The following information directed at setting up the computer hardware for the newer 2.6.11 kernel but can also be used for older kernels. Commands that i have written in this page are contained within brackets and are in italics. N.B.- there is no need to type the (#) when giving commands to the system.

overview

i dual booted windows xp pro with slackware 10 so in total I have 5 partitions:
hda1 = windows
hda2 = extended
<hda5> = data disk
hda3 = slackware
hda4 = linux swap

to begin you can either setup your partitions through partition magic or through cfdisk (just before the Linux setup).  if you are dual booting, i recommend using partition magic if you only have one current partition on your hard drive.  cfdisk will require that partition to be deleted and all information will be lost if you do it that way.  if the disk has two partitions then you are set to go; just split the 2nd partition into your Linux partition and your swap partition.  it's also a good idea to create a fat32 partition for data transfer between windows and linux.  ntfs is currently read-only for root. to be able to read ntfs as a user, add "umask=002,uid=user#,gid=group#" to /etc/fstab.

acpi

working after the kernel is patched. to patch the kernel make sure you have the kernel source installed (see kernel) and change directory to /usr/src/linux (#cd /usr/src/linux). if the patch is in .gz format type: (#gunzip -c path/to/your/patch/ acpi-patch.diff.gz | patch -p1) or type the following if in .diff format: (#patch -p1 < path/to/your/patch/acpi-patch.diff). the kernel can now be recompiled with AC, Battery, Button, Fan, Thermal and Processor built in. acpi in kernel 2.6.7 and kde 3.2.3 is much more developed, enabling automatic shutdown/logoff/cpu throttling with a gui interface. if acpi just will not work for you then edit /etc/rc.d/rc.modules and remove the # from the apm section to enable advanced power management.

display/graphics

ti mobility radeon LY, 16mb video memory. have not experimented much due to lack of driver support but there are a couple of utilities available such as radeontool. just compile and copy into your path: (#cp radeontool /usr/local/bin) and then (#radeontool) to see the options available. for example (#radeontool light off) turns off the lcd backlight; useful if you have a vga monitor. glx gears reports a frame rate of 1120 fps.

dvd/cd-rw

for kernel 2.6.2 the cd drive worked fine with ide/atapi cdrom support and that was all i had to do. in older kernels you have to enable scsi emulation to get the cd burner working. to do this add this to /etc/lilo.conf file: append= "hdc=ide-scsi." now open the terminal and make a symbolic link to the drive: (#ln -sf /dev/scd0 /dev/cdrom)
if there are problems, compile older kernels with IEEE1394, OHCI1394, SBP2 and SCSI CD-ROM support.

ethernet

no problems, the slackware installation probe found the card. uses module eepro100/e100 (see kernel section).

firewire

data coming soon.

kernel

if you're upgrading the kernel source after an installation of slack 10 you do not need to install the kernel source on the cdrom (2.4.26). just copy the file "linux-2.6.7.tar.gz" to the "/usr/src" directory as root and use the following command to extract: (#tar xfvz linux-2.6.7.tar.gz). now create a symbolic link: (#ln -sf /usr/src/linux-2.6.7 /usr/src/linux). now you are ready to apply patches and to recompile!

the following list shows the location of the options in the menuconfig/xconfig process:

acpi: "power management options (acpi, apm) > enable acpi support"
dvd/cdrw: "ata/atapi/mfm/rll support > include ide/atapi cdrom support"
ethernet: "device drivers > networking support > ethernet(10 or 100mbit) > eisa,vlb,pci and on board controllers > etherexpresspro/100 support (eepro100, original becker driver)" and " etherexpresspro/100 support (e100, alternate intel driver)"
pcmcia: "bus options > pcmcia cardbus support > pcmcia cardbus support > cardbus yenta-compatible bridge support"
sonypi: "device drivers > character devices > sony vaio programmable i/o support"
sound: "sound > sound card support" and "alsa > intel i8x0/mx440..."
usb/memorystick: "device drivers > usb > uhci hcd" and "ehci hcd" and "ohci hcd" and "usb mass storage support" and " usb human interface device support" and "usb device file system"

lilo setup

this section is not important in getting the laptop up and running correctly but walks you through adding a gui to lilo. this method simply uses a 640x480x16 bmp image to replace the default red lilo. you can make your own or find a pre-made one on the net like i found. the information in my sample lilo is setup for that bmp (the location or the kernel image list and timer, etc) but you can adjust these for your own bmp. add the following to the global section:

install=/boot/boot-bmp.b
bitmap=/boot/lilo2.bmp
bmp-colors= 15,0,0;0,15,15
bmp-table= 478p,219p,1,15
bmp-timer= 575p,445p,0,15,15

the bitmap is your bmp file so you can change "lilo2.bmp" to your filename. bmp-table is the location and colour of your image table. bmp-timer is the location and colour of your timer. see my lilo.conf for the example and the lilo screenshot to see it working. you can download the bmp i used from the files section

memorystick

this worked after I enabled scsi emulation for older kernels. the device is "sda1."  the device can the be mounted with the command: (#mount -t vfat /dev/sda1 /mnt/yourdirectory).

modem

i used the new drivers from conexant, they are limited to 14.4k unless you buy them. on my system they gave me an error that autoconf.h file was missing. to resolve this the kernel source has to be installed and compiled. after making a new kernel DO NOT do a 'make clean' or the file needed will be deleted. i also read that if you just type a 'make dep' the file will be generated without compiling a new kernel. Here's the link to the conexant drivers, you will need the hsf drivers. the last free full functioning version of the driver can be downloaded from the files section. with the new drivers make sure you have "device drivers > character devices > serial drivers > 8250/16550 and compatible serial support checked

pcmcia

works fine on initial installation. see kernel section if recompiling the kernel

sonypi

compile sonypi as a module in your kernel and type the following to create the device and set the permissions: (#mknod /dev/sonypi c 10 63) and (#chmod 777 /dev/sonypi).

add to modules.conf or modprobe.conf:
alias char-major-10-63 sonypi
options sonypi minor=63 fnkeyinit=1

install sonyfxd or sonykeyd for the fn keys to work. spicctrl is a program you can use to change brightness and get battery info via the terminal. use sonypid to detect that the fn keys generate events or you can set klaptop to notify you on screen. in kde 3.2.0, klaptop gives options to set screen brightness manually or automatically. it can be set to detect whether the computer is running on batteries, change the brightness to a level you specify and then change back when the power supply is plugged back in. for more indepth details and further instructions click here.

sound/audio

slackware 9
works after installation but in slackware you have to put the buffer all the way to the top to stop skipping (refering to arts).

slackware 9.1
alsa is included with slackware 9.1 and if you don't configure it, it will not work out of the box. You need to run (#alsaconf) to detect the card, however, after a new kernel is recompiled with alsa support and the intel module alsa will not work with the older kernels. just uninstall the alsa-driver, alsa-libs, alsa-oss and alsa-utils packages and reintall them. Run (#alsaconf) again and sound will work. Don't forget to disable arts in KDE (control center > sound) and run (#alsamixer) to adjust volume and unmute channels.

for alsa to work correctly with kernel 2.6.2 and kde 3.2.0 i recommend updating to alsa version 1.0.2c (driver, lib, utils and oss) and update arts to 1.4.

firstly compile alsa and sound support as modules. or try: (#modinfo soundcore) and (#modinfo snd-intel8x0)
to see if the modules exist. to compile the alsa drivers extract the file and enter the folder, from here type: (#./configure --with-cards=intel8x0 --with-sequencer=yes;make;make install). then compile alsa-lib, alsa-utils and alsa-oss by entering their directories and typing: (#./configure;make;make install).

type: (#chmod g+rw /dev/dsp /dev/mixer /dev/sequencer /dev/midi) to be able to access these devices as a user. now insert the modules: (#modprobe snd-intel8x0;modprobe snd-pcm-oss;modprobe snd-mixer-oss;modprobe snd-seq-oss).

use alsamixer to unmute channels and then save the settings. sound should now be available all round; xine, xmms, kde and more.

now enter these values into /etc/modules.conf:

#ALSA portion
alias char-major-116 snd
alias snd-card-0 snd-intel8x0

#OSS/Free portion
alias char-major-14 soundcore
alias sound-slot-0 snd-card-0

#card #1
alias sound-service-0-0 snd-mixer-oss
alias sound-service-0-1 snd-seq-oss
alias sound-service-0-3 snd-pcm-oss
alias sound-service-0-8 snd-seq-oss
alias sound-service-0-12 snd-pcm-oss

this will load the modules on each boot. in the sound system panel, use alsa instead of oss or threaded oss as it used less resources. for more indepth details and further instructions click here.

slackware 10
sound works but conflicts with the intel8x0m modem module. simply add intel8x0m to the /etc/hotplug/blacklist file for sound to function correctly. if you experience other problems make sure to read the notes from the slackware 9.1 sound section.

slackware 10.1
please follow the directions above for slackware 9.1. the kernel must be recompiled before the sound will work without any glitches

usbmouse

if you have a usb mouse add this to your XF86Config in the appropriate sections:
Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "USB Mouse"
Driver "mouse"
Option "SendCoreEvents" "true"
Option "Device" "/dev/input/mice"
Option "Protocol" "ImPS/2"
Option "Emulate3Buttons" "true"
Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
EndSection

Section "ServerLayout"
InputDevice "USB Mouse"
EndSection

usbkey

to mount a usbkey type: (#mount -t vfat /dev/sdb1 /mnt/yourdirectory). make sure you have usb support and usb mass storage enabled in the kernel (see kernel). NB. depending if you have the usbkey inserted during bootup, the device could be allocated as sda and the memorystick as sdb.

 

Linux

• Overview
• Acpi
• Display/graphics
• DVD/cd-rw
• Ethernet
• Firewire
• Kernel
• Lilo setup
• Memorystick
• Modem
• Pcmcia
• SonyPI
• Sound/Audio
• USB Mouse
• USB Key

Linux > Links

Linux Laptop confiurations
Linuxquestions.org - Source for linux help
Linux-Sony archives
Linuxpackages.net
Fancy KDE addons
Sourceforge.net/ - Software development

Sony V505 > Files

backup your files before replacing with these in case of any problems. NB - config file 2.6.7 contains latest hardware configs and is up to date.
acpi patch
sonypi (fn key functions)

config file (kernel config file) - settings (2.6.11)
config file (kernel config file) - settings (2.6.7)
config file (kernel config file) - settings (2.6.2)
config file (kernel config file) - settings (2.4.21/22)
config file (kernel config file) - settings (2.4.20)

Xorg (New X display config file)
XF86Config (X display config file)
lilo.conf (example boot loader)
fstab (example mounting config)
hsf drivers 56k - last free version

Lilo bmp file
Lilo Screenshot
Desktop Screenshot
Slackware Tips

For help or submitting information please feel free to contact me