Sony Vaio VGN-N27LH - some questions SOLVED

Ipsofacto · 2007-04-09 02:51:28

SOLVED - I installed the sony_acpi module from AUR and run the following to dim:

 echo "4" > /proc/acpi/sony/brightness

Would still be grateful if anyone could advise on what else I need to consider when running linux on a laptop. My original questions/post is below.

So I took the plunge and bought my first latop.

However, running linux is significantly more difficult and I'm feeling somewhat swamped. On my desktop I just installed Arch and it ran fine. With the laptop there are issues of power management, speed-stepping,suspend to disk, ACPI, etc, which are all new terms for me. As I say, on the desktop I just installed Arch and it ran fine. Nothing else to worry about.

Let's start at the beginning. I installed the beta version as I couldn't get an internet connection with my older version. Having done some reading I've installed a few things and added some daemons but am still struggling to lower the brightness of the laptop.

Below are some details:

[darrendowlut@MyBoX Linux Stuff]$ lspci

00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Mobile 945GM/PM/GMS/940GML and 945GT Express Memory Controller Hub (rev 03)
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Mobile 945GM/GMS/940GML Express Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 03)
00:02.1 Display controller: Intel Corporation Mobile 945GM/GMS/940GML Express Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 03)
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) High Definition Audio Controller (rev 02)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) PCI Express Port 1 (rev 02)
00:1c.1 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) PCI Express Port 2 (rev 02)
00:1c.2 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) PCI Express Port 3 (rev 02)
00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI #1 (rev 02)
00:1d.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI #2 (rev 02)
00:1d.2 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI #3 (rev 02)
00:1d.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller (rev 02)
00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 Mobile PCI Bridge (rev e2)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 82801GBM (ICH7-M) LPC Interface Bridge (rev 02)
00:1f.1 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) IDE Controller (rev 02)
00:1f.2 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801GBM/GHM (ICH7 Family) Serial ATA Storage Controller IDE (rev 02)
00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) SMBus Controller (rev 02)
02:00.0 Ethernet controller: Marvell Technology Group Ltd. 88E8036 PCI-E Fast Ethernet Controller (rev 16)
06:00.0 Network controller: Intel Corporation PRO/Wireless 3945ABG Network Connection (rev 02)
08:03.0 CardBus bridge: Texas Instruments PCIxx12 Cardbus Controller
08:03.1 FireWire (IEEE 1394): Texas Instruments PCIxx12 OHCI Compliant IEEE 1394 Host Controller
08:03.2 Mass storage controller: Texas Instruments 5-in-1 Multimedia Card Reader (SD/MMC/MS/MS PRO/xD)

# /etc/rc.conf - Main Configuration for Arch Linux

MODULES=(sky2 ipw3945 sonypi speedstep_centrino cpufreq_powersave cpufreq_conservative cpufreq_powersave cpufreq_stats cpufreq_userspace freq_table) 

DAEMONS=(syslog-ng ipw3945d network cpudyn acpid hal powersaved alsa netfs !crond)

I'll be honest, I've no idea what half of those modules and daemons do! I just know they are installed and load fine - there are no errors when the system boots. What's more, I haven't edited any configuration files so whether those daemons are actually doing anything is anyones guess.

So, any ideas on how to get the brightness down? Equally, are there issues that I need to be aware of when running linux on a laptop. It seems to be running quite hot and I dont know whether this is normal or not?

Please don't shoot the noob. Help greatfully received. Be gentle.

Thanks.

Last edited by Ipsofacto (2007-04-09 16:56:39)

mandos · 2007-04-13 16:37:36

wiki has some info, one of the Vaio pages is written by
although its quite outdated it might give some hints (laptop-mode-tools for example) and inspire you to writte a new wikipage

they say kernel 2.6.21 has the vaio brightness control inside him, so I'm waiting for 2.6.22 to see how things work with Vaios

laptops aren't more difficult than desktops, Vaios are pain in the butt (its the first and the last I'll ever buy )

Ipsofacto · 2007-04-14 02:04:29

Thanks for the response, Mandos.

Yeah, I've checked the wiki. I'm running the laptop-mode deamon (although I haven't changed the default config file).

As opposed to writing a Wiki page then I'm then that would be great - if I had the knowledge!

Thanks again.

Last edited by Ipsofacto (2007-04-14 02:04:47)

Arch Linux

#1 2007-04-09 02:51:28

Sony Vaio VGN-N27LH - some questions SOLVED

#2 2007-04-13 16:37:36

Re: Sony Vaio VGN-N27LH - some questions SOLVED

#3 2007-04-14 02:04:29

Re: Sony Vaio VGN-N27LH - some questions SOLVED

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