Re: VAIO

[b3 <b3@b4k4.net>]

On Wed, May 09, 2001 at 04:34:41PM -0500, J.R. Blain wrote:
> We are looking at purchasing a few laptops for the office, and are
> considering Sony VAIO's.  Does anyone have any experience with them
> running debian?  Potential problems?  Suggestions on models/addons?

I have a VAIO PCG-F650, which is currently tracking unstable (bleeding edge)
Debian.

It was a bit of a pain to get going, but I've learned quite a bit.

Sound works, using the YMFPCI kernel driver (2.4.4 seems to work much better
than 2.2.18)

USB was quite easy to get going after a kernel compile.

The Winmodem doesn't work.  Yet.  But, you can easily use a PCMCIA modem if
you need one.

Networking was pretty easy - just make sure you get a PCMCIA network card
that's supported out-of-the-box, unlike my Linksys 10/100 Cardbus (which I
thought would be OK, but didn't get detected by the installer.  Bleh.  After
downloading kernel sources and pcmcia-cs from Windows, and compiling my own
kernel, it waqs fine, but it might be a major pain for someone new to the
process) Anyone know if the Netgear CB card works out-of-the-box? (I know it
uses the tulip driver, and I've always had very good luck with Netgear cards
in my desktop machines)

The video card (ATI Rage Mobility) is well supported - I didn't have a
problem getting it going under XFree86 3.3.6 (mach64 server) or 4.0.3 (ati
driver) - If you plan on using any of the framebuffer console modes (which I
highly recommend) you'll want 4.0.3, as 3.3.6 runs DOG slow on top of a
framebuffer.

I'm in the process of getting DVD playback going with OMS - but I'm not
quite there yet. (getting warmer though! Now I just have to fix the aspect
ratio and sound skipping =) ) Once that's done, the only thing I'll need to
reboot for is Diablo II ;)

The first "upgrade" I'd suggest is to replace the stock 64MB ram with 256MB
- I got mine from http://www.crucial.com (which I believe is run by Micron),
and it's made all the difference in the world.  Before, it was a bit pokey -
now it flies.

-b3