Ubuntu on Vaio SR

Has anyone tried installing ubuntu or any other linux distro, as either a standalone system or as a dualboot system with vista? Are there drivers for trackpad, fingerprint sensor, webcam, graphics card, wifi, bluetooth, etc? What method do you go about on repartitioning the hd? should the original sony restore partition be left? cuz i made cds.

I know that was a lot of questions, but I am really interested in exploring this option. I have used ubuntu with my desktop before but have never tried with a laptop. somehow i feel that this would be opening a can of worms. . . oh wells

thanks in advance!

 

Yeah, I also want to install Ubuntu on the laptop. Can someone give advice?

 

Hi guys! Just a note that I've successfully installed Ubuntu 8.10 (Intrepid Ibex) on my SR as a dual-boot with Windows XP. Everything works except the fingerprint reader (Sony firmware restricts non-Sony software interacting with it, so the Linux equivalent software can't work with it), the motion eye camera (you need extra drivers/software, though I haven't tested it personally) and the mode switch and function buttons. The function buttons are an easy fix, but I'm lazy and haven't done it yet. Everything you need should be on the Ubuntu forums, but the laptop functions just fine without doing anything other than installing Ubuntu (wireless, bluetooth, etc.).

 

From my experience Sony's play quite well with Ubuntu. The only thing I've never gotten to work like Lattice above, is the fingerprint reader, but like he said it's a firmware thing that locks you out.

 

Hi,
I also have a Vaio SR model (SR-26) and I'm having a hard time with the modem. As per your comment above, it seems that you have almost everything under control which give me some hope..
I have installed a HSF modem driver from Linuxant, but it doesn't work and actually my laptop freezes after booting..
Which driver did you use, is your modem working??

Any assistance will be very appreciated. I'm desperate.

 

Hmm. I don't have dial-up, so I can't test my modem. However, would this page help you any? Try uninstalling the Linuxant modem and using the method on that page.

 

Hi Lattice, Is there a guide in installing the linux dirvers for the Sony Webcam/network card? Does the FN work? Preferably, can you indicate what extra drivers/programs I need for Ubuntu to run properly? Also, does the battery life decrease while using Ubuntu? Thanks.

 

Battery life decreased pretty dramatically for me (I can only get about 2 hours on Ubuntu), even under very light load (web surfing only) and with CPU throttling. I don't run Ubuntu at all unless I'm on AC these days.

As for the Sony Webcam, try this page. Looks like it's been updated for the latest kernel version? Last time I checked, it wasn't, so I hadn't tried it yet, but I probably will in the next few weeks.

As for the network card, do you mean the LAN or the WLAN? My WLAN worked right off the bat without installing anything. For LAN, I think Ubuntu from Dapper onwards should support the Marvell cards, but in case it doesn't, this page should have the proper drivers.

 

wow, 2 hours only? What are your specs for the SR? I heard there should be a powre management tool in UBUNTU which increases battery life... Not sure though, but thanks for the reply.

 

I have the P8400, 3GB RAM, and the ATI 3470. The only power management settings I changed were the screen brightness (dimmed it) and a CPU throttling tool I found online. Battery life on Ubuntu isn't too important to me, since I only log onto Ubuntu for long sessions of programming at home/work with the AC on, but I'm guessing someone more determined can get into more setttings and disable things like i.link and all the card readers and the such.

 

Hi everybody,

I discovered something truly odd yesterday, playing with different distros.

If I use the free Xorg driver for the ATI 3470, I get temperatures for my idling laptop
around 47 deg C (as reported in /proc/acpi/thermal_zone/TZ00/temperature) with the
computer consuming quite a lot of power, and the fan spinning all the time and becoming
quite annoying.

If I change the graphics driver to ATI's proprietary driver, idle temperature goes down by
10 degs (!!!) and the fan is much quieter. This must also have an effect on battery life
(though I didn't test this)!

 

Why not just run VMware? No partition needed.

 

Here's some good news. I just performed a battery test with my Linux configuration, and got almost 4 hours of battery life with my SR. Wireless and bluetooth were switched off. I did only text editing work and browsing, with the display set at about half brightness.

This has been measured with an SR 21M (P8400, ATI 3470, 4GB RAM, 320 GB HD) running Mandriva 2009.0 (32 bit) with
ATI's fglrx graphics driver. Of all distros I have checked, Mandriva was the only one where this driver could be installed without
hassle. Still, 3D acceleration doesn't work out of the box, and an update to a more recent ATI driver version is apparently badly
needed.

 

I've been playing around with this a little bit...

http://www.pendrivelinux.com/2008/11/01/ubuntu-810-install-using-the-built-in-usb-installer/

works pretty good, fairly fast running from a usb stick. a good option for someone wanting to try out linux without installing anything on thier hard drive.

 

Does the Sony Vaio SR laptop use e1000e network card? Cause I have heard that it will be permanently damaged by ubuntu.

--Okay, I installed ubuntu but how do i get the wireless internet to work?

 

I have the Marvell Yukon 88E8040 PCI-E Fast Ethernet Controller. I'm fairly sure the other SR models have the same, but you can always check your device manager to be sure.

 

I read about that also and was somewhat concerned.

my new SR290CTO has the same card.

 

Has anyone tried playing a game with Wine, a 3470, an the proprietary ATI drivers..? If so, any good..?

 

This was a possibility with the early Alpha releases of Ubuntu 8.10, but the bug was fixed before the final release. And, as another poster noted, the SR's use a different ethernet chipset anyway.

As for the wireless, it worked out-of-the-box for me on my SR290 with Ubuntu 8.10.