Linux on a Sony VAIO PCG-FX390K Notebook

Linux on a Sony VAIO PCG-FX390K Notebook

Updated July 11, 2002.

Machine Specs

Processor Pentium III 1.0 GHz
Memory (standard) 256 MB
Hard Drive 30 GB
Screen 15.0" XGA TFT
Graphics Intel 815 EM
Sound Windows sound system compatible
Floppy Removable
Optical CD-RW/DVD Combo
Modem Internal AC-97
PCMCIA Two type I or II
USB ports Two
IEEE1394 port One
Serial port One
Monitor port One
Parallel port One
Ethernet port One
TV OUT jack One
Microphone jack One
Headphone jack One
Preinstalled OS Windows 2000

Machine Specs
Processor	Pentium III 1.0 GHz
Memory (standard)	256 MB
Hard Drive	30 GB
Screen	15.0" XGA TFT
Graphics	Intel 815 EM
Sound	Windows sound system compatible
Floppy	Removable
Optical	CD-RW/DVD Combo
Modem	Internal AC-97
PCMCIA	Two type I or II
USB ports	Two
IEEE1394 port	One
Serial port	One
Monitor port	One
Parallel port	One
Ethernet port	One
TV OUT jack	One
Microphone jack	One
Headphone jack	One
Preinstalled OS	Windows 2000

Linux compatibility

Distributions Tested Redhat 7.2 & Redhat 7.3
Graphics Supported in 1024x768 32bpp
Also see miscellaneous notes below.
Sound Supported. Configured with sndconfig. i810_audio
Floppy Supported. Tested.
CD-RW Supported. Burns CDR's at 8X with cdrecord.
DVD (combo with CD) Should work. Not tested.
Modem AC-97 A winmodem which is not supported out of the box.
But it seems to work with this HSF softmodem driver
PCMCIA Supported. Tested with Orinoco silver wireless card.
USB ports Works with an USB floppy drive, a Creative Webcam III,
and an Olympus C700UZ digital camera.
Requires a kernel patch, see miscellaneous notes below.
IEEE1394 port Not tested.
Serial port Recoginized by kernel.
Tested with direct connection to a Cisco PIX.
Monitor port Tested. Works.
Parallel port Recoginized by kernel. Not tested.
Ethernet port Works with the eepro100 driver.
APM Power off on shutdown works fine.
Remaining battery power does NOT work.
Sleep mode does NOT work.
Power saving does NOT work.
The "Recommended" BIOS CPU speed setting runs slow
even with the AC power connected. "Maximum" must be
selected in the BIOS to get the full 1.0 Ghz speed.
It runs at 100% power until battery dies.
Update: I found a command line utility named spicctrl
which can control the LCD screen brightness
and display the remaining battery life.
I wrote this TCL script as a GUI front end to spicctl.
Use at your own risk!!!

Linux compatibility
Distributions Tested	Redhat 7.2 & Redhat 7.3
Graphics	Supported in 1024x768 32bpp Also see miscellaneous notes below.
Sound	Supported. Configured with sndconfig. i810_audio
Floppy	Supported. Tested.
CD-RW	Supported. Burns CDR's at 8X with cdrecord.
DVD (combo with CD)	Should work. Not tested.
Modem AC-97	A winmodem which is not supported out of the box. But it seems to work with this HSF softmodem driver
PCMCIA	Supported. Tested with Orinoco silver wireless card.
USB ports	Works with an USB floppy drive, a Creative Webcam III, and an Olympus C700UZ digital camera. Requires a kernel patch, see miscellaneous notes below.
IEEE1394 port	Not tested.
Serial port	Recoginized by kernel. Tested with direct connection to a Cisco PIX.
Monitor port	Tested. Works.
Parallel port	Recoginized by kernel. Not tested.
Ethernet port	Works with the eepro100 driver.
APM	Power off on shutdown works fine. Remaining battery power does NOT work. Sleep mode does NOT work. Power saving does NOT work. The "Recommended" BIOS CPU speed setting runs slow even with the AC power connected. "Maximum" must be selected in the BIOS to get the full 1.0 Ghz speed. It runs at 100% power until battery dies. Update: I found a command line utility named spicctrl which can control the LCD screen brightness and display the remaining battery life. I wrote this TCL script as a GUI front end to spicctl. Use at your own risk!!!

Miscellaneous Notes

USB was not configured during the install.
It worked after adding the following line to /etc/modules
alias usb-controller usb-uhci
Update: I was having trouble with some USB devices and I learned
there is an issue with the Sony's BIOS reporting the wrong IRQ number
to the kernel. This patch against the Redhat 7.2 2.4.9-31 kernel appears
to solve the problem.

The Redhat 7.2 install allowed me to configure the monitor perfectly.
Here are the config files it generated: /etc/XF86Config-4
and /etc/XF86Config (even though I don't think that one is used)

BIOS settings were left at factory defaults.
Changing the PNP-OS setting does not seem to make any difference.
I tried compiling a kernel with ACPI instead of APM. ACPI support was
even worse than APM, so I switched back to the stock Redhat 7.2 kernel.

Miscellaneous Notes
USB was not configured during the install. It worked after adding the following line to /etc/modules alias usb-controller usb-uhci Update: I was having trouble with some USB devices and I learned there is an issue with the Sony's BIOS reporting the wrong IRQ number to the kernel. This patch against the Redhat 7.2 2.4.9-31 kernel appears to solve the problem.
The Redhat 7.2 install allowed me to configure the monitor perfectly. Here are the config files it generated: /etc/XF86Config-4 and /etc/XF86Config (even though I don't think that one is used)
BIOS settings were left at factory defaults. Changing the PNP-OS setting does not seem to make any difference.
I tried compiling a kernel with ACPI instead of APM. ACPI support was even worse than APM, so I switched back to the stock Redhat 7.2 kernel.

Summary

Other than APM, and the pain of applying a kernel patch and recompiling
every time Redhat releases a new kernel, this notebook seems to be extremely
well supported under Redhat 7.2 & 7.3.