For months we put up with poor performance and non-working fixes for my Vaio X. Even though Jakob Westhoffs articles put us in the right directions, they got a bit dated when the Ubuntu 10.04 release finally came.
10.04 does not take care of everything:
Working:
- Bluetooth
- USB
- LAN + WLAN
- Built in web camera (Skype)
- Trackpad with scroll area (no multi touch)
- 2D graphics with external display (3D and Hardware Video Acceleration is also claimed to work) *
- Audio & built in speakers *
Not working:
- Stand by & hibernation (10.04 kernel regression?)
- WWAN 3G modem (modem is detected but so far disconnects from network)
Here are my steps for a working installation:
1. Install Ubuntu from USB (instructions here).
No need to keep Windows 7 (unless you want to experiment with some of the WWAN solutions out there).
* 2. Install Poulsbo video driver for GMA 500 (instructions here).
They just recently included instructions for the 3D and Video Acceleration beta installation.
* 3. Install Alsa 1.0.23 for built in speaker support (instructions here).
10.04 comes with Alsa 1.0.21 but Vaio X requires 1.0.23. Tested with kernel 2.6.32-22, 2.6.32-23, 2.6.32-24 and 2.6.32-25.
The above leaves the Vaio X fully working. For WWAN I use my 3G phone over bluetooth. I have always been a fan of hibernation but with web browsers being able to remember windows/tabs between restarts I'm surviving without so far.
