Ubuntu install on Sony VAIO VGN-FS415M
Ubuntu Dapper installation
It's been some time since I choose to install Ubuntu for my workstations. I keep plain old Debian for my servers. Since Dapper will probably be released in June, I choosed to install it instead of Breezy.
The install went without a glitch. Networking and wireless were functionnal from the start. I added the line "snd-hda-intel" in /etc/modules to make sound work.
Configuration of the NVidia video card was as simple as replacing the "nv" driver line in the xorg.conf file with "nvidia" after having followed the instructions in the unofficial Ubuntu Dapper guide.
Having function keys work was a bit more difficult, but I found fsfn
by searching the forums. You need to compile and install a new version of the "sony_acpi" kernel module and then install the fsfn application. Now all the function keys are working.
Sleep and hibernate are working too. I had a speed problem when resuming from sleep state. When doing a "echo mem > /sys/acpi/state" everything went quick but when using "/usr/sbin/pmi action sleep", It took about 150 seconds to come back online. By commenting out lines in /etc/acpi-support/prepare.sh, I found that the "chvt 12" line was causing the lag. For now, I've commented it out and turned on the option to double switch to X in the /etc/default/acpi file. I need to file a bug for that.
XGL and Compiz
I also could not resist to trying the new XGL and Compiz hype thing. I followed instructions from this forum thread . I had just one problem, the screen was garbled. The problem was that the server did not start in 24 bits of color depth mode. So after a quick edit of my xorg.conf file, everything was working. I must say that this XGL and Compiz thing is really nice and it makes the desktop feel very pleasant.