You might find this long thread useful:
ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php+toshiba

From what I have read, there have been some good developments just recently when
it comes to Toshiba laptops.

What is the model of your computer and is it using intel or AMD?
I only ask about the AMD because most of that thread gord_lib linked deals
with getting a fix for AMD powered tosh laptops. Intel cpu's seem to have a
different set of issues for some reason. If you have an older toshiba
laptop that runs a toshiba bios, there is a program called toshiba linux
utilities ( http://www.buzzard.me.uk/toshiba/index.html ) that gives you the
control over powersave and such. there is also a debian package called
toshutils. I don't remember if this is the same package as the toshiba
linux utilities or not. There is something to fix the fn keys too but I
can't seem to remember what it is called (fxfn maybe?)

None of these fixes work (as far as I know) for tosh PCs that have a phoenix
or insyde BIOS. I can at least confirm they do not work for the Satellite
L505 using an Insyde H2O BIOS. There are some other workarounds for issues
with that model which differ depending on the cpu, but power consumption on
battery seems to be ok otb.