Linux on Sony Vaio Z?

[puter1]

Nvidia/ATI and the KDE 4.1 desktop has been an issue lately so it has nothing to do with the notebook. Some Linux users insist the newer Nvidia cards work fine but mine is older so I can't tell you one way or the other.

From my googling, I think if you go with the following specs on any notebook, you can use Linux just fine:

1) CPU - Intel Centrino
2) DDR2 or DDR3 RAM
3) Nvidia mobile GPU - unforunately, there are still major issues with ATI cards...according to most Linux users
4) Intel wireless - new or old, Intel is working on Linux compatibility
5) hibernate/suspend features seem to be a bit tricky and sometimes don't work quite right.... but, this has been with most notebooks, older and newer... I really think it's not very significant but I don't have a laptop yet

Laptops equipped with similar specs to the Sony Vaio Z series should work just as well as the Sony. It's mostly about hardware specs, not brand.

The issue with the e1000e driver has been fixed last I read.

The Nvidia/tearing issue seems more serious to me.

If you go with ATI, you will have another series of headaches according to what I've read. I think it will be a while until the open source advantage really means something.

But, either graphics chip can be dealt with.

Just go with Intel wireless, Intel graphics or if you need a better chip, go with Nvidia or ATI (either one but Nvidia has had a better recent history with compatibility).

[rluble]

Ubuntu 8.10 works pretty well. I am running the 64-bit Desktop version. All the hardware I care for is recognized (LAN, WIFI, BLUETOOTH, WEBCAM). The only little thing that bothers me is that standby does not work out of the box (complains about some hardware that could not go to standby), but in any case I have not researched the issue.

Boot and shutdown times are amazing in Linux. Shutdown is almost immediate, comparing to more that 2 minutes to shutdown vista sometimes.

BTW I am using intel (stamina) mode and I have not tried nvidia...

[arth1]

running both gpus at the same time seems like a major problem to me...

Why? Many Unix systems have more than one graphics card, often of different manufacture. That's no problem for X11 or Linux.

The main difference is that these two are hooked up to the same monitor, which, currently Xorg/XFree86 has no functionality for handling. Some commercial Unix systems have done it before, though.

[moffa]

Why? Many Unix systems have more than one graphics card, often of different manufacture.

Battery life.
There's no problem getting X11 to run if you know what you're doing, but with both graphics cards enabled battery life will suffer.
Other notebooks with hybrid graphics have the possibility to disable the discrete graphics card in bios, which would be perfectly acceptable to me. Having both running at the same time is not.

[arth1]

Battery life.
There's no problem getting X11 to run if you know what you're doing, but with both graphics cards enabled battery life will suffer.
Other notebooks with hybrid graphics have the possibility to disable the discrete graphics card in bios, which would be perfectly acceptable to me. Having both running at the same time is not.

But on the VGN-Z, the Intel adapter is never disabled in Windows either. Go take a look in the Device Manager when running in "Speed" mode, and you'll see both.

[jamesmckeown]

Has anyone found a way to get the headphones working on linux yet?

Trying to use my headphones on my Vaio SZ71 doesn't work. No sound from the headphones, and the laptop speakers don't get muted. Not sure about other Distro's, but I'm using Fedora 10 right now, was hoping the upgrade from FC9 would help

[arth1]

Has anyone found a way to get the headphones working on linux yet?

Trying to use my headphones on my Vaio SZ71 doesn't work. No sound from the headphones, and the laptop speakers don't get muted. Not sure about other Distro's, but I'm using Fedora 10 right now, was hoping the upgrade from FC9 would help

Fedora 10 has switched from ALSA to PulseAudio. Check whether you can set it up in Applications -> Sound & Video -> PulseAudio Volume Control
If you can't, you may have to switch back to ALSA. A google for 'ALSA "Fedora 10"' should get you there.

[jamesmckeown]

Fedora 10 has switched from ALSA to PulseAudio. Check whether you can set it up in Applications -> Sound & Video -> PulseAudio Volume Control
If you can't, you may have to switch back to ALSA. A google for 'ALSA "Fedora 10"' should get you there.

Got it to work

If anyone else is having trouble, this is what I did:

Found the file '/etc/modprobe.d/modprobe.conf.dist'

Added 'options snd-hda-intel model=vaio' to the end of this file.

Rebooted, and to my delight the headphones now work as expected

EDIT :: In fedora 11 the file which needs to be edited is now:
/etc/modprobe.d/dist.conf

[sector]

new ubuntu 8.10 x64 is almost working fine, exept that i cant run full gpu acceleration (nvidia). Everything else is working ok!

[djlooka]

new ubuntu 8.10 x64 is almost working fine, exept that i cant run full gpu acceleration (nvidia). Everything else is working ok!

What about screen backlight?