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| Author |
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jKILLSPAM.schipper@math.u
*nix forums Guru Wannabe
Joined: 13 Nov 2005
Posts: 202
|
 Posted: Thu Jun 01, 2006 8:44 pm Post subject:
Re: OpenBSD on Sony Vaio notebook?
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mr. sun <mail@privacy.net> wrote:
| Quote: | Comments, anyone?
Well, one important thing is the support of acpi.
If openbsd can't handle it your cpu will power off
if becoming too hot. Happened to me during an install
of FreeBSD 6, don't know about OpenBSD but could be
worser.
As you have been experimenting with Knoppix, try the
same with a OpenBSD-LiveCD (based on 3.8 afaik) called
OliveBSD. The dmesg may be more interesting for you
than that of a knoppix. (btw, tomorrow is knoppix5 release).
http://g.paderni.free.fr/olivebsd/
Greetings,
|
Good advice, if not for the fact that important bit of hardware support
are only present in -current.
Work is also seriously underway on an ACPI framework, though it'll be
quite a while before it is usable.
Joachim |
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|
 |
mr. sun
*nix forums beginner
Joined: 29 Dec 2005
Posts: 6
|
| Posted: Thu Jun 01, 2006 8:14 pm Post subject:
Re: OpenBSD on Sony Vaio notebook?
|
|
|
Well, one important thing is the support of acpi.
If openbsd can't handle it your cpu will power off
if becoming too hot. Happened to me during an install
of FreeBSD 6, don't know about OpenBSD but could be
worser.
As you have been experimenting with Knoppix, try the
same with a OpenBSD-LiveCD (based on 3.8 afaik) called
OliveBSD. The dmesg may be more interesting for you
than that of a knoppix. (btw, tomorrow is knoppix5 release).
http://g.paderni.free.fr/olivebsd/
Greetings,
MrSun |
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| Back to top |
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RGC
*nix forums beginner
Joined: 31 May 2006
Posts: 3
|
| Posted: Thu Jun 01, 2006 1:32 pm Post subject:
Re: OpenBSD on Sony Vaio notebook?
|
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|
jKILLSPAM.schipper@math.uu.nl wrote:
| Quote: | RGC <graemec@mysoul.com.au> wrote:
Hi folks,
...
There is also openbsd-newbies and misc@openbsd.org. Especially the
latter does require some lurking though.
|
Thanks, I'll look for it.
| Quote: |
This card is supported by wpi(4), which was added in -current. I'm not
sure if it is also compiled by default, but I believe this is the case.
|
 Thanks for the good news; I didn't expect the wireless to work under
OpenBSD.
| Quote: | You'll need to pkg_add the firmware, though. Blame Intel.
|
I do.
| Quote: | Intel? 945PM Express Chipset
If this bears any relation to graphics, I'm fairly confident there's
a new port in -current that might be interesting to you -
x11/915resolution.
|
I don't think it's graphics, except that it does supply the PCI Express
interface that the graphics attaches to.
| Quote: | Processor System Bus 667MHz
Memory Bus 533MHz
Cache Memory L1 Cache: 64KB L2 Cache: 2MB (on CPU)
Main Memory 512MB DDR2 SDRAM (upgradeable up to 2GB)*2
(partially shared with video memory)*3
2 SO-DIMM slots (The pre-installed
memory module uses one)
|
| Quote: | Fairly uninteresting to support, though it has more power than my main
desktop computer I'm typing this at (my laptop, recently acquired, is a
venerable Thinkpad 390X).
|
Yeah, It will be my main machine; not just an address book.
I've been making do with an old box that has been upgraded quite a bit
but has nevertheless been getting slower with code bloat, so it's time
for a faster machine, and I want a notebook. The graphics acceleration
is desirable for a software project I may become involved in, and for
some simulations I want to run.
| Quote: | Hard Disk 80GB (C: 20GB, D: 60GB*4) Serial ATA, 5400rpm
Optical Drive Dual Layer rewriter
Should work. Take a good look at the SATA adapter, though - it's very
likely to be supported, but it would truly suck if it wasn't.
|
Too true.
| Quote: | Graphics Accelerator ?Dual display compatible
?3D graphics acceleration compatible
?NVIDIA? GeForce? Go 7400 with NVIDIA?
TurboCache?*3 (PCI Express x16)
Not supported - no graphical card is. When you run OpenBSD, you'll have
to make do with unaccelerated X.
It will, of course, do unaccelerated X just fine.
|
I can live with that.
| Quote: | Video Memory 256MB*3
Display 15.4" Wide (WXGA: 1280 x 800) TFT colour display
This will be a pain to configure, also see my above note about
x11/915resolution.
|
Yeah, I'll have to look into setting up X. So far I've been able to get
away with just using tools under Linux to write XF86Config for me.
| Quote: | Interfaces ?USB 2.0 x 3*6
Works.
?i.LINK (IEEE 1394) S400 (4 pin) ?S-Video Out connector
I wouldn't know about this.
?ExpressCard?/34 slot
No clue.
?Network (RJ-45) connector (100BASE-TX/10BASE-T)
?Headphone jack (stereo mini)
?Microphone jack (stereo mini)
?Monitor connector (VGA, D-SUB 15 pin)
?Modular (RJ-11) connector
?Docking Station connector
?Memory Stick Duo Slot*7 (MagicGate compatible,
Memory Stick PRO Duo compatible, High-speed
data transfer compatible)
No clue, you don't list the protocol (USB?).
|
Not sure. There is a multi-card reader/writer that connects to the
docking station connector, I think, but I can live without it.
| Quote: | Wireless LAN ?Integrated Wireless LAN IEEE 802.11a/802.11b/802.11g*
?Intel? PRO/Wireless 3945ABG Network Connection
See above, about wpi(4).
Bluetooth? standard version 2.0+EDR*9 ?Output: maximum +6dBm ?Frequency:
This isn't going to work - bluetooth isn't supported, really. Given the
number of problems with the protocol, I'm not sure that is such a bad
thing, either. 
|
That's okay, from what I've read about (lack of) bluetooth compatibility
between vendors, I'll have a simpler life without it.
| Quote: | Modem V.92 and V.90 Compliant
Unlikely to work - WinModems don't work under pretty much any *NIX, or,
in fact, anything other than Windows.
|
I expected as much.
| Quote: | PC Card (PCMCIA) Slot Type I/II x 1, CardBus Support
Works fine.
|
Oh good.
| Quote: | Camera 310,000 pixels effective
Image Device: OmniVision 1/5", VGA CMOS
No clue, probably not.
|
As I recall, this shows up on the USB bus, so there might be some hope
for it.
| Quote: | Built-in monaural microphone (front side)
Audio ?DSD compatible high quality sound chip: "Sound Reality"
(Intel? High Definition Audio compatible)
?3D audio (Direct Sound 3D support)
I wouldn't know about this.
|
I think the audio is likely to be a stumbling block, though it's not a
show-stopper. Intel's hdsound is still quite new.
| Quote: | Touchpad
Should work.
|
| Quote: | I tried to boot OpenBSD 3.8 on the Vaio but didn't get very far. A few
screens of unfamiliar messages rolled by and then it all came to a
screaming halt. I suppose I should've written down the last thing that
appeared on the screen but it didn't seem very important since the
obvious next thing to try is to download 3.9 and see if it fares any
better.
Actually, upgrading to -current seems to be the way. If you want to have
the latest and greatest hardware, -current is probably the way to go -
but you do get to keep the pieces.
Wait until after the hackathon, though - -current is currently far too
unstable. There are some slightly older and mostly functional snapshots
on my server at
http://jschipper.dynalias.net/pub/OpenBSD/snapshots/i386, but you would
not be wise to trust some random usenet poster.
|
:-)
| Quote: | Be aware, though, that running -current does mean that you're expected
to be able to solve most smallish problems. In particular, the provided
snapshots at http://www.openbsd.org/pub/OpenBSD/snapshots/i386 should be
mostly functional, but the source tree might or might not build at any
given moment.
If you still have problems, post back with the messages you see. It's
usually possible to get troublesome hardware to boot by disabling one or
more devices - boot -c enables kernel configuration before boot, and
'verbose' is a very useful command here.
|
Thanks for the tips.
| Quote: | I was able to run Damn Small Linux 1.3.1 (I had it lying around and just
thought I'd try it) but it didn't recognise a USB mouse (it did work
with the built-in pointing device). Perhaps DSL needs to be specially
reconfigured to work with an extra pointing device.
I was able to run Knoppix 4.0.2 on one at the store (just around the
corner (trying to support local business)) but I had to use acpi=off,
noapic and pci=bios in order to do so, or else it only got as far as
loading the cardmgr for PCMCIA before blanking the screen and hanging.
The Knoppix F2 screen says that that's for buggy BIOSes. It's a Phoenix
BIOS, BTW.
Once Knoppix was up, it recognised the mouse but not my Creative Labs
MuVo TX FM MP3 player as a flash drive. Strange, because the MuVo
appeared okay under DSL on the Vaio. On my home computer, plugging in
the MuVo eventually causes a new icon to pop up in Knoppix. Strange,
because USB was definitely working, or else the mouse wouldn't work. I
couldn't get sound to work under either DSL or Knoppix, though the mixer
seemed to think there was some sort of Intel sound system under Knoppix.
I don't know what DSD sound is, whether Sony's implementation of it is
any good, or whether there are any decent drivers for it. I'm prepared
to live without sound under Linux if that's necessary. Fortunately the
(wired) networking Just Worked(TM), so that's a relief. Also, Nvidia
has recently released Linux drivers that support the Go 7400 and can
suspend, so there's hope for the 3d graphics subsystem, at least under
Linux.
From what I've done so far, it seems that I should be able to get Linux
working on the thing, sort of, so I'm _probably_ going to go ahead and
buy one with a gig of main memory.
What I want to know from you people is how well the thing is likely to
work under OpenBSD, and where the pitfalls are likely to be.
Comments, anyone?
If you want to have a slightly less painful way to meet with OpenBSD -
which is really nice but does not always support as much devices as
Linux[1], especially where laptops are concerned - and really want to do so
on a laptop, I'd prefer anything by IBM. The developers are Thinkpad
junkies, so Thinkpads in particular tend to be well supported.
|
Yeah, I take your point, but the prices for Thinkpads with graphics
acceleration are far in excess of the price of this Vaio.
| Quote: | Which is not to say that you should not be able to get the Intel one
working with OpenBSD - most of it should be supported now, and work is
definitely underway to add support for the rest - but between running a
system you're not really familiar with, the usual troubles with
-current, 'testing' some new drivers, and having generally difficult
hardware, it might be more trouble than you'd be willing to go through.
OTOH, it will teach you a lot about the internals. And it should be
possible.
|
I think that's the attitude I should take.
| Quote: | Joachim
[1] This is a bit of a hot topic in OpenBSD land.
http://www.undeadly.org and the official OpenBSD site are both
campaigning for truly open drivers, instead of Linux' wrappers for
binaries provided by vendors.
|
Yeah, I read that Stallman nearly got arrested recently at MIT when he
held a peaceful demonstration at a presentation by some ATI guy. I wish
I'd been there.
Thanks, Joachim.
Regards, Graeme. |
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RGC
*nix forums beginner
Joined: 31 May 2006
Posts: 3
|
| Posted: Thu Jun 01, 2006 11:34 am Post subject:
Re: OpenBSD on Sony Vaio notebook?
|
|
|
Steve at fivetrees wrote:
| Quote: | "RGC" <graemec@mysoul.com.au> wrote in message
news:447d6bf0@news.comindico.com.au...
Hi folks,
...
I'm considering buying a Sony Vaio VGN-FE15GP notebook and I'd like to be
able to run OpenBSD on it. I was hoping some of you could look over the
specs and tell me whether I am going to have major difficulties getting
the important parts of OpenBSD to work.
I can't answer that directly (don't know the Vaio well enough), but the
hardware compatibility list should help:
http://www.openbsd.org/i386.html
|
Thanks, I'll take a look.
| Quote: | Re sound etc: traditionally OpenBSD has been stronger on server-side than
client-side, but that has been changing recently...
|
I've noticed that. I'll probably want to run a firewall/wireless router
on a PC at home, so I'm considering OpenBSD for that too.
| Quote: | Hopefully others here will be able to answer more directly. Good luck.
|
Yeah, I've already seen one message that suggests that the wireless
networking might work, which is good news.
Thanks, Steve.
Regards, Graeme. |
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|
|
jKILLSPAM.schipper@math.u
*nix forums Guru Wannabe
Joined: 13 Nov 2005
Posts: 202
|
| Posted: Wed May 31, 2006 4:31 pm Post subject:
Re: OpenBSD on Sony Vaio notebook?
|
|
|
RGC <graemec@mysoul.com.au> wrote:
| Quote: | Hi folks,
Is this a place where a BSD newbie can ask stupid questions with some
hope of getting sensible answers?
|
For reasonable values of 'stupid', yes. And sensible answers are not
always guaranteed.
There is also openbsd-newbies and misc@openbsd.org. Especially the
latter does require some lurking though.
| Quote: | A little about myself:
I've been running Linux for over half a decade (mostly Debian in the
last few years) and I have a background in programming and electronic
design, so I'm not a total luser. Some of my software education was in
the use of formal methods for software development, which still isn't
done much except in safety-critical systems such as aerospace. (No, I
haven't done any aerospace work.) From what I've read about OpenBSD
you folks take correctness and security seriously, and that's what I'm
looking for in an operating system.
I'm considering buying a Sony Vaio VGN-FE15GP notebook and I'd like to
be able to run OpenBSD on it. I was hoping some of you could look over
the specs and tell me whether I am going to have major difficulties
getting the important parts of OpenBSD to work.
For the original specs, go to:
http://vaio-online.sony.com/prod_info/vgn-fe15gp/specifications.html
Here are some of the highlights (excuse the uneven editing):
GN-FE15GP
Intel? Centrino? Duo Mobile Technology
Intel? Core? Duo Processor T2300 (1.66GHz) *1
|
Embarassingly, I do not know if and how this works. I suppose bsd.mp
(the SMP kernel) would be required.
| Quote: | Intel? PRO/Wireless 3945ABG Network Connection
|
This card is supported by wpi(4), which was added in -current. I'm not
sure if it is also compiled by default, but I believe this is the case.
You'll need to pkg_add the firmware, though. Blame Intel.
| Quote: | Intel? 945PM Express Chipset
|
If this bears any relation to graphics, I'm fairly confident there's
a new port in -current that might be interesting to you -
x11/915resolution.
Not sure about the specifics, but that should give you at least a
direction to Google in. ISTR it is related to using all of that nice
wide screen you mention below...
| Quote: | Processor System Bus 667MHz
Memory Bus 533MHz
Cache Memory L1 Cache: 64KB L2 Cache: 2MB (on CPU)
Main Memory 512MB DDR2 SDRAM (upgradeable up to 2GB)*2
(partially shared with video memory)*3
2 SO-DIMM slots (The pre-installed
memory module uses one)
|
Fairly uninteresting to support, though it has more power than my main
desktop computer I'm typing this at (my laptop, recently acquired, is a
venerable Thinkpad 390X).
| Quote: | Hard Disk 80GB (C: 20GB, D: 60GB*4) Serial ATA, 5400rpm
Optical Drive Dual Layer rewriter
|
Should work. Take a good look at the SATA adapter, though - it's very
likely to be supported, but it would truly suck if it wasn't.
| Quote: | Graphics Accelerator ?Dual display compatible
?3D graphics acceleration compatible
?NVIDIA? GeForce? Go 7400 with NVIDIA?
TurboCache?*3 (PCI Express x16)
|
Not supported - no graphical card is. When you run OpenBSD, you'll have
to make do with unaccelerated X.
It will, of course, do unaccelerated X just fine.
| Quote: | Video Memory 256MB*3
Display 15.4" Wide (WXGA: 1280 x 800) TFT colour display
|
This will be a pain to configure, also see my above note about
x11/915resolution.
| Quote: | Interfaces ?USB 2.0 x 3*6
Works.
?i.LINK (IEEE 1394) S400 (4 pin) ?S-Video Out connector
I wouldn't know about this.
?ExpressCard?/34 slot
No clue.
?Network (RJ-45) connector (100BASE-TX/10BASE-T)
?Headphone jack (stereo mini)
?Microphone jack (stereo mini)
?Monitor connector (VGA, D-SUB 15 pin)
?Modular (RJ-11) connector
?Docking Station connector
?Memory Stick Duo Slot*7 (MagicGate compatible,
Memory Stick PRO Duo compatible, High-speed
data transfer compatible)
No clue, you don't list the protocol (USB?).
Wireless LAN ?Integrated Wireless LAN IEEE 802.11a/802.11b/802.11g*
?Intel? PRO/Wireless 3945ABG Network Connection
See above, about wpi(4).
Bluetooth? standard version 2.0+EDR*9 ?Output: maximum +6dBm ?Frequency:
|
This isn't going to work - bluetooth isn't supported, really. Given the
number of problems with the protocol, I'm not sure that is such a bad
thing, either. ;-)
| Quote: | Modem V.92 and V.90 Compliant
|
Unlikely to work - WinModems don't work under pretty much any *NIX, or,
in fact, anything other than Windows.
| Quote: | PC Card (PCMCIA) Slot Type I/II x 1, CardBus Support
|
Works fine.
| Quote: | Camera 310,000 pixels effective
Image Device: OmniVision 1/5", VGA CMOS
No clue, probably not.
Built-in monaural microphone (front side)
Audio ?DSD compatible high quality sound chip: "Sound Reality"
(Intel? High Definition Audio compatible)
?3D audio (Direct Sound 3D support)
I wouldn't know about this.
Touchpad
Should work. |
| Quote: | I tried to boot OpenBSD 3.8 on the Vaio but didn't get very far. A few
screens of unfamiliar messages rolled by and then it all came to a
screaming halt. I suppose I should've written down the last thing that
appeared on the screen but it didn't seem very important since the
obvious next thing to try is to download 3.9 and see if it fares any
better.
|
Actually, upgrading to -current seems to be the way. If you want to have
the latest and greatest hardware, -current is probably the way to go -
but you do get to keep the pieces.
Wait until after the hackathon, though - -current is currently far too
unstable. There are some slightly older and mostly functional snapshots
on my server at
http://jschipper.dynalias.net/pub/OpenBSD/snapshots/i386, but you would
not be wise to trust some random usenet poster.
Be aware, though, that running -current does mean that you're expected
to be able to solve most smallish problems. In particular, the provided
snapshots at http://www.openbsd.org/pub/OpenBSD/snapshots/i386 should be
mostly functional, but the source tree might or might not build at any
given moment.
If you still have problems, post back with the messages you see. It's
usually possible to get troublesome hardware to boot by disabling one or
more devices - boot -c enables kernel configuration before boot, and
'verbose' is a very useful command here.
| Quote: | I was able to run Damn Small Linux 1.3.1 (I had it lying around and just
thought I'd try it) but it didn't recognise a USB mouse (it did work
with the built-in pointing device). Perhaps DSL needs to be specially
reconfigured to work with an extra pointing device.
I was able to run Knoppix 4.0.2 on one at the store (just around the
corner (trying to support local business)) but I had to use acpi=off,
noapic and pci=bios in order to do so, or else it only got as far as
loading the cardmgr for PCMCIA before blanking the screen and hanging.
The Knoppix F2 screen says that that's for buggy BIOSes. It's a Phoenix
BIOS, BTW.
Once Knoppix was up, it recognised the mouse but not my Creative Labs
MuVo TX FM MP3 player as a flash drive. Strange, because the MuVo
appeared okay under DSL on the Vaio. On my home computer, plugging in
the MuVo eventually causes a new icon to pop up in Knoppix. Strange,
because USB was definitely working, or else the mouse wouldn't work. I
couldn't get sound to work under either DSL or Knoppix, though the mixer
seemed to think there was some sort of Intel sound system under Knoppix.
I don't know what DSD sound is, whether Sony's implementation of it is
any good, or whether there are any decent drivers for it. I'm prepared
to live without sound under Linux if that's necessary. Fortunately the
(wired) networking Just Worked(TM), so that's a relief. Also, Nvidia
has recently released Linux drivers that support the Go 7400 and can
suspend, so there's hope for the 3d graphics subsystem, at least under
Linux.
From what I've done so far, it seems that I should be able to get Linux
working on the thing, sort of, so I'm _probably_ going to go ahead and
buy one with a gig of main memory.
What I want to know from you people is how well the thing is likely to
work under OpenBSD, and where the pitfalls are likely to be.
Comments, anyone?
|
If you want to have a slightly less painful way to meet with OpenBSD -
which is really nice but does not always support as much devices as
Linux[1], especially where laptops are concerned - and really want to do so
on a laptop, I'd prefer anything by IBM. The developers are Thinkpad
junkies, so Thinkpads in particular tend to be well supported.
Which is not to say that you should not be able to get the Intel one
working with OpenBSD - most of it should be supported now, and work is
definitely underway to add support for the rest - but between running a
system you're not really familiar with, the usual troubles with
-current, 'testing' some new drivers, and having generally difficult
hardware, it might be more trouble than you'd be willing to go through.
OTOH, it will teach you a lot about the internals. And it should be
possible.
Joachim
[1] This is a bit of a hot topic in OpenBSD land.
http://www.undeadly.org and the offical OpenBSD site are both
campaigning for truly open drivers, instead of Linux' wrappers for
binaries provided by vendors. |
|
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|
|
Steve at fivetrees
*nix forums addict
Joined: 21 May 2005
Posts: 82
|
| Posted: Wed May 31, 2006 3:43 pm Post subject:
Re: OpenBSD on Sony Vaio notebook?
|
|
|
"RGC" <graemec@mysoul.com.au> wrote in message
news:447d6bf0@news.comindico.com.au...
| Quote: | Hi folks,
Is this a place where a BSD newbie can ask stupid questions with some hope
of getting sensible answers?
|
Mostly. For various values of "sensible" .
| Quote: | I've been running Linux for over half a decade (mostly Debian in the last
few years) and I have a background in programming and electronic design,
so I'm not a total luser. Some of my software education was in the use of
formal methods for software development, which still isn't done much
except in safety-critical systems such as aerospace. (No, I haven't done
any aerospace work.) From what I've read about OpenBSD you folks take
correctness and security seriously, and that's what I'm looking for in an
operating system.
|
My background is similar to yours, and like you, the OpenBSD mindset appeals
to me greatly. I've been a convert since about '99, and am glad I am .
| Quote: | I'm considering buying a Sony Vaio VGN-FE15GP notebook and I'd like to be
able to run OpenBSD on it. I was hoping some of you could look over the
specs and tell me whether I am going to have major difficulties getting
the important parts of OpenBSD to work.
|
I can't answer that directly (don't know the Vaio well enough), but the
hardware compatibility list should help:
http://www.openbsd.org/i386.html
Re sound etc: traditionally OpenBSD has been stronger on server-side than
client-side, but that has been changing recently...
Hopefully others here will be able to answer more directly. Good luck.
Steve
http://www.fivetrees.com |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
RGC
*nix forums beginner
Joined: 31 May 2006
Posts: 3
|
| Posted: Wed May 31, 2006 10:12 am Post subject:
OpenBSD on Sony Vaio notebook?
|
|
|
Hi folks,
Is this a place where a BSD newbie can ask stupid questions with some
hope of getting sensible answers?
A little about myself:
I've been running Linux for over half a decade (mostly Debian in the
last few years) and I have a background in programming and electronic
design, so I'm not a total luser. Some of my software education was in
the use of formal methods for software development, which still isn't
done much except in safety-critical systems such as aerospace. (No, I
haven't done any aerospace work.) From what I've read about OpenBSD
you folks take correctness and security seriously, and that's what I'm
looking for in an operating system.
I'm considering buying a Sony Vaio VGN-FE15GP notebook and I'd like to
be able to run OpenBSD on it. I was hoping some of you could look over
the specs and tell me whether I am going to have major difficulties
getting the important parts of OpenBSD to work.
For the original specs, go to:
http://vaio-online.sony.com/prod_info/vgn-fe15gp/specifications.html
Here are some of the highlights (excuse the uneven editing):
GN-FE15GP
Intel® Centrino® Duo Mobile Technology
Intel® Core™ Duo Processor T2300 (1.66GHz) *1
Intel® PRO/Wireless 3945ABG Network Connection
Intel® 945PM Express Chipset
Processor System Bus 667MHz
Memory Bus 533MHz
Cache Memory L1 Cache: 64KB L2 Cache: 2MB (on CPU)
Main Memory 512MB DDR2 SDRAM (upgradeable up to 2GB)*2
(partially shared with video memory)*3
2 SO-DIMM slots (The pre-installed
memory module uses one)
Hard Disk 80GB (C: 20GB, D: 60GB*4) Serial ATA, 5400rpm
Optical Drive Dual Layer rewriter
Graphics Accelerator •Dual display compatible
•3D graphics acceleration compatible
•NVIDIA® GeForce® Go 7400 with NVIDIA®
TurboCache™*3 (PCI Express x16)
Video Memory 256MB*3
Display 15.4" Wide (WXGA: 1280 x 800) TFT colour display
Interfaces •USB 2.0 x 3*6
•i.LINK (IEEE 1394) S400 (4 pin) •S-Video Out connector
•ExpressCard™/34 slot
•Network (RJ-45) connector (100BASE-TX/10BASE-T)
•Headphone jack (stereo mini)
•Microphone jack (stereo mini)
•Monitor connector (VGA, D-SUB 15 pin)
•Modular (RJ-11) connector
•Docking Station connector
•Memory Stick Duo Slot*7 (MagicGate compatible,
Memory Stick PRO Duo compatible, High-speed
data transfer compatible)
Wireless LAN •Integrated Wireless LAN IEEE 802.11a/802.11b/802.11g*
•Intel® PRO/Wireless 3945ABG Network Connection
Bluetooth® standard version 2.0+EDR*9 •Output: maximum +6dBm •Frequency:
Modem V.92 and V.90 Compliant
PC Card (PCMCIA) Slot Type I/II x 1, CardBus Support
Camera 310,000 pixels effective
Image Device: OmniVision 1/5", VGA CMOS
Built-in monaural microphone (front side)
Audio •DSD compatible high quality sound chip: "Sound Reality"
(Intel® High Definition Audio compatible)
•3D audio (Direct Sound 3D support)
Touchpad
I tried to boot OpenBSD 3.8 on the Vaio but didn't get very far. A few
screens of unfamiliar messages rolled by and then it all came to a
screaming halt. I suppose I should've written down the last thing that
appeared on the screen but it didn't seem very important since the
obvious next thing to try is to download 3.9 and see if it fares any
better.
I was able to run Damn Small Linux 1.3.1 (I had it lying around and just
thought I'd try it) but it didn't recognise a USB mouse (it did work
with the built-in pointing device). Perhaps DSL needs to be specially
reconfigured to work with an extra pointing device.
I was able to run Knoppix 4.0.2 on one at the store (just around the
corner (trying to support local business)) but I had to use acpi=off,
noapic and pci=bios in order to do so, or else it only got as far as
loading the cardmgr for PCMCIA before blanking the screen and hanging.
The Knoppix F2 screen says that that's for buggy BIOSes. It's a Phoenix
BIOS, BTW.
Once Knoppix was up, it recognised the mouse but not my Creative Labs
MuVo TX FM MP3 player as a flash drive. Strange, because the MuVo
appeared okay under DSL on the Vaio. On my home computer, plugging in
the MuVo eventually causes a new icon to pop up in Knoppix. Strange,
because USB was definitely working, or else the mouse wouldn't work. I
couldn't get sound to work under either DSL or Knoppix, though the mixer
seemed to think there was some sort of Intel sound system under Knoppix.
I don't know what DSD sound is, whether Sony's implementation of it is
any good, or whether there are any decent drivers for it. I'm prepared
to live without sound under Linux if that's necessary. Fortunately the
(wired) networking Just Worked(TM), so that's a relief. Also, Nvidia
has recently released Linux drivers that support the Go 7400 and can
suspend, so there's hope for the 3d graphics subsystem, at least under
Linux.
From what I've done so far, it seems that I should be able to get Linux
working on the thing, sort of, so I'm _probably_ going to go ahead and
buy one with a gig of main memory.
What I want to know from you people is how well the thing is likely to
work under OpenBSD, and where the pitfalls are likely to be.
Comments, anyone?
Regards, Graeme. |
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