The first author previously owned an NEC Versa 2730MT, which weighed over 7 pounds. He hardly took it anywhere because it was too heavy; the VAIO is small enough that he carries it with him often, which results in it being used much more. The small keyboard and screen takes some time to get used to.
We were both pleased with CDW's service. However, our laptops appeared to be DOA! The solution is to plug the laptop in for approximately 20 minutes to charge the internal battery so that the machine will boot up. Our machines would not turn on before charging the internal battery for a few minutes!
"I" in the description below refers to William, and all email enquiries should be directed to [email protected]. Please do not send me Microsoft Windows related questions, as I don't know anything about Microsoft Windows.
Serial port: com1, irq 4 Modem: com2, irq3 Audio: irq5, dma 1,5, midi 320h-321h, sound 220h-22fh
Bruce Forsberg ([email protected]) provided the following information about sound configuration.
The Sony VAIO PCG-505TR uses the ESS-1879 chip set. This chip set was not supported until kernel 2.2.11. If you are using an earlier version then you will most likely need to use the OSS sound software. Otherwise upgrade your kernel to 2.2.12 (this has some bug fixes). I had to do this since I use SUSE 6.2 which is based on the 2.2.10 kernel. Once this is done, then the 100% Soundblaster Compatible entry in the kernel should work.
There is a bug in the kernel for the ESS-1879 sound chip that I have found. This problem occurs when booting into Linux from Windows without powering down the computer first. A register, 0x71, in the sound chip can have values programmed into it that will alter the sample rate algorithm of this chip. On my system this results in sample rates below 22050 being set wrong. This register does not get reset with a software reset. The kernel does not zero out this register. The work around is to power down the computer when exiting windows and before entering Linux. I have reported this to the author of the module that supports this chip, so this should be fixed in a future kernel. If you are an experienced kernel developer then here is the fix.
Change file drivers/sound/sb_ess.c. Add the following code to the function ess_init, at the end of the function:
/* Disable audio 2 data if boot from another OS w/o HW reset */ if (devc->submodel == SUBMDL_ES1879) { ess_setmixer(devc, 0x71, 0x00); }
If you have never modified a kernel before, then I don't recommend doing this. You can get into really big trouble. This fix should work for kernels 2.2.11 thru 2.2.14.
Since nobody seems to have found the true source of the problem, I am using the following fix. I add a single option to /etc/pcmcia/network, as follows:
# ... 'restart') /sbin/ifconfig ${device:?} down up ;; 'resume') ./network stop eth0 ./network start eth0 ;; esacWith this change, the ethernet card always works correctly. I am confused as to why the "resume" option doesn't already exist, as it is called by the cardmgr daemon when resuming from suspend:
Jan 4 21:20:51 localhost apmd[12336]: Normal Resume after 00:00:12 (99% 2:58) AC power Jan 4 21:20:52 localhost cardmgr[393]: executing: './network resume eth0'
Next we describe how to use a PCMCIA ethernet card and the built-in modem at the same time.
exclude irq 3 exclude irq 5
Then, the 8 hours off problem you described was because Red Hat's kernel configuration sets APM to assume your system clock is set to GMT instead of your local time. I compiled a new kernel with the following APM settings and it works much better now: CONFIG_APM=y # CONFIG_APM_IGNORE_USER_SUSPEND is not set # CONFIG_APM_DO_ENABLE is not set CONFIG_APM_CPU_IDLE=y # CONFIG_APM_DISPLAY_BLANK is not set CONFIG_APM_IGNORE_MULTIPLE_SUSPEND=y CONFIG_APM_IGNORE_SUSPEND_BOUNCE=y # CONFIG_APM_RTC_IS_GMT is not set CONFIG_APM_ALLOW_INTS=y
! Make some substitutions... (type xmodmap -pke for a list of keycodes) keycode 115 = asciitilde grave keycode 117 = Delete keycode 49 = Escape keycode 37 = Control_L keycode 66 = Caps_Lock ! Swap Caps_Lock and Control_L remove Lock = Caps_Lock remove Control = Control_L keysym Control_L = Caps_Lock keysym Caps_Lock = Control_L add Lock = Caps_Lock add Control = Control_LThe command
xmodmap keymapthen makes the above changes, at least until you restart X. However, by placing these lines in the file
I wrote a perl script go-camera.pl, which, when combined with gphoto, works very well for me.
# installing these two modules will make the rio 500 communicate w/ my VAIO /sbin/insmod /lib/modules/2.3.47/usb/usb-uhci.o /sbin/insmod /lib/modules/2.3.47/usb/rio.oAfter upgrading to kernel version 2.3.47, a few things broke. Most noticeably, when I suspend under X the VAIO resumes with the screen shifted about 25% to the right. I can fix it by typing "Ctr-Alt-F1" to switch to a text console, and then "Alt-F7" to switch back to X.
The sound is (usually) nothing but a hissing squeal under VMWARE 2 with Windows 98. Andrew Nguyen also experienced this problem, but reports that the Olympus DS-150 player works under Windows 2000 with VMWARE 2.
Re: Linux / Olympus DS-150 From: Andrew NguyenTo: [email protected] Date: Thu, 7 Jun 2001 00:16:00 -0700 Good news! I installed Win2000 under VMWARE 2.0.4 and the sound files play just fine. However, i'm now having trouble seeing the files on a raw disk...... --Andy On Tuesday 05 June 2001 15:18, you wrote: > On Tuesday 05 June 2001 18:12, you wrote: > > That is the exact problem I have and will be trying to use Windows 2000 > > under VMWARE. I'll let you know if I find a better solution. > > Thanks, and let me know if Win 2000 works for you. > > -- William
From : Kevin GassiotSubject : Re: VAIO upgrade ----- Message Text ----- I have Linux loaded on a 505TR also, and was thinking about adding some more RAM. Looking at the Sony support page, it says that to go to 128 MB, you have to install 2 64 MB chips, which turns off the on board RAM. Did you just install a single 64 MB chip ? Does the system see 128 MB ? It doesn't make sense to me that they would do that, but who knows. I installed TWO chips in the little hatch on the bottom of the keyboard; in sum, they costed $200, which was more than I expected for asingle 64MB chip. I ordered an "upgrade to 128MB" from Coast-To-Coast and they sent me two chips. I don't remember whether the individual chips are labeled "64" or "128" or not at all. I don't have a screw driver because I'm visiting Sydney right now, and didn't brig a swiss army knife with me. Please let me know if you find out anything further, so I can add the info to my web page. -- William ------------------------------------------------------------------- HERE IS A HIGHLY SUBJECTIVE RANT ABOUT "WHAT TO BUY": Hi William! I hope you remember me somehow.. Could you please advise me about laptops. Anything you want to tell me will be useful for me, since I know almost nothing about this. I checked a web site and found some Toshiba laptops for about 1 400 US$, but you see, I do not quite understand the features they talk about there... so I don't know if I chose the "right" thing. People often say "the right thing" depends on what you need. I don't know what you need. Are you buying a laptop because you want a portable computer, or because you want a small desktop computer that takes up less space and is easy to move? If the latter, do yourself a favor and just buy a desktop computer. If the former, then I recommend getting a highly portable machine that weighs no more than FOUR pounds and has good battery life. Sony makes several excellent such machines. I very strongly recommend you get a machine with and XGA active matrix display having resolution 1024x768. You can save hundreds of dollars by buying a non-active matrix display (dual scan, High performance addressing, etc.) or a lower resolution (800x600), but you *will* regret having made that choice if you ever see an active 1024x768 display. ------------------------------------------------------------------- From a prof at Univ. of Texas: I indeed bought a Sony Vaio (I forget now the exact model). I have only had it for a week so far and though there are some incompatibilities with Linux I think they won't outweigh its advantages (for me); it has a winmodem, usb floppy, no sound under Linux yet, etc. etc. But it's a great machine! Hopefully people will be able to make things work eventually.