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Most of these older Toshibas can gotten for pretty cheap from eBay. The only drawback is that a good battery is quite expensive.

Here's some helpful links:

• http://www.linux-laptop.net/toshiba.html
• http://www.buzzard.org.uk/toshiba/
• http://www.networkcomputing.com/unixworld/tutorial /012/012.html

A quick google for 'sun type 5' (wanted to see what you were talking about) turned up this: 'Sun Type 5 keyboard on the PC'

Toshiba SETUP ('BIOS' configuration) software tools. dunno if they take care of all the parms of the very last models. since 1999 I had 2 Toshiba Portégé laptops (the last one is a 3480CT). theyre are robust but I'm not very happy, esp. with the last one: * an asterisk for each touch punched when you type your BIOS password (not very secure, one can read on the number of asterisk to know the number of characters, you cannot fake the earer counting the punches by typing on dead keys) * the screen doesn't open up completely (it can be useful) * crappy 'micro joystick' mouse (imprecise, erratic moves), w only 2 buttons * crappy screwing (most screws fall appart), probably due to the assembling made in Europe * the integrated sound port is near the USB port, it is unusable when this last one is used (electronic noise) * the Ethernet port is not integrated (you have to carry the big thingie containing the extensions ports) and the Linux driver cannot warm reset it (note: there is an internal port for an external screen! and no place for Eth :-( ) * bad PCMCIA placement (your hang weights on the netcard connector) and so on... moreover they are overpriced, and the parts are pricey example: the power supply cable to the laptop is proprietary (specific connector on the PC side) was cut by simple an normal usage (I fold it in order to put the laptop in a case) and the catalog price is 120 euros (1 euro is approx 1 US buck) here (France)!

you mean like a radio clock?

According to the sane USB page they release even preliminary specs on demand: http://www.buzzard.org.uk/jonathan/scanners-usb.ht ml.

Mandrake linux detected my 640U flawlessly, and it works great. And on top of that, it scans better and faster than my old scanner, which I killed while trying to get it working under linux :) (which I shall not name here)

Uh...yeah...for special SCSI scanners that cost a lot more than the cheap-o USB throwaways at Fry's.

Erm, that would not be true. While SCSI and parallel scanners have been supported for years, USB support is catching up. Here's a partial list;

1. USB scanners

For more information, take a look at the mailing lists.

Toshiba laptops work very well with both linux and *BSD. Johnathan Buzzard wrote the Toshiba Linux utilities... http://www.buzzard.org.uk/toshiba/index.html These were ported to NetBSD, so the Toshiba tops work pretty much flawlessly. I am using a 4 year old Toshiba Tecra 500CS and everything(modem[it is not a winmodem...], sound, IR, PCMCIA, display, apm, can suspend in linux, fan turns on/off using fan program...) works in linux and most everything(modem, shitty sound[8bit only], PCMCIA, display, apm, fan program) worked in netbsd. They are a great choice for those looking to purchase laptops...

since i didnt see it mentioned i figured i should throw in a plug for SANE as that's what i use with my scanner. their supported devices page lists some HP scanners which are supported and also has a link to further USB specific info. the USB page has this to say about the HP 3300C:

There are rummors that like the HP5300C this is actually an Avision scanner and could be support by the Avision backend. However at the moment there is no positive confirmation of this.

even if this scanner isnt specifically supported yet, there apppears to be lots of other supported hp scanners which you (or someone else) could work from. dont give up yet.