Arch Linux on the Sony Vaio TZ [was 'Two-finger scrolling on Vaio TZ']

.:B:. · 2008-04-04 13:03:32

I have Xorg configured to use the synaptics driver for my ALPS touchpad:

I: Bus=0011 Vendor=0002 Product=0008 Version=7321
N: Name="AlpsPS/2 ALPS GlidePoint"
P: Phys=isa0060/serio1/input0
S: Sysfs=/devices/platform/i8042/serio1/input/input8
U: Uniq=
H: Handlers=mouse3 event8 
B: EV=f
B: KEY=420 0 70000 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
B: REL=3
B: ABS=1000003

Some googling told me the touchpad should support two-finger scrolling (both horizontally and vertically). However, after consulting the Arch wiki on synaptics and configuring my Xorg.conf accordingly, two-finger scrolling ain't working . I told Xorg to load the synaptics driver explicitly.

This is how the relevant section looks:

Section "InputDevice"
        Identifier      "Touchpad"
        Driver          "synaptics"
        Option     "Device"      "/dev/input/mouse3"
        Option    "Protocol"    "auto-dev"
        Option  "LeftEdge"      "50"
        Option  "RightEdge"     "1000"
        Option  "TopEdge"       "50"
        Option  "BottomEdge"    "750"
        Option  "FingerLow"     "20"
        Option  "FingerHigh"    "30"
        Option  "MaxTapTime"    "180"
        Option  "MaxTapMove"    "110"
        Option  "EmulateMidButtonTime"   "75"
        Option  "MaxDoubleTapTime"      "180"
        Option  "VertScrollDelta"       "20"
        Option  "HorizScrollDelta"      "50"
        Option  "MinSpeed"      "0.94"
      Option    "MaxSpeed"    "0.12"
      Option    "AccelFactor" "0.0010"
      Option  "EdgeMotionMinSpeed"   "200"
    Option  "EdgeMotionMaxSpeed"   "200"
        Option  "UpDownScrolling" "1"
        Option  "CircularScrolling"   "1"
    Option  "CircScrollDelta"   "0.1"
    Option  "CircScrollTrigger"   "2"
        Option  "SHMConfig"     "true"
        Option  "Emulate3Buttons"   "on"
        Option  "VertTwoFingerScroll"  "true"
        Option  "HorizTwoFingerScroll" "false"
EndSection

As my handlers (according to wiki info) are mouse3 and event8, I changed the Device line, not sure if and how I need to change the second handler though?
Any input is greatly appreciated.

Last edited by B (2008-04-10 07:33:34)

Reasons · 2008-04-06 04:15:03

I actually just got one as my sz died. I'll get on to looking at it. However, could you post your grub if you got the resolution right? It's driving me nuts.

Reasons · 2008-04-07 22:21:37

I don't think it is going to be possible as synclient only reports on finger.

.:B:. · 2008-04-07 23:00:15

Well, like all Intel video BIOSes this one seems pretty buggy as well .

This is how my GRUB looks:

title  Arch Linux
root   (hd0,4)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz26 root=/dev/sda5 ro vga=792 acpi_apic_instance=2
initrd /boot/kernel26.img

Using plain vesafb, not sure if I want to go through the trouble of setting up uvesafb (which doesn't guarantee the full resolution anyway - still might need 915resolution to patch the video BIOS everytime).

Not sure if you already checked dmesg, I had the kernel complaining about duplicate ACPI tables, adding the acpi_apic_instance=2 fixed that.

As for the touchpad problem, I was afraid it'd turn out that way... Wonder if anyone can confirm they have two-finger scrolling working on WIndows on this one though - that would at least mean it should be possible on Linux too, technically .

Last edited by B (2008-04-07 23:06:04)

Reasons · 2008-04-07 23:09:54

Next time I restart I'll go into vista and try it out. Yeah, about the vga, I'm trying to get it set right but don't know how hard that will be. Also, if you do compile a kernel, the powertop patch would probably get another hour out of this no problem.

Suspend fix for pm-suspend. Always wondered how to use that file.
http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php?p= … ostcount=6

Last edited by Reasons (2008-04-07 23:34:18)

.:B:. · 2008-04-07 23:39:15

Well that would just go in pm-utils configuration files . The thing is with i810 suspend goes fine, with the intel driver you do need those quirks indeed. If all is sorted out (the SD/MMC reader seems a no-go at present) I'll pull up an exhaustive blog post about this so all gets documented properly .

I got the multimedia keys & Fn keys working too btw, close to replicating the functionality of those keys on Windows (if not surpassing it ).

Reasons · 2008-04-08 01:57:21

B wrote:

Well that would just go in pm-utils configuration files . The thing is with i810 suspend goes fine, with the intel driver you do need those quirks indeed. If all is sorted out (the SD/MMC reader seems a no-go at present) I'll pull up an exhaustive blog post about this so all gets documented properly .
I got the multimedia keys & Fn keys working too btw, close to replicating the functionality of those keys on Windows (if not surpassing it ).

Did you get the wireless fn key to work? I can map it but I don't know what function to give it so that it goes between bluetooth, wlan and wwan. That's all I don't have along with the AV mode, though that is useless to me. The media keys are all mapped to mpc as that's all I use though for them to be non-specific would be great. That and the volume keys aren't working with gnome. They did at a point, I installed compiz, and they stopped.

Last edited by Reasons (2008-04-08 02:03:20)

.:B:. · 2008-04-08 07:01:25

I use the wireless Fn key to start/stop the bluetooth service. I have no experience with WWAN and didn't set up anything for it either (I do not know of any provider that offers it in Belgium). Since you can use the hardware switch to disable the wireless radio i consider it a bit redundant to have the Fn+F1 key disable all radio stuff.

I'll post my ACP handler.sh patch when I get home, it might be useful to you, who knows . I implemented most of the stuff low-level (ie not through my DE), I'm using Openbox and that doesn't have the fancy powersaving or special button stuff Gnome has.

I bound the multimedia keys to mpc too - hehe . As for the volume buttons they're configured with xmodmap.

Reasons · 2008-04-08 23:14:14

I'm sitting in vista right now and so far there is nothing cool for scrolling or I'm not finding it. It's been a good ten minutes though.

Have you had any luck with the webcam? Cheese starts for me but displays the no signal type thing (bunch of colored bars).

.:B:. · 2008-04-09 21:58:19

I have compiled the sources for the webcam (there are packages in AUR for it), but all it gives me is a light when i talk to the video device (/dev/v4l stuff), nothing more - just a bunch of read errors. I am not interested in it, i'd like to get it working, but just because .

As for pm-utils, I tested today, all you need is changing terminals:

[stijn@hermes ~]$ cat /etc/pm/sleep.d/00hacks 
#!/bin/bash
case $1 in
    suspend)
        chvt 1
        #vbetool vbestate save > /tmp/vbe
        ;;
    resume)
        #vbetool post
        #vbetool vbestate restore < /tmp/vbe
        chvt 7
        ;;

Don't mind the commented lines, I copied the file from my old laptop . This script needs to be executable.

Reasons · 2008-04-09 22:16:34

I'm just going to use this thread from now on to keep it all simple. For your bluetooth fn key, you have

  sony/hotkey)
+        case "$2" in
+            SPIC)
+                case "$4" in
+                    0000000c)
+                        [ -e /var/run/daemons/bluetooth ] && /etc/rc.d/bluetooth stop || /etc/rc.d/bluetooth start
+                    ;;

That works well and all but that only stops the daemon, power is still put out to it which makes it pointless IMO. I forgot what it is exactly (install powertop and have it running with bluetooth on), but there is a more efficiant way to stop bluetooth.

I too don't need the webcam but I don't like having things not work. However, what package did you try? I'm going to try a kernel later today to make it lighter. I'll throw in some patches I usually use.

Last edited by Reasons (2008-04-09 22:20:14)

.:B:. · 2008-04-09 22:27:51

I'm not that familiar with bluetooth, as in: I have it working and I can transfer stuff from my laptop to my phone. That's about it . I thought bringing down the network might bring down the radio too, but as you say they're probably separated. Adding a line or another && would probably do the trick though (I presume the radio can be disabled through sysfs, or /proc).

I used the R5U870 sources, that's supposed to be the driver you need. The meye driver does not work for the camera.

As for your kernel - I found out today building in libata and depentent drivers statically made my kernel panic (and not find the HD). For some reason, compiling them all as modules (except for libata itself) works just fine. If you're interested I can link my config, which is pretty stripped down imho, but I haven't added any patches specific for the Vaio (ideally I'd like to create a patch for the webcam drivers so they can get integrated nicely, but I will only do that if it works for sure).

Btw... A few posts ago you ask me how to apply a patch, and now you say you build your own kernel with patches you add yourself?? I'm not following anymore

Also: do you have an SSD? I am using a patch that forces libata to treat my device as a modern HD (it thinks it needs UDMA33, mistakes the ZIF socket for a 40-wire cable...), need to force that on boot though.

Last edited by B (2008-04-09 22:33:00)

Reasons · 2008-04-09 22:36:37

I don't have the SDD sadly. For the webcam, I'm looking through this thread. http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php? … 5ca%3A183a

About patching, I wasn't aware you could patch a script (which is what I presume handler.sh is), I'm not so stupid as to not how to do simple patching. There really is only one vaio patch I ever found and it didn't do all that much and I forgot about it.

Well makepkg just started with the following patches:

uvesafb-small-cleanups.patch
clocksource-remove-redundant-code.patch
clockevent-simplify-list-operations.patch
avoid-overflows-in-kernel-timec.patch
powertop-2.6.24.patch
netfilter-ipset-and-u32.patch
mm-swap_prefetch-41.patch
mm-background_scan-2.patch
writeback-speed-up-writeback-of-big-dirty-files.patch
linux-2.6-smarter-relatime.patch

I can only give this one shot before I have class and I don't expect it to work, but if it does I'll upload it here.

Last edited by Reasons (2008-04-09 23:13:19)

Reasons · 2008-04-10 02:08:23

Well one of the mm patches disagreed. I really like those ones too. I'll try it again later without them.

Took out those patches and it worked fine, but the screen never came up so that I could choose options. I've never compiled a kernel without a script layout around that would copy all the files around so I don' t know as much about kernel compiling.

Last edited by Reasons (2008-04-10 03:24:16)

.:B:. · 2008-04-10 06:54:42

Reasons wrote:

About patching, I wasn't aware you could patch a script (which is what I presume handler.sh is), I'm not so stupid as to not how to do simple patching. There really is only one vaio patch I ever found and it didn't do all that much and I forgot about it.

Well, in the end code is just text . And all text can be patched . Afaik even binaries could be patched somehow, but I'm not familiar with that.

Using the cable detection patch I was able to get my SSD running on UDMA66 - hdparm now gives me 46 MBps as opposed to 26 MBps before .

I am using the mac80211 powersaving and a powertop patch for 2.6.24, along with some others, I should update my ftp repo to reflect the present PKGBUILD. I also apply a custom Hz patch I don't really use, I should throw that out...

I can give you a fairly trimmed config for this Vaio TZ (44KB - I got the TZ-190N).

As for pm-utils, let me know if that works for you. I'm using latest stable xf86-video-intel with the BIOS mode patch.

I also changed the name of the thread, feels a bit more comfortable not going offtopic all the time .

Last edited by B (2008-04-10 07:34:19)

Reasons · 2008-04-10 14:48:49

I was doing the quicks in that one config before and that worked fine. Now with the 00hacks I always get a "you didn't suspend correctly" when I come back into gnome though everything appears correct. It did fix tearing where the cursor was (like on the password screen, it's all black but the cursors spot would be a white box). I'll suspend when on battery soon and see if it makes a difference.

I have the TZ150N. I'm pretty sure the only difference is the SDD HDD, a small processor difference (mine is 1.06) and you have 2GB Ram. That's all according to Amazon though. So in theory any kernel I make trimmed should work for you and vise-versa. Just say what filesystems you use I guess, I just keep all ext3. Also, if you upload what patch you use I'll upload mine though I'm pretty sure we have the same ideas (make it as small as possible) so it really doesn't matter.

Could you post the repo here or upload the .pkg.tar.gz until I get a solid one working?

EDIT - Are you using i686 or x86_64?

Last edited by Reasons (2008-04-10 14:57:01)

.:B:. · 2008-04-10 17:11:41

I'm using i686 - I'll upload my configs & the package later on tonight . I'm using Reiser for /var and /ext3 for the rest pretty much.

Last edited by B (2008-04-10 17:14:15)

Reasons · 2008-04-10 20:01:16

Any particular reason for the i686? The PKGBUILD or all the files in a tar would be better I guess so I could take out the reiser and make it more prime for x86_64.

.:B:. · 2008-04-10 20:34:06

Well... Any reason for the x86_64? . There's nothing on my box that needs 64 bit, so... I'm not into the whole fiddling with 32 bit chroots and all that stuff. Anyway, you can use the kconfig as a base, you're free to do with it what you want of course .

Reasons · 2008-04-10 20:39:57

I haven't really had to mess with chroots as I've only seem them needed for wine and I kept vista around for a reason. Sadly.

.:B:. · 2008-04-10 21:09:04

You can find everything (except the kernel sources which can be pulled from kernel.org) here.I'll soon be building 2.6.25 RC's too, see how that goes .

Last edited by B (2008-04-10 21:10:06)

Reasons · 2008-04-10 21:59:56

Thanks, I'll tell you how it goes. And off topic, I'm back to openbox.

EDIT - You left out Sonypi when you configured everything.

Last edited by Reasons (2008-04-10 22:32:06)

Reasons · 2008-04-10 22:54:02

All built well. I threw in a few of my patches, one to make swap work quicker and a few file reading ones.

EDIT - For the bluetooth it is

  hciconfig hci0 down ; rmmod hci_usb

Last edited by Reasons (2008-04-11 02:56:46)

.:B:. · 2008-04-11 05:48:27

Reasons wrote:

Thanks, I'll tell you how it goes. And off topic, I'm back to openbox.
EDIT - You left out Sonypi when you configured everything.

I did - sonypi is deprecated, you should the sonylaptop module if it works for you .

I am experiencing seemingly random lockups - it mostly happens with mpd, but this morning I had it with ktorrent too (during some more or less heavy I/O). I hope I can find out what causes this, this is getting very annoying. Problem persists with the Arch stock kernel - actually, I already had those back when I still ran that kernel .

Also - let me know if suspend works for you? It works fine here, except alsa seems to be muted every time I resume.

Last edited by B (2008-04-11 08:59:44)

Reasons · 2008-04-11 20:36:45

Well suspend has been rock solid for me. My old problem came back for a bit where I would have to change to a different tty for the image to be fully there, but that was just once. Gnome (went back) got a few updates and now the volume is working as it should as is suspend.

Gnome does hard lockup on me sometimes, but never anything else as they all keep running (downloads, mpd, all keep going away). I'm going to edit my xorg with the link you gave, I'll report back.

Also, I just got an Ubuntu 8.04 beta disk, ran it and the webcam worked great. Now I know nothing about webcams or whatnot, but would it be possible to grab the needed files from the live disk, while it was running, and use them here? If so, I have no idea where to look.

EDIT - Didn't get any new keys with the xorg.conf. But it reminded me, did you ever get the scroll lock working? I never use it but it's not working so it bugs me.

Last edited by Reasons (2008-04-11 20:43:12)

Arch Linux

#1 2008-04-04 13:03:32

Arch Linux on the Sony Vaio TZ [was 'Two-finger scrolling on Vaio TZ']

#2 2008-04-06 04:15:03

Re: Arch Linux on the Sony Vaio TZ [was 'Two-finger scrolling on Vaio TZ']

#3 2008-04-07 22:21:37

Re: Arch Linux on the Sony Vaio TZ [was 'Two-finger scrolling on Vaio TZ']

#4 2008-04-07 23:00:15

Re: Arch Linux on the Sony Vaio TZ [was 'Two-finger scrolling on Vaio TZ']

#5 2008-04-07 23:09:54

Re: Arch Linux on the Sony Vaio TZ [was 'Two-finger scrolling on Vaio TZ']

#6 2008-04-07 23:39:15

Re: Arch Linux on the Sony Vaio TZ [was 'Two-finger scrolling on Vaio TZ']

#7 2008-04-08 01:57:21

Re: Arch Linux on the Sony Vaio TZ [was 'Two-finger scrolling on Vaio TZ']

#8 2008-04-08 07:01:25

Re: Arch Linux on the Sony Vaio TZ [was 'Two-finger scrolling on Vaio TZ']

#9 2008-04-08 23:14:14

Re: Arch Linux on the Sony Vaio TZ [was 'Two-finger scrolling on Vaio TZ']

#10 2008-04-09 21:58:19

Re: Arch Linux on the Sony Vaio TZ [was 'Two-finger scrolling on Vaio TZ']

#11 2008-04-09 22:16:34

Re: Arch Linux on the Sony Vaio TZ [was 'Two-finger scrolling on Vaio TZ']

#12 2008-04-09 22:27:51

Re: Arch Linux on the Sony Vaio TZ [was 'Two-finger scrolling on Vaio TZ']

#13 2008-04-09 22:36:37

Re: Arch Linux on the Sony Vaio TZ [was 'Two-finger scrolling on Vaio TZ']

#14 2008-04-10 02:08:23

Re: Arch Linux on the Sony Vaio TZ [was 'Two-finger scrolling on Vaio TZ']

#15 2008-04-10 06:54:42

Re: Arch Linux on the Sony Vaio TZ [was 'Two-finger scrolling on Vaio TZ']

#16 2008-04-10 14:48:49

Re: Arch Linux on the Sony Vaio TZ [was 'Two-finger scrolling on Vaio TZ']

#17 2008-04-10 17:11:41

Re: Arch Linux on the Sony Vaio TZ [was 'Two-finger scrolling on Vaio TZ']

#18 2008-04-10 20:01:16

Re: Arch Linux on the Sony Vaio TZ [was 'Two-finger scrolling on Vaio TZ']

#19 2008-04-10 20:34:06

Re: Arch Linux on the Sony Vaio TZ [was 'Two-finger scrolling on Vaio TZ']

#20 2008-04-10 20:39:57

Re: Arch Linux on the Sony Vaio TZ [was 'Two-finger scrolling on Vaio TZ']

#21 2008-04-10 21:09:04

Re: Arch Linux on the Sony Vaio TZ [was 'Two-finger scrolling on Vaio TZ']

#22 2008-04-10 21:59:56

Re: Arch Linux on the Sony Vaio TZ [was 'Two-finger scrolling on Vaio TZ']

#23 2008-04-10 22:54:02

Re: Arch Linux on the Sony Vaio TZ [was 'Two-finger scrolling on Vaio TZ']

#24 2008-04-11 05:48:27

Re: Arch Linux on the Sony Vaio TZ [was 'Two-finger scrolling on Vaio TZ']

#25 2008-04-11 20:36:45

Re: Arch Linux on the Sony Vaio TZ [was 'Two-finger scrolling on Vaio TZ']

Board footer