Re: [ubuntu-uk] Ubuntu on the Vaio S series
On 1 July 2012 23:17, doug livesey wrote: > Hi -- has anyone got Ubuntu up & running on a Sony Vaio S series? > I've read a little bit that suggests there may be difficulties with the > graphics drivers, which switch between two modes. > Just wondered, is all -- I was fantasising about a new machine & playing > with the online configurers, and the Vaio S series looks bloody lovely! :) > > There are open source Intel HD 4000 drivers according to Phoronix, and for another £100 you can have an Nvidia card that is supported through Additional Drivers. You could always go to a Sony store with a Live USB ;) s/ -- Twitter: @sfgreenwood "TBA are particularly glib" -- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/
Re: [ubuntu-uk] Ubuntu on the Vaio S series
Dont want to move you away from it, i probably had a lemon-but this is my short story of ownership of the s series 15 inch (still have my vaio nw 2009). I configured a vaio s 15 inch to the brim -essentially top spec, i7, 8gb ram , best gpu, 256gb ssd(about 220 actually free). Problems started when it started sounding like a *ing vacuum cleaner when playing counter strike- ye the 6 year old game. I was slightly worried- it was on a table so plenty of cooling. so out of curiosity i put a sound meter to it to see how loud it is (borrowed a *dt-805 sound * meter from my uni lab) and lo and behold-60 something decibels at 0.5 meter away from it=roughly an arms reach. bearing in mind this is a laptop i was immediately worried, my vaio nw sounds quiter at 80% than the S at 40%, which i use pretty much everything (small file server, running a vm at the same time, browsing, coding etc) and it is rarely at less than 80% load. I am not a tech expert but i was under the impression that sandy bridge is a heck of a lot more efficent than core 2 duo-my old laptop. so I took it in to the sony store saying that it is overheating (high 80's on cpu within minute of load) and what did they do? nothing-they let it sit in their shop for almost 2 weeks with the excuse of "we will have the engineer look at it." I wish it was fixed as it is a lovely machine (if it worked). After those 2 weeks i called them and had to bring in my software suite to show them that it was sounding like a vacuum cleaner (and show them the temperatures). I realised only then that after 50% load the cpu actually underclocks itself (i7 2640) to just 800mhz (stock at 2.4 ifaik) --big problem. the y series (ultraportable) is faster than my s was when both were at full load. Then the store i went to made a huge fuss that they couldnt refund it because it is a CTO (online configured model). After almost 3 hours persuading them (and pointing out to them that I spent a significant ammount of money there before along with the fact non of this cto non refundable crap is nowhere to be seen on their terms and conditions) they agreed to give me the refund. Dont get me wrong, i am not a fanboy of any brand. Having bought 5 laptops from them before this i was expecting high standards. For example my first nw that i got, the webcam did not function-they gave me a new one no questions asked, they didnt even check. Now I had to go in to show their engineer the problem. Overall i hope not many people had to experience what i had to go through to bring that vacuum cleaner back (as i didnt get it to browse email...) but I feel that their support has plummetted downhill. I spent 900£ + on that machine , to use it for 3 days, wake up from the fan noise (i let it do intensive stuff overnight so i dont have to wait), bring it back, let them have it for 2 weeks, and then spent most of the day convincing the manager that it is an obvious fault and i dont want to wait any longer for it to get fixed and i want it refunded. thats pretty much it. Oh and it is utter bs that it get 8 hours battery life=maybe 6 with extra slice battery with integrated graphics. just my 2 cents On 1 July 2012 23:17, doug livesey wrote: > Hi -- has anyone got Ubuntu up & running on a Sony Vaio S series? > I've read a little bit that suggests there may be difficulties with the > graphics drivers, which switch between two modes. > Just wondered, is all -- I was fantasising about a new machine & playing > with the online configurers, and the Vaio S series looks bloody lovely! :) > > -- > ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com > https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk > https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/ > > -- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/
[ubuntu-uk] Ubuntu on the Vaio S series
Hi -- has anyone got Ubuntu up & running on a Sony Vaio S series? I've read a little bit that suggests there may be difficulties with the graphics drivers, which switch between two modes. Just wondered, is all -- I was fantasising about a new machine & playing with the online configurers, and the Vaio S series looks bloody lovely! :) -- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/
[ubuntu-uk] It's not always updates that cause problems
Hi all, A cautionary tale: Turned on netbook [Acer Aspire 150] for the first time since a kernel update. Got to password screen and performed an immediate catastrophic power off - as in software risking instant type. First instinct was battery death. Wrong. Next instinct was the dreaded "damn kernel update caused this". Pleased to report - those who assume an update causes a fail are often right - but often wrong. Real cause? Carrying a netbook in boot of vehicle travelling approx. 1000 miles/week causes vibration. 3rd instinct took over after trying a live cd from usb cd drive failed in same way - with battery removed, SD backup card removed & netbook running off power pack. 3rd instinct?... Turn the darn thing upside down - give it a few [stragetically placed] "gentle" taps to "reverse" the vehicle vibration damage and hope its memory had worked loose. TV repair job, I admit - though I would prefer the phrase "get-you-home- engineering". Netbook is running smooth as a smooth thing in a smooth world with a smooth population eating smooth food, smoothly. 12.04 survived all the power offs intact, as did Xubuntu 12.04 on other partition. When time permits I will get into guts of it and re-seat all re-seatables - as a good little engineer should ;) Remember - updates can be a coincidence as well as a cause. -- Cheers, Bill B. [SuperEngineer] -- -Registered Linux User 523667- -Registered Ubuntu User 32366- -Free as in Freedom-- -- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/
[ubuntu-uk] ubuntu one
Hi there Back from holiday and I got a really annoying problem. On return, I updated 12.04 that I have dual-booting with 12.10 testing. I also installed a video driver that was offered - and wrecked the whole thing! After re-booting, I got a failure and dropped to the command prompt. startx failed as it couldn't find a valid screen (whatever that means). I gave up trying to mend it and re-installed then re-updated. Now, I had no problem with Ubuntu-one under 12.04 before, and have no problem on my netbook - also on 12.04. Setting up Ubuntu-one went as normal and synced the Ubuntu-one folder, but offers me no other folders to sync from the cloud. I can't find any way of making it work. Putting up a fresh folder on my netbook immediately shows a popup on my desktop telling me that the new folder is available for sync - but it dowsn't show in the Ubuntu-one window! The I had to re-install 12.10 for a fairly similar reason has to do with a newer AMD accelerated graphics driver. I'm now getting exactly the same problem with Ubuntu-one. Anyone got any ideas? Regards,Barry. -- Barry Drake is a member of the the Ubuntu Advertising team. http://ubuntuadverts.org/ -- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/
