As some of you know, I am a Sony freak. I also have been working on switching from Windows to Linux. The following is how I got Ubuntu working on my Laptops and what works and what doesnt.
Let’s start with my laptops, I have 3 main laptops they are all Sony Vaio’s with the following model numbers:
UX280P
I used the Ubuntu Desktop CD and ran the install from the Install Icon with no issues. I used the defaults and no special drive layout.
NOTE: On the SZ, I had Vista installed and during the install, Ubuntu did a resize and added the option to boot into Vista in the grub bootloader. This worked flawlessly, I tried a reboot into the Vista OS and it did a drive check, rebooted, and then went into Vista with no issues whatsoever. I have since removed the Vista partition and the entire laptop is all Ubuntu (160 Gig)[AR290G]Now, my AR290G has two 200 Gigabyte drives, using the standard Ubuntu install, it would only install to one of the drives and there was no options to RAID or change drive layouts except basic partitioning on a single drive. I did some research and found that the “alternate” install CD/DVD allowed you to do this. Also, when I got around to my AR, Ubuntu Studio released and I wanted to try that.
I downloaded the Ubuntu Studio Alternate DVD and did an install from that. This does not load a “live” image, it’s a standard text based install similar to the Debian install (surprise! Ubuntu is a Debian fork).
When I got to the drive partitioning portion, I configured the following: (/dev/sda and /dev/sdb got identical partions)
Partition 3: 194 Gig, flagged RAID
/dev/md2 : RAID0 (striped), /dev/sda3 & /dev/sdb3, mountpoint: /
388 gig /
Then I ran the updates and on the SZ and AR I went to System > Administration > Restricted Drivers Manager and hit the nVidia checkbox and let the system install the nVidia Drivers. I then rebooted and everything looked MUCH prettier. FPRIVATE “TYPE=PICT;ALT=:-)”
Next, in anticipation of having to compile stuff I ran the following:
sudo apt-get install build-essential checkinstall
sudo apt-get install linux-headers-`uname -r`These commands install compilers and the linux headers (although on both Ubuntu and Ubuntu Studio, the “linux-headers” were already installed.
Ubuntu Studio Note: By default, Ubuntu Studio boots to the -lowlatency kernel. For purposes of pre-compiled compatibility, I switch back to the -generic kernel by setting the default option in /boot/grub/menu.lst to 2 or 3 depending on which one it is on your list (one install it was 3, the other it was 2)
CAMERA DRIVERNext I followed the instructions at: http://lsb.blogdns.net/ry5u870/
In a nutshell:
Step 1:added arakhne to /etc/apt/sources.list - append the following to end of file:
deb http://www.arakhne.org/packages/ubuntu feisty-arakhne universe
Step 2:added keys and updated apt:
gpg –keyserver www.keyserver.net –recv-keys 0xBA62BC7E
gpg –export -a 0xBA62BC7E | sudo apt-key add -
apt-get update Step 3:Downloaded and installed drivers:
apt-get install ricoh-webcam-r5u870 Step 4:Rebooted and tested:
I used xawtv to test. First install xawtv:
apt-get install xawtvNote, xawtv has issues with nVidia, so when I ran it for the test I did:
xawtv -nodgaand voila! it worked!
For the most part that’s all I needed to get the hardware working on the SZ and AR. The following is how to get the touchscreen and sound working properly on the UX.
[UX280P SPECIFIC] SOUNDFrom: http://www.micropctalk.com/forums/showthread.php?p=13374
Right click on the speaker icon and select volume control. Then Edit|Preferences and check mono on the list (it’s near the bottom). Click on the little speaker icon under Mono to unmute and then raise the slider bar. Exit. Now rightclick on the sound icon in the taskpane again and choose preferences. Choose Mono from the list and you should now have sound. Restart to confirm.
TOUCHSCREENI got this from various sources. I forgot some of the links so please forgive me for not giving credit to the original authors. I do remember there were 3 specific sites I got this information from and tweaked it to my liking.
I first used the evdev driver and noticed that when you moved out from the center your mouse pointer went further away from where you were actually touching.
I switched to the evtouch driver
To get evtouch go to:
http://stz-softwaretechnik.com/~ke/touchscreen/evtouch.html#download
cp driver to: /usr/lib/xorg/modules/input/
edit your xorg.conf with the following settings:
Section “InputDevice”
Identifier “Gunze touchscreen”
Driver “evtouch”
Option “SendCoreEvents” “true”
Option “ReportingMode” “Raw”
Option “Device” “/dev/input/event2″
Option “minx” “30″
Option “maxx” “990″
Option “miny” “50″
Option “maxy” “970″
EndSectionSection “InputDevice”
Identifier “Gunze touchscreen2″
Driver “evtouch”
Option “SendCoreEvents” “true”
Option “ReportingMode” “Raw”
Option “Device” “/dev/input/event4″
Option “minx” “30″
Option “maxx” “990″
Option “miny” “50″
Option “maxy” “970″
EndSection
I also added in: Section “ServerLayout”
Inputdevice “Gunze touchscreen”
Inputdevice “Gunze touchscreen2″This allowed me to use the touchscreen without calibration. Everything is pretty much on track, maybe off by 1 or 2 pixels, but it works fine. Double tap, drag and drop etc works great.
This pretty much covers getting the hardware working. On the AR290G, the volume buttons and mute work great, on the SZ and AR the FN buttons all do what they are supposed to do. I have not messed with trying to get the special buttons on the UX working. On my next blog, I will cover what I did to get bluetooth tethering to work. (Using my phone as an internet connection)
