Kubuntu 10.10 on Sony Vaio VPC-S12C5E

Here are some (old) notes regarding the installation of Kubuntu on my Sony Vaio VPC-S12C5E.

First I have to tell you that everything is working fine and out of the box with Kubuntu 10.10. This include: Bluetooth, HDMI out (tested with a Full-HD monitor), Sound out, VGA, USB, CD Burning, WiFi, Networking, Keyboard backlight & SD Card reader.

The only annoying thing in 10.10 is the non-responding touchpad. But a fix can be found on Ubuntu forums:

  1. Edit /etc/default/grub to include GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX="i8042.nopnp"
  2. Run sudo update-grub
  3. Reboot

Now about the laptop itself: construction quality is below my previous MacBook (cheap plastic instead of aluminum) and battery autonomy is not impressive. A bios update seems to address the latter. Haven’t done it yet as it requires to re-install Windows (*sigh*). But overall that’s a good lightweight machine to get things done, especially with its 8 Gb of RAM, 4 cores and a SSD ! :)

HP w2207h external display on Intel 945

I recently had the oportunity to plug the HP w2207h screen (see review #1 and review #2) as an external display to my Samsung Q35 laptop. The external display has a native resolution of 1680×1050 and the laptop’s is 1280×800.

The laptop is powered by an Intel 945 graphic chip:

[root@localhost ~]# lspci
00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Mobile 945GM/PM/GMS, 943/940GML and 945GT Express Memory Controller Hub (rev 03)
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Mobile 945GM/GMS, 943/940GML Express Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 03)
00:02.1 Display controller: Intel Corporation Mobile 945GM/GMS/GME, 943/940GML Express Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 03)
(...)

After some googling and tests, I’ve designed the perfect xorg.conf for this configuration:

# **********************************************************************
# Refer to the xorg.conf man page for details about the format of
# this file.
# **********************************************************************

Section "Extensions"
  Option "Composite"
EndSection

Section "ServerFlags"
  AllowMouseOpenFail # allows the server to start up even if the mouse does not work
EndSection

Section "Module"
  Load "dbe" # Double-Buffering Extension
  Load "v4l" # Video for Linux
  Load "extmod"
  Load "type1"
  Load "freetype"
  Load "glx" # 3D layer
  Load "dri" # direct rendering
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
  Identifier "Keyboard1"
  Driver "kbd"
  Option "XkbModel" "pc105"
  Option "XkbLayout" "fr"
  Option "XkbOptions" "compose:rwin"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
  Identifier "Mouse1"
  Driver "mouse"
  Option "Protocol" "ExplorerPS/2"
  Option "Device" "/dev/mouse"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
  Identifier "SynapticsMouse1"
  Driver "synaptics"
  Option "SHMConfig" "on"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
  Identifier "laptop"
  Option "PreferredMode" "1280x800"
  Option "Below" "external"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
  Identifier "external"
  Option "PreferredMode" "1680x1050@60"
  HorizSync 24.0 - 82.0
  VertRefresh 48.0 - 76.0
  Modeline "1680x1050@60" 147.14 1680 1784 1968 2256 1050 1051 1054 1087 -HSync +Vsync
EndSection

Section "Device"
  Identifier "device1"
  VendorName "Intel Corporation"
  BoardName "Intel 810 and later"
  Driver "intel"
  Option "DPMS"
  # Option "XaaNoOffscreenPixmaps" "1"
  Option "monitor-LVDS" "laptop"
  Option "monitor-VGA" "external"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
  Identifier "screen1"
  Device "device1"
  Monitor "external"
  Subsection "Display"
    Virtual 1680 1850
  EndSubsection
EndSection

Section "ServerLayout"
  Identifier "layout1"
  InputDevice "Keyboard1" "CoreKeyboard"
  InputDevice "Mouse1" "CorePointer"
  InputDevice "SynapticsMouse1" "AlwaysCore"
  Screen "screen1"
EndSection

What I’ve learned so far during these experiments:

  • With DRI, virtual screen can’t be greater than 2048×2048 for Intel 945 (or less) chips. This explain why my screens are one above the other instead of side-by-side.
  • XRandR and its friend KRandRTray make screen positionning user-friendly…
  • …until you play with the xrandr‘s “--off” option ! After I manually called it, this parameter disabled all my screens, forever, and at each boot. I’ve randomly deleted xorg-related files, but I still didn’t know how I solved this mess. If you have a better understanding of how xrandr store its configuration, please let me know !
  • Dual screening is awesome ! :D

Mandriva 2007.0 Screenshots: 3D Desktop

For some months, I own a Samsung Q35 laptop which is powered by a Mandriva 2007.0.

As describe in its technical specification this machine include an Intel GMA 950 GPU. lspci give us more details:

00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Mobile 945GM/PM/GMS, 943/940GML and 945GT Express Memory Controller Hub (rev 03)
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Mobile 945GM/GMS, 943/940GML Express Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 03)
00:02.1 Display controller: Intel Corporation Mobile 945GM/GMS, 943/940GML Express Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 03)

This chipset is recognized out of the box by drakconf and thanks to this GUI, I was able to setup X.org with AIGLX in no more than 2 clicks !

Mandriva 2007.0 : Drakconf, a GUI to setup 3D Desktop

Here are some screenshots of the resulting 3D desktop:

glxgear-pseudo-benchmark.jpg

mandriva-20070-3d-desktop-video-and-transparency.jpg

mandriva-20070-3d-desktop-video-and-window-flicker.jpg

mandriva-20070-3d-desktop-video-expose-like-panel.jpg

mandriva-20070-3d-desktop-video-and-desktop-chooser.jpg

mandriva-20070-3d-desktop-video-and-desktop-cube.jpg

opengl-software-and-3d-desktop.jpg

opengl-software-and-3d-desktop-flicker-bug.jpg

As you can see there is still some bugs but I had to test many softwares to find one which had problems with the 3D desktop. Except Celestia, everything was working as usual. Beside this, I just had to redefine some shotcuts in Compiz (to match the default KDE shortcuts) and I was feeling at home ! :)

Samsung Q35 XIC-5500 : Tiny Review of a Strong Compact Laptop.

samsung-q35-xic-5500 I’m the happy owner of a brand new Samsung Q35 XIC-5500 laptop. Here is a review of the machine hardware, not the software.

The hard disk of the machine is supposed to be a 120 GB one, and as usual a hidden partition is reserved for windows backups. I deleted this one and reformatted the whole disk. After this operation, fdisk (fdisk -l /dev/hda) report me a total usable space of 112.4 GiB. Not bad.

Now I’ll tell you what I noticed about the aesthetic and the usability of the machine itself.

samsung-q35-touchpad The touchpad has a good soft touch, but is located so close of the keyboard that I inadvertently activate it while typing. This is quite bad, especially when you write long texts. I think with some practice I’ll be able to move my fingers to avoid this unintended behavior.

I feared having a glossy screen but I’m finally happy. This one is not as reflexive as I thought, and bright colors are welcomed for watching movies. I still hadn’t the opportunity to test it in a sunny environment. October is not the sunniest month in the north of France ! ;)

samsung-q35-strange-keys To keep the machine as compact as possible, some keys of the keyboard were located in unusual places. Page Up / Page Down keys are for example on the right and on the left of the Upper key. Home and End need the function (Fn) key to work. This slow me down because I use them a lot when programming or editing blog posts.

The fan is located on the right side of the machine. I’m right handed so it’s not cool (pun intended). In reality it’s not a problem at all since the fan is not often activated during “normal” use (Internet surfing, mails, etc…).

I don’t like having sounds connectors in front of the machine.

The battery is unpleasant because half of it appear outside the laptop case. But having twice the capacity (6 cells instead of 3) is welcomed.

Finally the laptop is not ultra-mobile. It’s a very compact laptop (only 1.9 Kg), but not “ultra”: it has big margins around the keyboard and the screen, and is as large as usual 14” laptops. It is also as thick as others, because of the optical drive.

My Conclusion: If you need an ultra light laptop or if you are a gamer, this is not a machine for you. But if you need a light-weight notebook with everything heavy laptops have (including the optical drive), it’s a very good deal. I paid mine 1160 € on a French online store. This laptop is not an object of design. But for 100 € more than a 13” MacBook, you have a compact machine with superior hardware: Core 2 Duo, 1GB of RAM, 120GB HDD, 7 hours of max autonomy and 1280×800 screen. This is why I choose this machine, and I’m very happy with it ! :)