Running Debian on a Sony Vaio PCG-V505BX
Hardware
| Function | Hardware | Comments | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Processor: | Intel P4 2.0Ghz - Mobile | Ok | |
| RAM: | 512 MB | Ok | |
| Display: | 12.1in TFT; 1024x768 | Nice and small! | Ok |
| Video: | ATI Radeon "Mobility" (M6 LY), 16MB | Using the radeon driver |
Ok |
| Audio: | Intel 82801CA/CAM AC'97 Audio | Intel ICH (i8xx) Driver Works (CONFIG_SOUND_ICH) | Ok |
| Optical: | MATSHITA UJDA745 DVD/CDRW | Works Great! | Ok |
| HardDisk: | HITACHI_DK23EA-40, ATA DISK drive (40GB) | Ok | |
| Ethernet: | Integrated Intel Pro | Works fine with driver eepro100 | Ok |
| Wifi: | Built-in LAN-Express 802.11b | Works with a modified orinoco_pci driver. Thanks to Matt for the patch. | Ok |
| Firewire: | Ricoh Co Ltd R5C551 IEEE 1394 Controller | A single connection on left side | Untested |
| PCMCIA: | Ricoh Co Ltd RL5c475 | Use the Yenta driver | Ok |
| USB: | USB Controller: NEC Corporation USB | Use the OHCI Controller Driver | Ok |
| Media: | "MagicSlot" Sony Memory Stick Reader | Enable USB Mass Storage and SCSI Disk Support | Ok |
Installation
The machine came with WindowsXP preinstalled. I used Sony's recovery tool to burn the 7 cd's that will let you re-install Windows if anything goes awry. The 40GB Disk was partitioned into 3 parts: 8GB for windows recovery, 14GB for WindowsXP and the remaining 18GB as the 'D' disk. I decided to leave XP on the machine and use the 'D' partition to install Debian. As there is no floppy drive, I had to use the CDROM to boot a Debian install disk. I used Jigdo to download the Debian stable (woody) install iso (woody-i386-1). This disk booted just fine; then I used the integrated ethernet card to do a network install. About 10 minutes after installation I did a dist-upgrade to unstable (to get the new gnome/kde, etc).Configuration
The basics are in the Hardware section above, but let me detail some things below. Note, I am using kernel 2.4.21 with the relevent ACPI patch as well as a couple patches to the orinoco wifi drivers.ACPI
ACPI is a more flexible alternative to APM and it is necessary to get some of the hardware to work. You will need to patch the kernel to get full ACPI support - and then install and use a user-land daemon. The daemon (acpid) responds to power-management events (hitting the power button, closing/opening the lid, plugging in/out the AC power cable) by running a script of your choosing. For instance, when I unplug the AC power cable, acpid runs my script to dim the LCD and set the hard drive spin down to a shorter interval. Get the kernel patches at acpi.sourceforge.net. Configure the kernel to run ACPI (CONFIG_ACPI) and use the fan, battery, processor, button, ac and thermal modules. Add those modules to your /etc/modules file so they are started on boot-up. My /etc/acpi/events directory has 3 files: /etc/acpi/events/battery:event=ac_adapter.* action=/etc/acpi/battery
event=button/lid action=/etc/acpi/lidbtn.sh
event=button[ /]power.* action=/etc/acpi/powerbtn.sh
#!/bin/sh
status=`sed "s/state: *//" /proc/acpi/ac_adapter/ACAD/state`
case $status in
"on-line")
echo "Setting HD spindown to 10"
/sbin/hdparm -S 10 /dev/hda > /dev/null 2>&1
/usr/bin/spicctrl -b 220
exit 0
;;
"off-line")
echo "Setting HD spindown to 1"
/sbin/hdparm -S 1 /dev/hda > /dev/null 2>&1
/usr/bin/spicctrl -b 100
exit 0
;;
esac
#!/bin/sh
# I've closed the lid. Shutdown gracefully
# (unless I can figure out how to sleep).
# Only shutdown if running on battery
grep discharging /proc/acpi/battery/BAT1/state
if [ $? == 0 ]; then
/sbin/init 0
fi
#!/bin/sh # Heh, I pressed the power button, so shutdown gracefully # called from /etc/acpi/events/rules.conf /sbin/init 0
SonyPI
Enable kernel option CONFIG_SONYPI (Sony Vaio Programmable I/O Control Device Support) as a module under the Character Devices menu. This will allow you to use the 'spicctrl' program to control the backlight of your LCD (very handy if used in conjunction with ACPI; eg. dim the LCD when you remove the AC power cable). spicctrl is available via apt-get. Create a file called /etc/modutils/sonypi and add these lines:alias char-major-10-250 sonypi options sonypi minor=250Then run update-modules. For more details, see the SonyPI Page.
Wireless
Applying the patch to the kernel sources allows the orinoco_pci driver to recognize this card. This driver lacks of support for 'monitor' mode and scanning funtions. To see if your card supports monitoring, check the output of iwpriv for a line that says 'monitor'. Monitor mode is necessary to sniff wireless traffic via programs like kismet. Scanning can be done via "iwlist eth1 scan" and will list all the available Access Points.
If you only connect to a networks with known SSIDs, ignore the next bits.
Monitoring:
The newest
orinoco sources 13e can be
patched to add
a monitor function -- which works! -- but after switching the card out
of monitor mode I am unable to set the SSID and rejoin my regular wifi network.
Reloading modules hermes, orinoco and orinoco_pci fixes this.
But hey, kismet works! If you use the newer orinoco sources, don't forget to add the 1st patch.
Scanning:
The only
patch I could find to add the scanning capability was against
orinoco sources 13d.
Yes, this means that if you want to both scan and monitor, you will have to rmmod your
modules and insmod new ones. I'm sure both patches will be in the same code someday soon.
Update: Using the patches available from
http://dev.gentoo.org/~latexer/orinoco-stuff.html,
I'm able to scan and monitor from the same driver! Thanks latexer!
CD-ROM
Linux finds the cdrom as "hdc: UJDA745 DVD/CDRW, ATAPI CD/DVD-ROM drive". To use this drive as a CD-R/W you need to have the following kernel setup. Also, addappend="hdc=ide-scsi" to your lilo.conf
| CONFIG | Description | State |
|---|---|---|
| CONFIG_BLK_DEV_IDESCSI | IDE SCSI Emulation | M or Y |
| CONFIG_BLK_DEV_IDECD | IDE CDROM Support | N |
| CONFIG_SCSI | SCSI Support | Y |
| CONFIG_CHR_DEV_SG | Generic SCSI Support | M or Y |
| CONFIG_BLK_DEV_SR | SCSI CDROM Support | M or Y |
I compiled these drivers as modules; the modules that need to be loaded for the CDROM to work are: sr_mod, cdrom, sg, ide-scsi.
USB
Note that this machine's USB Controller uses the OHCI driver, not the UHCI driver. During boot, it will detect 3 USB ports: the 2 USB ports and the Sony Memory Stick slot ("Magic Gate"). I can mount a USB keychain drive via:mount -t auto /dev/sdb /usbkey
Memstick
The memory stick will be detected as a scsi device if your have SCSI emulation, basic SCSI support, USB Mass Storage (CONFIG_USB_STORAGE) and SCSI Disk (CONFIG_BLK_DEV_SD) in your kernel. Note that this machine's USB Controller uses the OHCI driver not the UHCI driver. Add an entry in /etc/fstab:Then do "mount /memstick" or "mount -t vfat /dev/sda1 /memstick"./dev/sda1 /memstick vfat noauto,rw,user 0 0
Network Profile Switching
Use QuckSwitch to flip between unique LAN and Wifi configurations (eg. Home, Work, Roaming).XFree86
I'm using theradeon driver. My XF86Config-4 looks like such:
Section "Module"
Load "GLcore"
Load "dbe"
Load "ddc"
Load "dri"
Load "freetype"
Load "glx"
EndSection
Section "Device"
Identifier "Generic Video Card"
Driver "radeon"
EndSection
Section "Screen"
DefaultDepth 24
SubSection "Display"
Depth 24
Modes "1024x768"
EndSubSection
EndSection
Section "Monitor"
Identifier "Generic Monitor"
HorizSync 31-50
VertRefresh 43-75
Option "DPMS"
EndSection