Linux on Sony Vaio PCG-GRX770

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Here are my experiences loading Debian GNU/Linux on a Sony Vaio laptop.

Hardware Specifications

Intel Pentium4 Mobile 2.2 Ghz processor
512 Mb DDR SDRAM
400 Mhz bus
16.1" XGA LCD screen
40 Gb harddrive
DVD/CD-RW combo drive
Built in v.90 winmodem
Intel AC97 Sound
Intel Pro100/VE Ethernet built/in
ATI Mobility Radeon 7500 with 32 Mb video DDR SDRAM
1 Firewire port
1 Sony memory stick port
3 USB ports
2 PC card ports

Partitioning

I used PartitionMagic to partition the harddrive. Beforehand, the harddisk had already been paritioned by the seller to have a primary partition with about 12Gb, and a logical partition with the rest.

I repartitioned the harddrive as followed:

8 Gb primary partition with NTFS (C:)
340 Mb primary partition with ext3 (/)
500 Mb logical partition (linux swap)
3.5 Gb logical partition with ReiserFS (/usr)
2.0 Gb logical partition with ReiserFS (/var)
1.0 Gb logical partition with ReiserFS (/opt)
500 Mb logical partition with ReiserFS (/usr/local)
9.2 Gb logical partition with ReiserFS (/home)
14 Gb logical partition with NTFS (D:)
250 Mb tmpfs (/tmp)

The logical partitions are managed by Linux LVM2, so that it would be easier to change the partition sizes if needed.

Installation

At the time of my initial installation, the stable version of Debian GNU/Linux is Woody (3.0). Unfortunately, the version of XFree86 that comes with Woody is too old, and it didn't have the drivers for the graphics card. I therefore decided to upgrade to Debian testing (Sarge). This worked fine.

During the second upgrade, I decided to go with a pure 2.6 system, which meant I could use LVM2 and udev.

Hardware Components

Kernel options

.config file

config-2.6.11

My bootparameters:

append="idebus=66 pci=biosirq hdc=ide-cd resume=/dev/hda5"

I started using the Debian blessed kernels (kernel.org + Debian patches).

ACPI

ACPI works fine with this laptop. Using ACPI events, I can change the screen brightness and change of the CPU frequency when running on batteries.

Example of ACPI event

/etc/acpi/events/ac

	# /etc/acpid/events/ac
	# This detects changes to AC power status, and passes them to
	# /etc/acpi/ac.sh for further processing.

	# Optionally you can specify the placeholder %e. It will pass
	# through the whole kernel event message to the program you've
	# specified.

	event=ac_adapter[ /]ACAD
	action=/etc/acpi/ac.sh

/etc/acpi/ac.sh

	#!/bin/sh
	# /etc/acpid/ac.sh
	# Detect loss of AC power and regaining of AC power, and take action
	# appropriatly.

	# On my laptop anyway, this script doesn't not get different parameters for
	# loss of power and regained power. So, I have to use a separate program to
	# tell what the adapter status is.

	# This uses the spicctrl program for probing the sonypi device.
	SET_BACKLIGHT="/usr/bin/spicctrl --setbrightness"
	GET_BACKLIGHT="/usr/bin/spicctrl -B"
	FULL_LIGHT=255
	DIM_LIGHT=50
	AC_STATE=/proc/acpi/ac_adapter/ACAD/state

	grep on-line $AC_STATE 2>&1 >/dev/null

	if [ $? -eq 0 ]; then
	if [ `$GET_BACKLIGHT` -ne $FULL_LIGHT ]; then
	$SET_BACKLIGHT $FULL_LIGHT
	fi
	else 
	if [ `$GET_BACKLIGHT` -ne $DIM_LIGHT ]; then
        $SET_BACKLIGHT $DIM_LIGHT
	fi
	fi

Mouse

Mousepad works out of the box. I had some problems configuring the usb mouse for use in X. See Graphics card/XFree86 section for more information.

Graphics card/XFree86

You need at least XFree86 v.4.2.1 to work. At this version, the Radeon chip is detected automatically by XFree86 -config. You also need xlibmesa-dri. This gives you better 3D experience. Make sure you have CONFIG_AGP_ATI turned on in your .config kernel file. Make sure the following /etc/X11/XF86Config section exists:

	Section "Module"
        Load  "drm"
        Load  "glx"
        Load  "dri"
	EndSection

	Section "dri"
        Mode  0666
	EndSection

To make the USB mouse to cooperate with the mousepad, you need the following sections:

/etc/X11/XF86Config

	Section     "ServerLayout"
	InputDevice "Mouse" "CorePointer"
	EndSection

	Section     "InputDevice"
	Identifier  "Mouse"
	Driver      "mouse"
	Option      "Device" "/dev/input/mice"
	Option      "Protocol" "IMPS/2"
	Option      "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
	EndSection

DVD/CDRW

No problems watching DVDs with Ogle or Xine. No problems with burning CDs.

Modem

Not tested

Sound

Sound works fine with ALSA. Make sure you use Alsa's snd_intel8x0 driver.

Since the built-in soundcard doesn't do hardware mixing, you should let Alsa mix the sounds for you. Put this asound.conf file in your /etc directory, and restart Alsa. This lets Alsa do the mixing in software.

Ethernet card

Ethernet card worked out of the box with the Intel ExpressPro module (eepro100)

Firewire

Tested Firewire, Sony calls it iLink, without problems with Apple iPod

PCMCIA card

I'm using NetGear PCMCIA Wireless PC Card (Cardbus WG511) without problems

This wireless card uses the prism module, and with Linux 2.6.5, it is included by default. Users of earlier kernels should download the module from the Prism website

Sony MemoryStick

Works fine

USB storage

I tested with a Lexar JumpDrive JumpDrive 2.0 Pro (USB key), and it worked fine.

Software Suspend

Starting with linux 2.4.7, software suspend works with the laptop. The only problem so far is that after a resume, X hangs.

Software

Here are some software that are useful if you are using a Sony laptop. Some of the software are also useful if you are using laptops in general, while others are more Sony specific.

spicctrl - lets you, among other things, control the backlight of the monitor. Sony specific.
laptop-net - A Debian specific package to automatically detect network connection and act accordingly.
cpudyn - Dynamically adjust the cpu frequency and harddisk based on usage.

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