Thursday, September 20, 2012

Installing Ubuntu 12.04 to Toshiba Z930

Just got my new Ultrabook from shop, Toshiba Z930 come with :


  • i5-3317U
  • 6GB DDR3 
  • 128 GB SSD
  • 13.3" LCD with IntelHD Graphic


This laptop planed to use as working purpose, so will swipe off the window partition and replace with Ubuntu 12.04 LTS. I'm going to show how to backup the pre-load window and Install a fresh Ubuntu as below.

Window license is not cheap, so we backup it in-case we need it in future time. To backup the hold partition by cmd below with Ubuntu livecd (usb).

    dd if=/dev/sda |gzip -9 | of=/media/usbdisk/sda.img.gz

'media/usbdisk' is path for USB drive, next is launched the installer.


.
1. SELECT LANGUAGE


2. LEAVE EVERYTHING UNCHECK & CONTINUE


3. ERASE THE DISK AND INSTALL

4. SELECT LOCATION


5. LEAVE IT DEFAULT & CONTINUE


6. ACCOUNT, IF YOU HAVE SENSITIVE DATA, CHECK THE 'ENCRYPT MY HOME FOLDER


7. BOIL WATER & COFFEE 


8. RESTART


After installation, some tweaking need to done, follow the instructions from gaggl.com.

What is not working :

  1. Touchpad on/off button
  2. Eco mode button
  3. Fingerprint sensor (did re-compile aes1610 driver with 1660 device id but not compatible, hopefully vendor add the driver for aes1660 soon)







[img src] http://www.vxbus.com/software/linux/143-how-to-install-ubuntu-1204-from-usb-drive.html


29 comments:

  1. Hi. I'd like to install 12.04 on the same type of machine, but alongside the Windows 7 OS. The installer sees other operating systems - it's brand new so there's only W7 - but unfortunately I do not see the option to install alongside W7 as you did. I just see the "erase disk" and the "something else" options. Did you originally encounter a similar problem? If you didn't, it may be something unique to my Z930.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You need boot with livecd, backup and delete the recovery partition in order to install window & Ubuntu side by side.

      For my case I backup the hold HDD with

      dd if=/dev/sda |gzip -9 | of=/media/usbdisk/sda.img.gz

      You can also backup single partition with

      dd if=/dev/sda4 |gzip -9 | of=/media/usbdisk/sda4.img.gz

      After dd, you edit the partition with fdisk or gparted.

      Regards.

      Delete
    2. Thanks for the reply. It sounds a little drastic to delete the recovery partition, but it might be the best solution. I think the installer is getting confused and thinks I have more than one W7 OS because of the recovery partition. I might even get rid of Windows altogether. Thanks again.

      Delete
    3. Another alternative way is re-create the partition as external partition instead of primary, then you can have more that 4 partitions to install Ubuntu.

      Delete
    4. I backed everything up, just as you described. I then deleted sda4, which was labelled "HDDRECOVERY" and amounted to a little over 10Gb. This allowed me to successfully install Ubuntu alongside Windows 7. Great!

      The funny thing is that Grub gives me the option of booting into Ubuntu, Windows 7 (sda1) or Windows 7 (sda2). Both seem to do the same thing.

      I went in to Windows 7 and used the disk manager to look at the partitions. sda1 is called the "recovery partition" and amounts to about 1.5Gb. Is that the partition I should have deleted? If so, what was the HDDRECOVERY partition that I did delete?

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    5. sda1 is where window bootloder installed, sda2 is where window system installed.

      Delete
  2. I get it now: sda1 is the boot/repair partition for Windows, whereas sda4 that I got rid of was the vendor's image of the system they pre-installed. All is good and I'm happily running Ubuntu on my new machine. Thanks again.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hello,

    Is it the Portégé Z930 or the satellis z930 ?

    Best regards,

    ReplyDelete
  4. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hello,
    Thank you for this installation help!
    Did you made a complete test of all feature with ubuntu?
    I mean like multitouch feature, wifi, suspend resume, fn-keys, keyboard backlight, vga/hdmi port, bluetooth etc...
    Information about the portégé Z930 is extremly rare at this time (I found only this : http://www.linlap.com/wiki/toshiba+portege+z930 )

    It would be very interesting to have your feedback.

    I am interested in this book but would like to check if everything (really everything) works!

    Best regards,

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. What is not working :

      Touchpad on/off button
      Eco mode button
      Fingerprint sensor (did re-compile aes1610 driver with 1660 device id but not compatible, hopefully vendor add the driver for aes1660 soon)

      Delete
  6. Thanks for this post!

    I bought this Toshiba laptop and just finished the successful installation of Ubuntu 12.10.

    Only thing you don't mention is how to enter the BIOS. For those who wondered for a while, like I did: just press F12 *with the laptop off*, keep it pressed, *then* power it on.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Hello Luara,
    Would you like make a report on your experience ?

    Would be very kind to like all what is working ! :-)

    Sorry for asking this way but making a list of what is not working just give a clue that other function may either work or may have not been tested :-)

    I am specially curious about multitouch and those backlight issue (screen and keyboard) that was mentionned after suspend/resume

    Best regards !

    ReplyDelete
  8. I meant: "Would be very kind to list all what is working ! :-)" not "like" :-)

    ReplyDelete
  9. I have installed Ubuntu 12.10 on a Z930 and found that with some wireless mouses, the pairing is erratic. Sometimes it pairs OK, some other times it does not. This problem has already been reported as a bug.

    I am using a logitech m325, but believe it happens to other mouses also, since this problem could be related to a race-condition between the USB mouse and the mousepad.

    Latelly I am having a problem with the X not detecting the screen, even after a fresh install. This problem doesn't always occur. I traded the laptop for a new Z930 specimen and hope it was a simple hardware problem.

    Apart from that it is a fine laptop that I love.

    J

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Also, for sake of completeness, I failed to mention that the latest version of Ubuntu also has some problems with my wifi router (linksys wrt54GL) in the Z930.

      Delete
    2. I also using Ubuntu 12.04LTS with Logitech M325, no issue at the time.

      Try dump dmesg during problem occur to find out why...

      Delete
    3. I am using 12.10, see the previous post.

      Delete
  10. Hi everyone,
    I am new to this forum and it seems to be the answer to my prayers! I am trying to boot Ubuntu 12.10 from a USB on my Toshiba Z935. And I can't get it to boot. The first thing I did was change the boot order so the USB memory is first. Of course it was too naive to think that this alone would work. I moved from USB 2.0 to 3.0 as I read that that had worked for someone. Naive strike 2. Then, I disabled the secure boot, and after a few other changes I finally disabled the USB legacy emulation. The latter resulted in "preparing automatic repair" on the Toshiba startup screen and nothing else. All other changes kept booting me into windows.

    I would be very grateful for some help! And Merry Christmas to you all.

    Thanks,
    Michelle

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. If you no need dual boot, suggest you downgrade the bios to v2.10.

      Delete
  11. Actually I will be keeping the dual boot. Any tips on how to proceed?
    Thanks

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. No way for dual boot without re-install.

      Delete
    2. As it stands I just have a single windows partition. I am trying to boot from USB to install Ubuntu (without wiping the windows partition). My problem is: Ubuntu is failing to boot from the USB. What am I doing wrong? What are the steps you took to successfully boot ubuntu from the usb?

      Thanks

      Delete
    3. During post, press f12 should bring you boot menu, also note that only usb3 on right side able to work.

      Delete
    4. I am using USB 3 and have been in the boot menu via f2 and f12. But Ubuntu is not booting.

      Delete
    5. Hi, I think your unit running difference BIOS ver, you might refer to those guide for 'downgrade to win7', I think the step is quite similar.

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    6. I have the same problem and was not able to boot. The problem i was having was that the image that i put in the usb was a 32bit one. Here https://help.ubuntu.com/community/UEFI it says that only work with 64bits. So i do that and solve the problem :). In fact i used the ubuntu-secure-remix that its described in that post. Hope that can help you :)

      Delete
  12. 1. Add this PPA to your sources:
    sudo add-apt-repository ppa:fingerprint/fprint
    sudo apt-get update
    sudo apt-get upgrade
    2. Install the software:
    sudo apt-get install libfprint0 fprint-demo libpam-fprintd gksu-polkit

    (Note: If you have experimented with fingerprint authentication before and have changed your /etc/pam.d/common-auth, you may be presented with a screen asking whether you want to override those changes. Select Yes. Under very special circumstances, you may get an error saying
    pam-auth-update: Local modifications to /etc/pam.d/common-*, not updating.
    pam-auth-update: Run pam-auth-update --force to override.
    In this case, run “sudo pam-auth-update --force”, exactly as suggested, and enable the fprintd profile manually. Leave the standard system profiles (Unix, Keyring and ConsoleKit) enabled as well.)

    3. Launch “fprint project demo” and check that you can enroll and verify your fingerprints and that your reader is indeed supported.
    4. Run “fprintd-enroll” in terminal to save your fingerprint.

    ReplyDelete