sony PCG-FXA47 and linux
jsandell
laptop, here's where I am on that model.
First, this wasn't a planned purchase - my Compaq died at the start of a
business trip on which I needed use of a laptop. I bought the Sony
without access to the Web and therefore without benefit of advice in
this newsgroup or a chance to check the linux laptop site.
1000 Mhz AMD Athlon 4
20 GB Toshiba hard drive
256 MB RAM
ATI Rage Mobility M-1 video with 8 MB RAM
2 USB ports, par port, ser port, firewire (1374, also called by Sony
e.Link) port
TV out, sound and mic ports
2 PC Card slots
DVD-CD-RW
Winmodem, Ethernet port
Removable 3.5" floppy drive
about 7 pounds
Lithium battery
Windows XP Home Edition
MS Word 2002, various sound, video, and graphics software
Salesperson said Sony warranty is voided by installation of Linux. I
decided to buy it anyway; when I got back to the hotel room, found
nothing in documentation said loading Linux would void warranty.
Salesperson said PartitionMagic 7.0 is known to have bugs, use version 6
I used PM V 7 anyway, had no difficulty shrinking XP partitions (C and
D) and making Linux partitions.
SuSE 7.3 on DVD booted from CD, detected all hardware, formatted
PM-created partitions, and loaded with no problems.
Sax2 configured video.
The Suse installation detected the DVD-CD-R drive and Realtek RTL 8139
Fast Ethernet NIC and VIA AC'97 Audio Controller. However, any attempt
to use sound causes the computer to freeze.
Hardware detection failed to pick up the Conexant Ambit Soft56 Data, Fax
modem (Winmodem).
I had the LinkSys Ethernet/56K modem PC Card from the Compaq - inserted
that, set up modem, and was back in business.
SuSE detected the APIC power management subsystem. Battery indicator in
KDE toolbar shows battery state - when battery is down to about 15%,
computer tries to hibernate and freezes, reboot needed. Battery life
about 1 hour under Linux, more under XP.
On shutdown from KDE, Gnome, Xfce, etc., computer powers down.
Burned a CD - no problem.
I need some Windows apps for business reasons, will probably keep a Win
partition but remove XP and install W 98 - XP is already asking about
Activation, and first connect to Internet undedr XP resulted in a lot of
unknown traffic, probably XP calling home and maybe downloading bug
fixes.
Downloaded Linux drivers for Conexant modem, installed - don't work.
SO: no sound, no built-in modem under Linux, but I'll keep looking for
possible solutions to those.
Oh, set up Linux to boot from floppy, will use LILO to boot from HD when
I sort out how to set up a hibernate partition.
John Sandell
jsandell
Forgot to mention:
hotplug of PC Card works
Logitech Optical Mouse works on USB without disabling touchpad
John Sandell
jsandell
I should have mentioned in the first post that this is a report not a
recommendation.
Haven't gotten sound working, winmodem won't work - no surprise.
APM not ACPI is monitoring the battery...
Haven't tried suspend or hibernate. Next move is to get rid of Windows
XP and install Win 98, just for the times I need it in my job.
Touchpad and Logitech USB Opital Mouse both work.
John Sandell