Ubuntu 8.10 on VAIO FW390CTO

Ok, first off.. My spec is under my signature..

Intel Wifi 5100. Blu ray burner also..

First of all. I already wipe out Sony hard drive, and partition it into 3 parts. I have 320GB(7200RPM)..

I put Vista Ultimate 64 bit on.. And every thing is running fine, including all of the driver, graphic..

So I decide to put Ubuntu on.. 8.10.. I installed on the second partition.. And put the Grub on second partition so that I use Vista bootloader (which I think much cleaner than GRUB).

So everything installed fine, I also create a SWAP partition (3GB) also. (this make Ubuntu a little faster). After installed, everything work fine out of the box.. Installed ATI HD 3650 graphic driver .. work well..

I was thinking about 64 bit ubuntu, (I did installed it, but it gave me more problem, so decide to get back to 32 bit Ubuntu. Because I have 4GB RAM, 64bit Ubuntu regconize it, but for 32bit, it's only recognize 2.5GB of RAM.. which why I create a SWAP partition.

Compiz Fusion effect, VLC play .avi file is flickering, if I disable Compiz, then the video work fine, but another way around it is that you have to change the setting in VLC video mode to X11, and while Compiz is on, the video work fine, no flickering anymore..

I change my theme to Mac4Lin, (I like MAC look, can't afford it.. so..you know.. )

Installed WINE, and run Guild Wars (For my graphic card, was perfect, at 1920x1080, setting at high performance, not seeing any lag), Office 2007, Photoshop CS, Quicken 2008, everything seem to be running at full speed.. so I was very happy with that..

With AWN, (little buggy, but still usable.. ). I use Banshee as my audio player, it play video without flickering also. My music sound fine on the speaker, but just the headphone, for some reason, it's low, but still hearable.

Thanks to the Brightness control page in here somewhere, I got my S1, AV to lauch with Banshee.. Play, FF, RW, Volume key, work fine.

Sleeping and hibernation work fine also. Battery on my Vista has about 2:25 mins, fully charged... On Ubuntu, it's about 2:00 hrs. For some reason, I haven't know why it's. My CPU temp is the same in Vista, Duo Core is working properly..

WiFI is kinda suck thought.. If you turn off your Wifi in Vista, when back to Ubuntu, it's disable, can't turn it on.. So I have to back to Vista, enable it.. Then turn off Vista, back Ubuntu, then it will work. (Which is not a very big deal... )

Haven't test the MIC yet.. But the SD card reader work.. MS Stick Haven't test yet.. But Ubuntu found all of the driver on this computer.. Even the Camera work with Erikga Phone.

Mounted my Seagate 320GB drive working fine also. Touchpad, except for my BLU-RAY burning... Linux doesn't have support for Bluray yet. But have try to burn with K3B software, and everything working good.

So, there you go.. Everything you needed to know about my FW390 with Ubuntu.

I can post up picture you you guy want me too.. Just let me know.. Thank.

 

The flickering is due to the ati driver. If you want it to go away, disable compiz.

 

Thanks for the report.

So you're saying there is flickering only with compiz enabled. Because on my Desktop PC (which has a Radeon HD3850), there is flickering even with Desktop Effects disabled. Also videos look washed out.

I'd be interested by some pics of your laptop running Ubuntu (possibly with some text or a web page to see how small the fonts look).

Thanks

 

hey whats up. hows ubuntu coming along for you on the laptop? im gonna re put ubuntu or arch on it after my exams though. anyways about your wireless criteria, you can enable the card in linux even if you disable it in windows. just open up the terminal and type "sudo ifconfig wlan0 up" then type "sudo ifconfig wlan0" and then once again type "sudo ifconfig wlan0 up"
that should do it. cause when you bring it up the first time it doesnt bring it up, so you have to bring it up then back off and then back on, and it works. that should help you out. also the battery life, im surprised. maybe its just not telling you the right time, cause for me it was the same. it would say 2:30mins but it wouldnt budge. currently in windows, its not even calibrated so when it says 30mins left, i usually get about 1hr.