topic Vaio VPC-S12C5E + Linux in PCs & Accessories

Vaio VPC-S12C5E + Linux

sambiase — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 17:58:33 GMT

Hi All,

I just bought my first Vaio and since I only use Windows for gaming, I then installed openSuse 11.3 as dual boot. I got most of the things to work but I really cant get some of the FN keys to function, in fact just the sound FN Keys are working (ex: brightness does not work). Another thing I cant get to work is the backlit keyboard which always has the lights on while I am typing. I have not tried the motion eye camera yet but I assume that it will not work out of the box. What about being able to switch from Intel's Graphics to Nvidia's? I was wondering if there is any howTo on how to install / configure those things for Sony Vaio S under linux? My config is below:

openSuse 11.3 64bits

kernel 2.6.34-12-desktop

I am really happy so far with the laptop and looking forward to get some support. Thanks in advance.

/Sambiase

Vaio VPC-S12C5E + Linux

cyrus_sr19 — Mon, 08 Nov 2010 19:38:21 GMT

Hi, Sambiase.

1) Do you try another distros? Because maybe there Fn-keys will work "out of the box",,

2) I'm using ArchLinux - not very user-friendly distributive..In my SR after install volume and other keys work fine but Fn+F5 and Fn+F6 for brightness. But I solve this problem:

First of all you need to define code of keys. For it write in console:

acpi_listen

Then push keys what you need. Usually it shows two code. First - when press in, and second - press out.

So now you should know your code. For me it was

SNC 00000001 00000010

I think your code will be similar...

Now you need root-access rights. Try command "su" (for Ubuntu try "sudo -s") and then write your root password. Then go to directory "/etc/acpi". There you need two folders: "action" and "events"

In "events" create file "sonybright-up":(just use your own code for keys..)

event=/sony/hotkey SNC 00000001 00000010
action=/etc/acpi/actions/sonybright.sh up

event - means code of key, and action - script, which will be executed after you press this key.

analogically create "sonybright-down":

event=/sony/hotkey SNC 00000001 00000011
action=/etc/acpi/actions/sonybright.sh down

The last part - you need to create script "sonybright.sh", which will change brightness of your display. So I wrote it in bash, but you can write your own in another language(perl or maybe python):

#!/bin/bash

if [ "x$1" = "xdown" ]; then

expr `cat /sys/class/backlight/acpi_video0/brightness` \- 1 > /sys/class/backlight/acpi_video0/brightness

elif [ "x$1" = "xup" ]; then

expr `cat /sys/class/backlight/acpi_video0/brightness` \+ 1 > /sys/class/backlight/acpi_video0/brightness

else

echo "Error">/home/cyrus/bright_script.log

Thats all. This method using acpi-module so you need package acpi. But I think in OpenSUSE it is already installed.

3) Don't know about the backlit keyboard, cause it's new feature of S-series. But I think you can try to find it in google .. something about linux on MacBooks.

4) About switch from Intel's Graphics to Nvidia's: Z-Series has this technology. So you can try to use HowTo's from users of VAIO Z like this: http://blog.shiftreduce.org/?p=13 . Or maybe you can find something usefull at Z-Series community: https://launchpad.net/~sony-vaio-z-series

Vaio VPC-S12C5E + Linux

sambiase — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 12:31:09 GMT

Hi cyrus_sr19,

Thanks soooo much for your reply. Brightness is now working perfectly. I actually had 2 files in /etc/acpi called "sony-brightness-down" and "sony-brightness-up" but after reading your post I figured out that they were pointing to a script which was not working. Your bin bash script worked without problems. Almost everything on my S vaio is now working under openSuse so now I will check the link you sent regarding Nvidia. A last question, would you know how to get the motion eye camera to work as it does under Windows. I mean, that the cam actually "follows" when one moves in front of it. Well, thanks once again since brightness was one of the main features I was struggling to get working.

Vaio VPC-S12C5E + Linux

cyrus_sr19 — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 22:57:30 GMT

In linux for camera you can use application cheese -> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheese_(software)

I mean, that the cam actually "follows" when one moves in front of it.

I don't really understand what are you talking about? Can you describe this function clearly? or maybe you have the video about this functionality..