly supported. I believe, for example, 
that NVidia has /separate/ drivers for their mobile chips.

>  However, experiences from long ago
> when Toshiba laptops always seemed to have slightly strange hardware
> have made me wary.

Laptops always do, especially big OEM laptops that display this everywhere:

Toshiba PCs use genuine Microsoft® Windows®
http://www.microsoft.com/piracy/howtotell/default.asp?oemid=4500

That said, I have pretty good results with my Toshiba Satellite Pro 4600 
('till it died last week - batt controller problem, + bad sectors on HDD 
- hopefully repairable). The modem doesn't work, of course - *sigh* - 
and the graphics chipset (Trident CyberBlade XP) was problematic until 
XF86 4.3, but otherwise it works very well.

Be aware that toshiba machines generally have a crap BIOS, and expect 
you to do any real hardware config in the version of 'doze they provide, 
via a control panel. That's the way it is in mine, anyway. As a result, 
unless you're dual booting, you may be unable to do things like turn off 
the "lid closed with laptop on" alarm, which needless to say is 
infuriating if you use it for an MP3 player while travelling. I had to 
dual boot anyway so I had 'net access on the road.

Toshiba seem to make excellent machines, and I'm very impressed that 
they seem to have standard batteries across a number of models (and very 
reasonably priced ones at that, ~$120) plus the laptops are reliable and 
relatively free from braindead design. At least, mine is. My only 
complaint is the lid, they've left some space between the lid and body 
of the laptop when closed, causing the lid to be distorted easily in a 
bag. It doesn't seem to mind though.

> This (enormous) url is for the specs for that laptop.
> 
>   http://www.isd.toshiba.com.au/cgi-bin/ai1.exe/topic/public/products/search_summary.jsp?fullPathName=%2fFG%2fNOTEBOOK%2fTecra&notAcesry=true&sessionType=

umm.... which one? There are 3 laptops there, none of which are listed 
as the "S1".