Sony VAIO VGN-FW11E - can't set brightness

oskar.einstein · 2009-10-23 18:02:54

Hello everyone!

I have really annoying problem with my laptop - setting brightness just don't work. I have tested many others distributions and this work only under Ubuntu 9.10 beta. I think that is connected with this. How can I use this patch in arch?

Laptop: Sony VAIO VGN-FW11E
Graphic card: ATI Radeon HD3470

I'm sorry for my english but people in polish forum just can't help me ;p

.:B:. · 2009-10-23 18:08:07

Is the sony-laptop module loaded? I have a TZ 190N and through the sony-laptop module I can manipulate my backlight. If it's loaded and still not working, and you want to stick with Arch, you need to rebuild your kernel with the patch applied. You should check the wiki on ABS and rebuilding the kernel, and study the kernel PKGBUILD.

Good luck

oskar.einstein · 2009-10-26 19:28:15

Sony-laptop module is loaded but it's not working. Is there any other way to fix this? I don't know how I shoud apply this patch. Instruction on vaioubuntu.wordpress.com is for ubuntu only.

BTW thank you for quick reply .

Last edited by oskar.einstein (2009-10-26 19:29:25)

.:B:. · 2009-10-26 20:08:00

I looked at that site and yes, the author wrote a long script with a lot of Ubuntu-specific stuff. I don't know how experienced you are to pick up the 'universal' stuff and filter/convert the Ubuntu-specific stuff. Also, I don't know if everything that the script does is really necessary, it checks/installs the Intel ASM compiler and stuf, I don't know about that... It seems a bit far-fetched for a kernel patch (which is what I suppose it is, in the end).

litemotiv · 2009-10-26 20:17:22

B wrote:

I looked at that site and yes, the author wrote a long script with a lot of Ubuntu-specific stuff. I don't know how experienced you are to pick up the 'universal' stuff and filter/convert the Ubuntu-specific stuff. Also, I don't know if everything that the script does is really necessary, it checks/installs the Intel ASM compiler and stuf, I don't know about that... It seems a bit far-fetched for a kernel patch (which is what I suppose it is, in the end).

the script in question is a dsdt-generator for use with the custom-dsdt-initrd patch that arch no longer uses (nor does ubuntu i think).

i wonder what the "brightness control works out of the box" statement for karmic koala means though, would there be a new sony-laptop module which includes dsdt overrides for Vaio FW models..?

Last edited by litemotiv (2009-10-26 20:19:00)

oskar.einstein · 2009-10-26 20:46:14

@B I'm not able to make so specific changes like you said. I can build something from AUR, sometimes also make some changes to PKBUILD's but doing something with dsdt is to hard for me.

@litemotiv
Do you think I shoud compile new kernel with new sony-laptop module inside?

litemotiv · 2009-10-26 21:10:32

oskar.einstein wrote:

@B I'm not able to make so specific changes like you said. I can build something from AUR, sometimes also make some changes to PKBUILD's but doing something with dsdt is to hard for me.
@litemotiv
Do you think I shoud compile new kernel with new sony-laptop module inside?

hmm, i'm not certain that will fix it for you..

do you already have a fixed dsdt for your laptop? if you do, the best way is to compile a kernel with these lines added to the kernel config file:

CONFIG_STANDALONE=n
CONFIG_ACPI_CUSTOM_DSDT=y
CONFIG_ACPI_CUSTOM_DSDT_FILE="DSDT.hex"

that will definitely fix the brightness issue. the sony-laptop module is built by default, so you don't have to compile that specifically (the module is needed to get the function-keys on your keyboard working, it shouldn't have any influence on the brightness itself).

if you don't have a custom dsdt yet, you need to make one following the instructions on the vaiobuntu blog. it's a bit daunting at first, but i assure you that it's doable.

Last edited by litemotiv (2009-10-26 21:11:30)

oskar.einstein · 2009-11-09 14:48:32

I just would like to say that I've compiled kernel-git package (without any DSDT hacks ;] ) from AUR (~2.6.32-rc5) with everything what have "sony" word in his name ;p and...It's working (!). Unfortunally catalyst doesn't work with kernel higher than 2.6.31 so now I'm using default kernel package without brightness regulation ;p.

BTW Do you know when Catalyst 9.11 will be out? I have hope that they will be support new xserver (1.7) because now I can't update my system.

Sorry for my english .

.:B:. · 2009-11-09 16:12:35

It will be out when it's out . ATi themselves are a much better source on that than the Arch Linux BBS.

Congrats on the kernel though, nice to see you got it working!

litemotiv · 2009-11-09 19:57:05

that's good news, thanks for the heads up oskar.einstein!

litemotiv · 2009-11-10 10:05:02

i can confirm that a custom dsdt is no longer needed for the vaio fw series on kernel .32

oskar.einstein: with the open source driver you can also make your own acpi script to change the brightness with the fn-keys. add this to the /etc/acpi/handler.sh script:

#Place this near the top
brightness_acpi="/sys/class/backlight/acpi_video0/brightness"

#Add this to the case statement
sony/hotkey)
        brightness_current=$(cat $brightness_acpi)
        case "$4" in
            00000010)
                let brightness_new=$brightness_current-1
                echo $brightness_new > $brightness_acpi
            ;;
            00000011)
                let brightness_new=$brightness_current+1
                echo $brightness_new > $brightness_acpi
            ;;
            *)
            echo "$4"
            ;;
        esac
        ;;

(above might contain zsh-specific code, change where needed)

Last edited by litemotiv (2009-11-10 10:13:39)

Arch Linux

#1 2009-10-23 18:02:54

Sony VAIO VGN-FW11E - can't set brightness

#2 2009-10-23 18:08:07

Re: Sony VAIO VGN-FW11E - can't set brightness

#3 2009-10-26 19:28:15

Re: Sony VAIO VGN-FW11E - can't set brightness

#4 2009-10-26 20:08:00

Re: Sony VAIO VGN-FW11E - can't set brightness

#5 2009-10-26 20:17:22

Re: Sony VAIO VGN-FW11E - can't set brightness

#6 2009-10-26 20:46:14

Re: Sony VAIO VGN-FW11E - can't set brightness

#7 2009-10-26 21:10:32

Re: Sony VAIO VGN-FW11E - can't set brightness

#8 2009-11-09 14:48:32

Re: Sony VAIO VGN-FW11E - can't set brightness

#9 2009-11-09 16:12:35

Re: Sony VAIO VGN-FW11E - can't set brightness

#10 2009-11-09 19:57:05

Re: Sony VAIO VGN-FW11E - can't set brightness

#11 2009-11-10 10:05:02

Re: Sony VAIO VGN-FW11E - can't set brightness

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