[HOWTO] Sony Vaio FS series FN keys

[G2k]

I was using app-laptop/fsfn-1.0 with kernel 2.6.22 but now I'm using 2.6.23-r8. How would I install the 9999 version? Also, what are those Sony things I mentioned above that I enabled in my kernel for if not for the screen brightness?

EDIT:
This is what I compiled

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# cat /usr/src/linux/.config | grep SONY
CONFIG_SONY_LAPTOP=y
CONFIG_SONYPI_COMPAT=y
CONFIG_SONYPI=y

I found this link which sort of explains it, but I haven't figured out how to use it yet. If I do I will let you guys know.

[pijalu]

you should download the ebuild that peach posted on the previous page, put it in your overlay, digest it (ebuild fsfn-9999.ebuild digest) and emerge it.

The sonypi is a way to control brightness, but requires a specific controller in your vaio, and at least for the FS series, this controller is not present (that was the point of fsfn and the sony acpi module ) - Now, the newest kernels comes with this module ... But the interface with user world is a little bit different from the "old" sony acpi....
I had to update fsfn to support it (this is why you need to use the "svn" version...aka 9999 - The good news is this version is smart enough to work with both, so if you boot with an "old" kernel [xen for e.g.] where the module is not present, you can still use the old module with this specific version and fsfn will still do his job...)

[G2k]

Thanks, I'm emerging now.
Why does it pull in subversion as a dependency?

[pijalu]

Because you need subversion to fetch the source code

[G2k]

Because you need subversion to fetch the source code

that kind of stinks.
Anyway, I just wanted to point out that to get fsfn working automatically in graphics mode (aka wtih xosd) the binary is no longer /usr/local/bin/fsfn but /usr/bin/fsfn, so if you're using GNOME then go to System -> Preferences -> Sessions -> Edit or Add an entry for FSFN and set the command to /usr/bin/fsfn -o

[barlad]

fsfn does not work on my laptop (sony SZ serie) and I am wondering a few things.

- I am using the latest sony-laptop driver from 2.6.24 and everything related to FN keys seem to work fine: there is an input device created to which is redirected all the FN keystrokes, and those FN strokes are even forwarded to the acpid daemon as acpi events. The only thing I do not have is a fnkey device in /sys/devices/platform/sony-laptop/fnkey . Why don't I have this fnkey device if everything seems to work fine? Is this a problem with the sony-laptop driver?

- My second question is what's the point of this fnkey device anyway? It was my understanding that fsfn works by reading keystrokes from the input device (/dev/input/eventX) and using it to set up brightness or volume or whatever. What's the role played by the fnkey device in this?

I guess I am not hopeless to get a use of my fn keys since I can use acpid rules for them but I would be much happier with fsfn :/

Thanks for all the help!

[G2k]

I was looking through my dmesg and I noticed the following lines

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sonypi: Sony Programmable I/O Controller Driver v1.26.
sonypi: please try the sony-laptop module instead and report failures, see also http://www.linux.it/~malattia/wiki/index.php/Sony_drivers
sonypi: detected type3 model, verbose = 0, fnkeyinit = off, camera = off, compat = off, mask = 0xffffffff, useinput = on, acpi = on
sonypi: enabled at irq=11, port1=0x1080, port2=0x1084
sonypi: device allocated minor is 63
input: Sony Vaio Jogdial as /class/input/input0
input: Sony Vaio Keys as /class/input/input1
sonypi command failed at drivers/char/sonypi.c : sonypi_call1 (line 652)
sonypi command failed at drivers/char/sonypi.c : sonypi_call2 (line 663)
sonypi command failed at drivers/char/sonypi.c : sonypi_call2 (line 665)
sonypi command failed at drivers/char/sonypi.c : sonypi_call1 (line 652)

Why are all those commands failing towards the bottom? I read that it might have something to do with xbacklight but I dont really know what I should make of that.

[pijalu]

fsfn does not work on my laptop (sony SZ serie) and I am wondering a few things.

- I am using the latest sony-laptop driver from 2.6.24 and everything related to FN keys seem to work fine: there is an input device created to which is redirected all the FN keystrokes, and those FN strokes are even forwarded to the acpid daemon as acpi events. The only thing I do not have is a fnkey device in /sys/devices/platform/sony-laptop/fnkey . Why don't I have this fnkey device if everything seems to work fine? Is this a problem with the sony-laptop driver?

It's quite probable that your ACPI just does not work as the old fs series, and it seems to use something different

- My second question is what's the point of this fnkey device anyway? It was my understanding that fsfn works by reading keystrokes from the input device (/dev/input/eventX) and using it to set up brightness or volume or whatever. What's the role played by the fnkey device in this?

The FS serie (and a few others) used this device to get the actual key you pressed - For some reason, when you hit the FN+something, the hardware always return same "key", and the actual value of the function was set in ACPI... The fnkey was just the userspace entry to this memory
==> If you don't have it, it just means that your hardware does not use the same principle...

I guess I am not hopeless to get a use of my fn keys since I can use acpid rules for them but I would be much happier with fsfn :/

Thanks for all the help!

It's open source, so nothing stop you from changing/updating FSFN to support the handling of your laptop
I would like to do it, but sadly I don't own such laptop and I am a little bit running behind time to do it only with feedback

[Peach]

hi pijalu. did you already tried fsfn with pulseaudio? I'm currently possessing a USB SoundBlaster-live! (awful support btw) and got serious improvements using pulseaudio, but now the only key working is the light but not the audio. If you need any output just ask.

[pijalu]

hi pijalu. did you already tried fsfn with pulseaudio? I'm currently possessing a USB SoundBlaster-live! (awful support btw) and got serious improvements using pulseaudio, but now the only key working is the light but not the audio. If you need any output just ask.

Nope... mostly because I don't have a Gentoo on this laptop anymore [I moved that old baby to Ubuntu since I only start once a month - Gentoo is just for my "main" machine ]
==> Will take a look one of these days but not really a first priority

[VinnieNZ]

Hi pijalu,

I was wondering if you could give me hand in getting fsfn svn working with the sony-laptop driver on my VGN-FS35GP.

I've been through the whole thread, and everything appears to be where it should be and I have the devices I think, yet when I press the Fn buttons, nothing seems to happen. I get the:

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Apr 14 17:43:10 gallardo atkbd.c: Unknown key pressed (translated set 2, code 0xf5 on isa0060/serio0).
Apr 14 17:43:10 gallardo atkbd.c: Use 'setkeycodes e075 <keycode>' to make it known.
Apr 14 17:43:10 gallardo atkbd.c: Unknown key released (translated set 2, code 0xf5 on isa0060/serio0).
Apr 14 17:43:10 gallardo atkbd.c: Use 'setkeycodes e075 <keycode>' to make it known.

errors that G2K got at the very start of this thread, but nothing happens.

I can echo the brightness level out to /sys/class/backlight/sony/brightness and it changes, so nothing wrong there, and I've ensured that the hotkeys are set to Type 1 in the BIOS. I've also checked that /sys/devices/platform/sony-laptop/fnkey exists (it contains the value '31' if it makes a difference).

I've included some info (based on what you have previously asked for, I'm happy to provide more) in the hope you can spot something:

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gallardo ~ # cat /proc/bus/input/devices
I: Bus=0019 Vendor=0000 Product=0002 Version=0000
N: Name="Power Button (FF)"
P: Phys=LNXPWRBN/button/input0
S: Sysfs=/class/input/input0
U: Uniq=
H: Handlers=kbd event0
B: EV=3
B: KEY=100000 0 0 0

I: Bus=0019 Vendor=0000 Product=0005 Version=0000
N: Name="Lid Switch"
P: Phys=PNP0C0D/button/input0
S: Sysfs=/class/input/input1
U: Uniq=
H: Handlers=event1
B: EV=21
B: SW=1

I: Bus=0019 Vendor=0000 Product=0001 Version=0000
N: Name="Power Button (CM)"
P: Phys=PNP0C0C/button/input0
S: Sysfs=/class/input/input2
U: Uniq=
H: Handlers=kbd event2
B: EV=3
B: KEY=100000 0 0 0

I: Bus=0011 Vendor=0001 Product=0001 Version=abba
N: Name="AT Translated Set 2 keyboard"
P: Phys=isa0060/serio0/input0
S: Sysfs=/class/input/input3
U: Uniq=
H: Handlers=kbd event3
B: EV=120013
B: KEY=4 2000000 3803078 f800d001 feffffdf ffefffff ffffffff fffffffe
B: MSC=10
B: LED=7

I: Bus=0011 Vendor=0002 Product=0008 Version=0000
N: Name="PS/2 Mouse"
P: Phys=isa0060/serio4/input1
S: Sysfs=/class/input/input4
U: Uniq=
H: Handlers=mouse0 event4
B: EV=7
B: KEY=70000 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
B: REL=3

I: Bus=0011 Vendor=0002 Product=0008 Version=7321
N: Name="AlpsPS/2 ALPS GlidePoint"
P: Phys=isa0060/serio4/input0
S: Sysfs=/class/input/input5
U: Uniq=
H: Handlers=mouse1 event5
B: EV=f
B: KEY=420 0 70000 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
B: REL=3
B: ABS=1000003

I: Bus=0010 Vendor=104d Product=0000 Version=0000
N: Name="Sony Vaio Keys"
P: Phys=
S: Sysfs=/class/input/input10
U: Uniq=
H: Handlers=kbd event6 rfkill
B: EV=13
B: KEY=1f 3fff0000 0 0 100000 0 2 0 6000 100400 0 40300400 0 0 0 0
B: MSC=10

I: Bus=0010 Vendor=104d Product=0000 Version=0000
N: Name="Sony Vaio Jogdial"
P: Phys=
S: Sysfs=/class/input/input11
U: Uniq=
H: Handlers=mouse2 event7
B: EV=7
B: KEY=40000 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
B: REL=100

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gallardo ~ # ls /dev/input/
by-path  event0  event1  event2  event3  event4  event5  event6  event7  mice  mouse0  mouse1  mouse2

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Apr 14 17:50:08 gallardo fsfn[4094]: Setting default configuration
Apr 14 17:50:08 gallardo fsfn[4094]: Configuration: DEVICE=AUTO
Apr 14 17:50:08 gallardo fsfn[4094]: Configuration: ALSA_NAME=Front
Apr 14 17:50:08 gallardo fsfn[4094]: Configuration: SOUND_STEP=10
Apr 14 17:50:08 gallardo fsfn[4094]: Configuration: F12_CMD=/bin/hibernate
Apr 14 17:50:08 gallardo fsfn[4094]: Configuration: OSD_VCOLOR=red
Apr 14 17:50:08 gallardo fsfn[4094]: Configuration: OSD_VCOLORZ=red
Apr 14 17:50:08 gallardo fsfn[4094]: Configuration: OSD_BCOLOR=blue
Apr 14 17:50:08 gallardo fsfn[4094]: Configuration: OSD_FONT=-*-*-*-*-*-*-20-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
Apr 14 17:50:08 gallardo fsfn[4094]: Configuration: OSD_TIMEOUT=3
Apr 14 17:50:08 gallardo fsfn[4094]: Configuration: BRT_SETDEFAULT=0
Apr 14 17:50:08 gallardo fsfn[4094]: Configuration: BRT_HACK_FJS=0
Apr 14 17:50:08 gallardo fsfn[4094]: Using sony-laptop subsystem
Apr 14 17:50:08 gallardo fsfn[4094]: Configuration: BRIGHTNESS_DEVICE=/sys/class/backlight/sony/brightness
Apr 14 17:50:08 gallardo fsfn[4094]: Configuration: BRIGHTNESS_DEFAULT_DEVICE=/sys/devices/platform/sony-laptop/brightness_default
Apr 14 17:50:08 gallardo fsfn[4094]: Configuration: FNKEY_DEVICE=/sys/devices/platform/sony-laptop/fnkey
Apr 14 17:50:08 gallardo fsfn[4094]: Configuration: BRIGHTNESS_MAX=7
Apr 14 17:50:08 gallardo fsfn[4094]: Configuration: BRIGHTNESS_MIN=0
Apr 14 17:50:08 gallardo fsfn[4094]: default configuration done
Apr 14 17:50:08 gallardo fsfn[4094]: Loading config file /etc/fsfn.conf
Apr 14 17:50:08 gallardo fsfn[4094]: error opening config file: No such file or directory
Apr 14 17:50:08 gallardo fsfn[4094]: autodevice determines /dev/input/event3 as keyboard event
Apr 14 17:50:08 gallardo fsfn[4094]: fsfn loaded
Apr 14 17:50:12 gallardo atkbd.c: Unknown key pressed (translated set 2, code 0xf5 on isa0060/serio0).
Apr 14 17:50:12 gallardo atkbd.c: Use 'setkeycodes e075 <keycode>' to make it known.
Apr 14 17:50:12 gallardo atkbd.c: Unknown key released (translated set 2, code 0xf5 on isa0060/serio0).
Apr 14 17:50:12 gallardo atkbd.c: Use 'setkeycodes e075 <keycode>' to make it known.
Apr 14 17:50:12 gallardo atkbd.c: Unknown key pressed (translated set 2, code 0xf5 on isa0060/serio0).
Apr 14 17:50:12 gallardo atkbd.c: Use 'setkeycodes e075 <keycode>' to make it known.
Apr 14 17:50:12 gallardo atkbd.c: Unknown key released (translated set 2, code 0xf5 on isa0060/serio0).
Apr 14 17:50:12 gallardo atkbd.c: Use 'setkeycodes e075 <keycode>' to make it known.
Apr 14 17:50:13 gallardo atkbd.c: Unknown key pressed (translated set 2, code 0xf5 on isa0060/serio0).
Apr 14 17:50:13 gallardo atkbd.c: Use 'setkeycodes e075 <keycode>' to make it known.
Apr 14 17:50:13 gallardo atkbd.c: Unknown key released (translated set 2, code 0xf5 on isa0060/serio0).
Apr 14 17:50:13 gallardo atkbd.c: Use 'setkeycodes e075 <keycode>' to make it known.

[pijalu]

Hi pijalu,
[snip]
I can echo the brightness level out to /sys/class/backlight/sony/brightness and it changes, so nothing wrong there, and I've ensured that the hotkeys are set to Type 1 in the BIOS. I've also checked that /sys/devices/platform/sony-laptop/fnkey exists (it contains the value '31' if it makes a difference).
[snip]

Hmm... the "log error" is normal, just the kernel kb bitching since it does not know the meaning of the key and does not harm...
What I am more interested in is this "fnkey" value... Normally, for every FN+(function key) you press the value should change, and after 1 "cat" of it, it should become 0
==> Can you check this is also the case for your laptop ?

[VinnieNZ]

Ahh yes. Sorry that is exactly the case.

Pressing Fn+Vol- gives a value when cat'd of 4. Cat'ing again and it returns to 0.

So any idea why fsfn wouldn't work?

[G2k]

So i've installed OpenRC and baselayout 2, but the module doesn't load. Right now I have

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modules_2_6="${modules_2_6} nvidia"
module_nvidia_args_2_6=""

modules_2_6="${modules_2_6} ipw2200 sony_acpi"
module_ipw2200_args_2_6=""
module_sony_acpi_args_2_6=""

Do I have to load it with another name?

[bugax]

Hi to all,

First of all, i'm a newbie. I've a sony vaio VGN-A217M and I'm using kernel 2.6.24-gentoo-r4 with

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# grep "SONY" .config
CONFIG_SONY_LAPTOP=m
CONFIG_SONYPI_COMPAT=y
# CONFIG_SONYPI is not set
#

when i run

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# modprobe sony-laptop
# dmesg
sony-laptop: Sony Programmable IO Control Driver v0.5.
sony-laptop: detected Type2 model
input: Sony Vaio Keys as /class/input/input18
input: Sony Vaio Jogdial as /class/input/input19
sony-laptop: device allocated minor is 61
sony-laptop: Sony Notebook Control Driver v0.5.
# ls /dev/input/
by-id    event0  event2  event4  event6  mice    mouse1  mouse3
by-path  event1  event3  event5  event7  mouse0  mouse2
# ls /sys/devices/platform/sony-laptop/
bluetoothpower      bus     fanspeed  power      uevent
brightness_default  driver  modalias  subsystem  wwanpower

obviously fnkeys do not work at all.
help

bye

[G2k]

have you tried using the fsfn script?

[bugax]

I've emerged sony_acpi and fsfn via portage overlay but nothing happens.
I run the script and I got

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SonyFN loaded
Error opening /proc/acpi/sony/fnkey: No such file or directory

I hope this is useful

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# grep "ACPI" .config
CONFIG_ACPI=y
CONFIG_ACPI_SLEEP=y
CONFIG_ACPI_PROCFS=y
CONFIG_ACPI_PROCFS_POWER=y
CONFIG_ACPI_SYSFS_POWER=y
CONFIG_ACPI_PROC_EVENT=y
CONFIG_ACPI_AC=y
CONFIG_ACPI_BATTERY=y
CONFIG_ACPI_BUTTON=y
CONFIG_ACPI_FAN=y
# CONFIG_ACPI_DOCK is not set
CONFIG_ACPI_PROCESSOR=y
CONFIG_ACPI_THERMAL=y
# CONFIG_ACPI_ASUS is not set
# CONFIG_ACPI_TOSHIBA is not set
CONFIG_ACPI_BLACKLIST_YEAR=0
# CONFIG_ACPI_DEBUG is not set
CONFIG_ACPI_EC=y
CONFIG_ACPI_POWER=y
CONFIG_ACPI_SYSTEM=y
# CONFIG_ACPI_CONTAINER is not set
# CONFIG_ACPI_SBS is not set
# CONFIG_X86_ACPI_CPUFREQ is not set
# CONFIG_HOTPLUG_PCI_ACPI is not set
CONFIG_PNPACPI=y
# CONFIG_THINKPAD_ACPI is not set
# CONFIG_BLK_DEV_IDEACPI is not set
CONFIG_ATA_ACPI=y
# CONFIG_PATA_ACPI is not set

any suggestions?
thx

[fbcyborg]

Hi bugax, try to download sony_acpi from here.
Compile it and copy sony_acpi.ko into the /lib/modules/`uname -r`/kernel/drivers/acpi directory.

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depmod -a
modprobe sony_acpi

Now, you should have the directory you're missing.

Bye.

[QuimaxW]

Sony VGN FS742/W. running xorg 1.5, which likes to load the evdev driver for everything. If I uninstall the xf86-input-evdev from my system, then the FN keys work fine with the kbd driver.

If there a way to get the FSFN and evdev to get along?

[fbcyborg]

Hello!

I've just reinstalled Gentoo on my laptop.
It was a 32bit distribution before. Now I reinstalled the whole system as 64bit binaries.
Prior installing the new system, I was running KDE 3.5 using Fn keys very well.

At the moment I'm not able to capture Fn events anymore.

For example, I should be able to see something in /var/log/message, when pressing Fn+f2.
It doesn't appear anything instead.

These are the modules I compiled, about SONY:

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CONFIG_HID_SONY=y
CONFIG_SONY_LAPTOP=y
CONFIG_SONYPI_COMPAT=y

What am I missing?

[fbcyborg]

^^UP^^