Latest Ubuntu on Sony Vaio SZ750

I just tried Ubuntu (live CD) on my SZ, and:

- There appears to be no way of dimming the screen, including the fn+F5/F6 controls availible under windows. Even checking the "reduce screen brightness" option in Ubuntu's power management window has no effect.

- There appears to be no way of downclocking the CPU while on battery like on Vista, and I don't know you to set it up to disable bluetooth, the optical drive, ethernet port, etc. when on battery.

- Due to the above, Ubuntu gets horrible battery life compared to Vista. Ubuntu consumes over 20 watts when idling, while Vista usually uses 10-12 during web browsing and word processing (and sometimes less)

What do I need to do to get good battery life and screen brightness controls working?

 

No ideas? As a Windows user interested in Linux, I'd really like to get this working, so I hope this works out.

If nobody here knows how to solve these problems, can you refer me to a somewhere/somebody who can?

 

ubuntuforums.org is the best place for anything ubuntu. i would help you out but my hardwares not supported until 8.10 and i dont have time to get bleeding edge up and running right now

 

Definitely check the Ubuntu Forums, as that's the best place to get info on getting your hardware to work with Ubuntu. CPU throttling should be easy to enable. The screen brightness control may not be as easy, as it depends on your hardware. Good luck!

 

Out of curiosity, what do you get when you give this command
dmesg|grep -i key

I'm using a Sony TZ130 and the Fkeys for dim and bright work normally.
What I see in dmesg is:
input: Sony Vaio Keys as /devices/LNXSYSTM:00/device:00/PNP0A08:00/device:2d/SNY6001:00/input/input5

Looking around on the web, it appears that this has to do with the Fkeys.

Good luck.
-John