Sony Vaio S4 Series

[knefas]

I though it would be a good idea to let everyone contribute to this howto, in order to collect and organize better all the stuff that is around, so I started a wiki page, I hope you'll enjoy it

[flocchini]

your ebuild for sonykeyd mentioned in wiki page has been removed from altervista

I found it trough google cache

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# Copyright 1999-2005 Gentoo Foundation
# Distributed under the terms of the GNU General Public License v2
# $Header: $

inherit eutils

S=${WORKDIR}/${PN}
DESCRIPTION="A daemon to use fn key on Sony Vaio Laptops"
HOMEPAGE="http://juljas.net/linux/vaiofx240/sonykeyd.html"
SRC_URI="http://knefas.altervista.org/${P}.tar.gz"

LICENSE="GPL-2"
SLOT="0"
KEYWORDS="x86"


RDEPEND="media-video/smartdimmer"

src_unpack() {
unpack ${A} || die
}

src_compile() {
cd ${S} || die
emake || die
}

src_install() {
exeinto /usr/sbin
doexe sonykeyd
exeinto /usr/local/sbin
doexe scripts/sonykey.sh

exeinto /etc/init.d
doexe scripts/sonypi
dodoc doc/README
}

pkg_postinst() {
einfo "To enable fn-keys at boot run"
einfo "rc-update add sonypi default"
einfo "Please see http://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic-t-2590043.html"
}

But the source is still missed. Can you link it here?

[knefas]

Damn altervista, sometimes I forget to keep it alive...sorry about that.

I've updated the wiki with the new ebuild and re-uploaded the source. It doesn't depend anymore on smartdimmer, since it's functionalities have been integrated into nvclock-0.8beta. I didn't find the time to write a sonykey.sh to use the new nvclock (I'm still using smartdimmer!), but that's the way to go.

[flocchini]

great

but there are still some problems

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voyager sonykeyd # emerge sonykeyd
Calculating dependencies ...done!
>>> emerge (1 of 1) app-laptop/sonykeyd-0.2.2 to /
>>> md5 files   ;-) sonykeyd-0.2.2.ebuild
>>> md5 files   ;-) files/digest-sonykeyd-0.2.2
>>> md5 src_uri ;-) sonykeyd-0.2.2.tar.gz
>>> Unpacking source...
>>> Unpacking sonykeyd-0.2.2.tar.gz to /var/tmp/portage/sonykeyd-0.2.2/work
>>> Source unpacked.
gcc -Wall -Wstrict-prototypes -O2 -pipe -I/usr/src/linux/include   -c -o sonykeyd.o sonykeyd.c
sonykeyd.c:49:18: xosd.h: No such file or directory
make: *** [sonykeyd.o] Error 1

!!! ERROR: app-laptop/sonykeyd-0.2.2 failed.
!!! Function src_compile, Line 22, Exitcode 2
!!! (no error message)
!!! If you need support, post the topmost build error, NOT this status message.

I installed xosd-2.2.14 and it works. This is the fixed ebuild:

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# Copyright 1999-2005 Gentoo Foundation
# Distributed under the terms of the GNU General Public License v2
# $Header: $

inherit eutils

S=${WORKDIR}/${PN}
DESCRIPTION="A daemon to use fn key on Sony Vaio Laptops"
HOMEPAGE="http://juljas.net/linux/vaiofx240/sonykeyd.html"
SRC_URI="http://knefas.altervista.org/${P}.tar.gz"

LICENSE="GPL-2"
SLOT="0"
KEYWORDS="x86"

DEPEND=">=x11-libs/xosd-2.2.14"

src_unpack() {
unpack ${A} || die
}

src_compile() {
cd ${S} || die
emake || die
}

src_install() {
exeinto /usr/sbin
doexe sonykeyd
exeinto /usr/local/sbin
doexe scripts/sonykey.sh

exeinto /etc/init.d
doexe scripts/sonypi
dodoc doc/README
}

pkg_postinst() {
einfo "To enable fn-keys at boot run"
einfo "rc-update add sonypi default"
einfo "Please see http://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic-t-2590043.html"
}

[flocchini]

Damn altervista, sometimes I forget to keep it alive...sorry about that.

I've updated the wiki with the new ebuild and re-uploaded the source. It doesn't depend anymore on smartdimmer, since it's functionalities have been integrated into nvclock-0.8beta. I didn't find the time to write a sonykey.sh to use the new nvclock (I'm still using smartdimmer!), but that's the way to go.

It doesn't work... I successfully installed sonykeyd with the provided ebuild, patched my gentoo-sources-2.6.12-gentoo-r10 and created the device node

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echo -e "alias char-major-10-250 sonpi \noptions sonypi minor=250" > /etc/modules.d/sonypi 
mknod /dev/sonypi c 10 250
modules-update

.

I load sonypi module and start the daemon but nothing happen, fn keys are still unusable. No log in /var/log/sonypi. What's wrong?

[knefas]

Try to emerge sonypid and see if it gets the key events...
when you

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modprobe sonypi verbose=2

what does dmesg say?

[flocchini]

with sonykeyd and verbose module

fn+f2

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Sony Vaio Jogdial input method installed.
Sony Vaio Keys input method installed.
sonypi: event port1=0x00,port2=0x05
sonypi: event port1=0x00,port2=0x05
sonypi: Sony Programmable I/O Controller Driverv1.26.
sonypi: detected type3 model, verbose = 2, fnkeyinit = off, camera = off, compat = off, mask = 0xffffffff, useinput = on, acpi = on
sonypi: enabled at irq=11, port1=0x1080, port2=0x1084
sonypi: unknown event port1=0x0e,port2=0x05
sonypi: event port1=0x12,port2=0x21
sonypi: event port1=0x1f,port2=0x21
sonypi: event port1=0x12,port2=0x21
sonypi: event port1=0x1f,port2=0x21

with verbose module launching sonypid:

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voyager ~ # sonypid
sonypid: Sony Vaio SPIC daemon version 1.9, Oct 8, 2003
Event: Fn-F2 Pressed
Event: Event unknown!
Event: Fn-F3 Pressed
Event: Event unknown!
Event: Fn-F4 Pressed
Event: Event unknown!
Event: Fn-F5 Pressed
Event: Event unknown!
Event: Fn-F6 Pressed
Event: Event unknown!

tnx for your help

[knefas]

There's a little bug in sonykeyd, I'm really sorry about that, and thanks a lot to flocchini for telling me about it!
I think I've corrected it (it was just a misplaced comment) in the source that now is at http://knefas.altervista.org/sonykeyd-0.2.2.tar.gz

I don't know why but it seems that altervista (or my tar.gz...) today doesn't work so well, I can't directly emerge it and I get a

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!!! Couldn't download sonykeyd-0.2.2.tar.gz. Aborting

But the source is all right downloaded in /usr/portage/distfiles.



EDIT: ah, the ebuild actually doesn't depend on xosd. You'll need it if you want to use some IMO cute thigs, but it's not compulsory I removed the

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#include <xosd.h>

that was there just for some experiments...sorry for uploading a so broken thing!

[flocchini]

ooooook, now it works, many thanks!

Still some problems with the init.d script, if sonykeyd is launced through it shut down after one command. Otherwhise no problem if launched standalone from the shell, I'm taking a look now

[flocchini]

solved: the problem was apparently the "DAEMON" variable, hardcoding the command works perfectly for me

First of all you must add sonypy module to /etc/modules.autoload.d/kernel-2.6 with the wiki-provided options in /etc/modules.d/sonypi

Now the init, maybe a good idea update the source archive (after you successfully tested it, of course, don't trust me! )

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# Copyright 1999-2005 Gentoo Foundation
# Distributed under the terms of the GNU General Public License v2
# Please mail me for suggestion/support: knefas@gmail.com
# $Header: $

start() {
  ebegin "Starting Sony Input/Output event interface"
   start-stop-daemon --start --quiet --exec /usr/sbin/sonykeyd
  eend $?
}

stop() {
  ebegin "Stopping Sony Input/Output event interface"
  start-stop-daemon --stop --quiet --exec /usr/sbin/sonykeyd
  rmmod sonypi
  eend $?
}

reload() {
  ebegin "Restarting Sony Input/Output event interface"
  start-stop-daemon --stop --signal 1 --quiet --exec /usr/sbin/sonykeyd
  eend $?
}

[M0]

Hi all,

I am thinking about buying a vaio VGN-S5HP and since I was told that the S4 and S5 series are quite similar (despite of CPU, Harddisk and GPU) I'd like to hear about your experiences with the S4:
I am quite noise sensitive and I hate Notebooks that constantly have a fan running. The dealer told me that the fan would only run in rare cases when the system is claimed very much, but on the the one hand his experience is M$-Win based only and on the other hand I'd like to get some "independend" statements.

My "great dream" would be that the NB is quiet (fan off and no electronic chirping) in everyday work like textediting (email, programming, OpenOffice, ...) and surfing the web. Of course it's absolutely okay if the fan is running while doing CPU- and / or GPU-intensive work like compiling, encoding or running 3D acceleration. What are your experiences?

Thank's in advance!

Greetings
Moritz
PS: I hope this posting is not OT!?

[knefas]

The fan kicks on at 56 degrees on S4's, and yes, you will definitely reach them even undervolting. I haven't find a way to modify this behaviour.

[M0]

The fan kicks on at 56 degrees on S4's, and yes, you will definitely reach them even undervolting. I haven't find a way to modify this behaviour.

Hmmm ... doesn't sound that good.
Does that mean, the fan will run nearly all the time? What is the temperature while the system is idle (up an runnig, but not touched)?
What about my example of text editing and surfing; do you think (or have you experienced) this will make the temperature go over the mentioned 56 degrees?

You mentioned undervolting, but what about the speedstep modes? The S5HP has 1,73GHz which I think is far more power than usually needed for surfing (and my often mentioned text editing ). Let's say I throttle it to ~1 GHz, shouldn't that keep the CPU cool enough?

[knefas]

See the wiki section about undervolting, and the 3d about it...it has useful info You can run a 1.73Ghz CPU at 800 (non sure, but something like that). You can also say that you want it to run at 0.800 Volt instead that 1.xxx : it requires a bit of testing and it's not really straightforward, but it saves power and heat.

My S4 runs 55-56 degrees idle, I'm quite happy about it, but yes, it runs at that temp.

[M0]

In a nutshell: The fan is wailing all the time ?!

[knefas]

In a nutshell: The fan is wailing all the time ?!

I can't really answer: No, it's not, but undervolting. And sometimes kicks on anyway. But it's possible that the S5 has a better cooling system, I have no idea.

[M0]

I have no idea.

Anyway, thanks for your help!

[lacerto]

I've an S3XP, and followed the WIKI howto for the S4, as they a pretty much the same machine I think.

The problem I'm having is that when I compile ACPI Support-> Processor into the kernel, the boot process hangs for about 3 mins when loading the disk drivers(sata etc). In then runs on quite smoothly, though still a little slow.
When I compile as a module, the boot process works fine, but I loose the ACPI funtionality.

At I guess, I think the kernel might be throttling my CPU...if this is the case, is there some way of stopping it doing this, short of disabling ACPI?

I'm using kernel 2.6.13-r3.

Anyone seen this before?

[knefas]

Are you sure it depends only to "CONFIG_ACPI_PROCESSOR" ? I'm using gentoo-sources with acpi processor enabled and I don't see this...sorry.

[lacerto]

Hi thanks for the response.

Well yes and no I suppose - As I said, if I compile it as a modules, there's no problem. When in kernel, then it takes ages to boot.

I suppose it could be a combination though - if I compile into kernel, then I need to change something else. Tricky to find though....

[lacerto]

I don'tr suppsoe someone could post up their .config? Would be a useful addition to the wiki

[knefas]

see on the external link of the wiki, http://www.homepages.ucl.ac.uk/~zctly50/stuff/ for example

[lacerto]

Thanks - that has helped very much.

[alemare]

First off all hi! i'm a new buyer of a sony vaio and i have only one problem with fn key. The problem is simple fn doesn't work !
when i press for example fn-f4 in log appear a

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atkbd.c: Unknow key pressed (translated set 2, code 0xf5 on isa0060/serio0).
atkbd.c: Use 'setkeycodes e075 <keycode>' to make it known.

I had just loaded module sonypi and at boot started sonykeyd and all apper to start well without error.

All because i want to reduce brightness of the monitor. I try to use smartdimmer manually but the screen flash a moment but nothing change. There is the same brightness in all the 21 level selectable.
Bye bye Alemare

[knefas]

First off all hi! i'm a new buyer of a sony vaio and i have only one problem with fn key. The problem is simple fn doesn't work !

Hi!
If you just bought it it's probably a VGN-S5, and I've no idea if this stuff still works.

The best way to see if sonipy is working is to:
1) compile a recent kernel, >= 2.6.14, with sonypi as module, reboot etc.
2) modprobe sonypi
3) emerge an run sonypid
4) press some key and see what happen (in sonypid). If nothing happens then there is a problem.

All because i want to reduce brightness of the monitor. I try to use smartdimmer manually but the screen flash a moment but nothing change. There is the same brightness in all the 21 level selectable.

emerge the lastest (beta) nvclock and run nvclock -S 30, or 40, or another percentage.

good luck!