Ubuntu Wiki

• Contact: vishketan Make: Sony Brand: Vaio Model: VGN SZ483N

  Website: http://www.cnet.com.au/laptops/laptops/0,239035649,339284061,00.htm

Current Issues

Battery life is lower than under Windoze.

Memorystick slot does not work. Apparently fixed in 2.6.25 kernel but not backported to Hardy yet. Also see http://swehrmann.blogspot.com/2008/04/memorystick-support-unter-ubuntu-hardy.html for a fix. There is also a bug in launchpad but I cannot find it!

Issues with warm docking. As a workaround suspend the machine before docking it. Resume it when docked. Bug has been fixed in upstream kernel but not backported to Hardy yet. See https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/194617

External monitor hot-plugging does not work. I want to be able to place my laptop on the dock and the display to switch automatically to the external monitor. Currently I have to invoke the nvidia-settings gui press detect monitors and then configure. Would love to have this done automatically.

Fingerprint reader does not work. This is crippled in hardware by Sony.

System Info

system-manufacturer: Sony Corporation

system-product-name: VGN-SZ483N_C

system-version: J002KLSB

Hardware details

Notes

• This laptop has a switch to select between speed (nvidia) and stamina (intel) mode. To enable 3-d acceleration and direct rendering under both modes do as follows (I adapted this from http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=421350&highlight=vaio+glx):

Step 1:

Install with graphics selector switch set to speed (nvidia) and install nvidia-glx-new package for the NVidia restricted driver.

sudo cp /etc/X11/xorg.conf /etc/X11/xorg.conf.speed

Step 2:

Set graphics switch to stamina (intel) and restart. When X server fails to start press CTRL-ALT-F1. Login and

sudo dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg

After the configuration

sudo cp /etc/X11/xorg.conf /etc/X11/xorg.conf.stamina

Step 3:

sudo vim /etc/init.d/xorg_conf

Add the following contents

#
# Set the appropriate xorg.conf and GL links for the speed/stamina video card switch
#

VIDEO=`/usr/bin/lspci |grep -c nVidia`

if [ "$VIDEO" = 1 ]; then
  cp -f /etc/X11/xorg.conf.speed /etc/X11/xorg.conf
  ln -sf /usr/lib/libGL.so.1.nvidia /usr/lib/libGL.so.1
  ln -sf /usr/lib/xorg/modules/extensions/libglx.so.nvidia /usr/lib/xorg/modules/extensions/libglx.so
else
  cp -f /etc/X11/xorg.conf.stamina /etc/X11/xorg.conf
  ln -sf /usr/lib/libGL.so.1.mesa /usr/lib/libGL.so.1
  ln -sf /usr/lib/xorg/modules/extensions/libglx.so.mesa /usr/lib/xorg/modules/extensions/libglx.so
fi

Then

sudo chmod +x /etc/init.d/xorg_conf

Step 4:

sudo ln -sf /etc/init.d/xorg_conf /etc/rc2.d/S12xorg_conf
sudo ln -sf /usr/lib/libGL.so.1 /usr/lib/libGL.so
sudo ln -sf /usr/lib/nvidia/libGL.so.1.2.xlibmesa /usr/lib/libGL.so.1.mesa
sudo ln -sf /usr/lib/libGL.so.169.12 /usr/lib/libGL.so.1.nvidia
sudo ln -sf /usr/lib/nvidia/libglx.so.xserver-xorg-core /usr/lib/xorg/modules/extensions/libglx.so.mesa
sudo ln -sf /usr/lib/xorg/modules/extensions/libglx.so.169.12 /usr/lib/xorg/modules/extensions/libglx.so.nvidia

Step 5:

Run to verify that direct rendering is enabled under both cards:

glxinfo | grep render 
glxgears

• To enable hibernate and suspend install the restricted nvidia drivers. Then

sudo vim /etc/X11/xorg.conf 

and add

Option NvAGP "1" 

under "Device" (seems not always necessary). Then

sudo vim /etc/pm/config.d/unload_modules

and write into it

SUSPEND_MODULES="uvcvideo"

If you use the docking station then write instead

SUSPEND_MODULES="uvcvideo ehci_hcd uhci_hcd"

Make the file executable

sudo chmod +x /etc/pm/config.d/unload_modules

• When using the docking station you also need to

sudo vim /etc/modules

and add

acpiphp

into the file.

• Webcam packages can be found from http://www.arakhne.org/spip.php?article50

CategoryLaptop