Installing Fedora 7 on Sony Vaio VGN-FE31Z

by Harald Hoyer — last modified Sep 17, 2007 01:18 PM

Howto run Fedora 7 an a Sony Vaio VGN-FE31Z.

Updated from Fedora Core 6 on a Sony Vaio VGN-FE31Z

Article also submitted to Linux on Laptops

General Hardware Specifications of the Sony Vaio VGN-FE31Z:

Hardware Components	Status under Linux	Notes
Intel(R) Core(TM)2 CPU T5600 @ 1.83GHz	Works	No special procedure required during installation.
15.4 WXGA 1280x800 TFT Display	Works	No special procedure required during installation
NVIDIA® GeForce® Go 7600 with 128MB dedicated VRAM	Works	2D works fine out of the box, for 3D install the nvidia driver.
2GB DDR2 SDRAM (2x1024MB)	Works	No special procedure required during installation
Harddrive 200GB FUJITSU MHV2200BT UDMA/100	Works	No special procedure required during installation
MATSHITA UJ-850S, UDMA/33 DVD+-RW/+-R DL/RAM Drive	Works	No special procedure required during installation
Internal Intel Corporation PRO/Wireless 3945ABG Network Connection (Wi-Fi Certified)	Works	Install firmware from Intel
Integrated Network Card	Works	No special procedure required during installation
Integrated Bluetooth	Works	No special procedure required during installation
Internal 56k Modem	Haven't even tried
Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) High Definition Audio Controller	Works	No special procedure required during installation
Built-in 'Motion Eye' Digital Camera	Works	http://mxhaard.free.fr/download.html

This laptop is operating under Kernel version 2.6.22.1-41.fc7

Obtaining Fedora 7

Wireless

Just drop the firmware to /lib/firmware.

# cd /tmp
# curl http://intellinuxwireless.org/iwlwifi/downloads/iwlwifi-3945-ucode-2.14.1.5.tgz | tar -xz
# mv iwlwifi-3945-ucode*/iwlwifi-3945-1.ucode /lib/firmware/
# rm -fr iwlwifi-3945-ucode*

Update (24.08.2007): there is an rpm available

# yum --enablerepo=updates-testing install iwl3945-firmware

X11

Installed from livna:

# yum install kmod-nvidia xorg-x11-drv-nvidia

Added to /etc/X11/xorg.conf:

Section "Files"
        ModulePath   "/usr/lib/xorg/modules/extensions/nvidia"
        ModulePath   "/usr/lib/xorg/modules/extensions"
        ModulePath   "/usr/lib/xorg/modules"
EndSection

Touchpad

Installed gsynaptics.

# yum install gsynaptics

Changed some parameters in /etc/X11/xorg.conf:

Section "InputDevice"
        Identifier  "Synaptics"
        Driver      "synaptics"
        Option      "Device" "/dev/input/mice"
        Option      "Protocol" "auto-dev"
        Option      "Emulate3Buttons" "yes"
        Option      "AccelFactor" "0.025"
        Option      "LeftEdge" "120"
        Option      "RightEdge" "830"
        Option      "TopEdge" "120"
        Option      "BottomEdge" "650"
        Option      "FingerLow" "25"
        Option      "FingerHigh" "30"
        Option      "MaxTapTime" "155"
        Option      "MaxDoubleTapTime" "180"
        Option      "MaxTapMove" "10"
        Option      "VertScrollDelta" "20"
        Option      "HorizScrollDelta" "20"
        Option      "MinSpeed" "0.3"
        Option      "MaxSpeed" "0.75"
        Option      "SHMConfig" "true"
EndSection

Motion Eye - Internal Cam

Haven't tried. But have a look at: http://mxhaard.free.fr/download.html

LCD Brightness

Install nvclock and klcddimmer. Or smartdimmer or gnome-smartdimmer.

External Video Output

Section "ServerLayout"
    Identifier     "Layout0"
    Screen      0  "Screen0" 0 0
    Screen      1  "Screen1" RightOf "Screen0"
    InputDevice    "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
    InputDevice    "Mouse0" "CorePointer"
EndSection

....

Section "Monitor"
    Identifier     "Monitor1"
    ModelName      "Nvidia Default Flat Panel"
    Option         "DPMS"
EndSection

# My 16:9 Plasma HDTV Display
Section "Monitor"
    Identifier     "Monitor0"
    ModelName      "CRT-0"
    HorizSync       28.0 - 49.0
    VertRefresh     0.0 - 60.0
    DisplaySize     919 516
EndSection

Section "Device"
    Identifier     "Videocard0"
    Driver         "nvidia"
    BoardName      "GeForce Go 7600"
    BusID          "PCI:1:0:0"
    Option         "RandRRotation" "true"
    Option         "AddARGBGLXVisuals" "True"
    Screen          0
EndSection

Section "Device"
    Identifier     "Videocard1"
    Driver         "nvidia"
    BusID          "PCI:1:0:0"
    Screen          1
EndSection

Section "Screen"
    Identifier     "Screen0"
    Device         "Videocard0"
    Monitor        "Monitor1"
    DefaultDepth    24
    Option         "metamodes" "DFP: 1280x800 +0+0"
    SubSection     "Display"
        Depth       24
        Modes       "1280x800" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
    EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "Screen"
    Identifier     "Screen1"
    Device         "Videocard1"
    Monitor        "Monitor0"
    DefaultDepth    24
    Option         "metamodes" "CRT: 1024x768 +0+0"
    SubSection     "Display"
        Depth       24 
        Modes       "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
    EndSubSection
EndSection

Powersaving in Battery mode

Here are some tips from powertop

# yum install powertop
# powertop

Most energy is saved with:

# nvclock -S 15
# iwpriv eth1 set_power 1

Other things, which save power:

/etc/sysconfig/cpuspeed:
DRIVER=acpi-cpufreq
GOVERNOR=ondemand

# chkconfig cpuspeed on
# service cpuspeed restart

You may also try:

# mount -o remount,noatime /
# hciconfig hci0 down ; rmmod hci_usb
# modprobe -r firewire_ohci
# hal-disable-polling --device /dev/scd0
# ethtool -s eth0 wol d
# echo 2 > /proc/sys/vm/laptop_mode

What isn't working

Modem (haven't even tried)
ACPI Suspend/Sleep (worked in Fedora Core 6, Hibernate works in F8)

Related content: Fedora Core 6 on a Sony Vaio VGN-FE31Z

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