Following the notes here: http://www.voip-x.co.uk/files/adam/IMPORTANT_README
I first installed using Ubuntu 10.04 alternate. This uses a text-based installer and everything is smooth. It was unable to figure out the preconfigured RAID0, so I had to go disable that in the BIOS first, which made both disks appear as normal in the installer. I set up using an encrypted partition. Of course, even if you use a text-based installer, the installed system is configured to be graphical and so booting into it results in failure. I get a black screen and a crash (not even ctrl-alt-del saves me). The crash occurs very early on, before I even get the disk passphrase prompt (so, not even root file system is loaded, so this is not X related). Using the Ubuntu alternate CD, I boot into rescue mode and attempt to make bootup text based. E.g. adding "text" to my grub configuration, removing quiet and splash to see what is going on. Upon reboot into the real system I see lots of nice kernel text scroll by but in just a few seconds I get the same black screen lockup. It would be really nice to know if there is an easy solution for this, as it is quite a shame that even in text mode 10.04 cannot be used out of the box. Next I try Adam's basic setup, setting other grub options, installing the kernel debs, and setting up the video blacklist. Since I still can't boot into my real system, I did this by booting the rescue again, connecting a physical ethernet cable (easier than mucking with wireless..), chroot to my real disk, then did apt-get update, apt-get install lynx, and browsed to Adam's site for some text-based downloading. :) After following his initial instructions, the system boots! Booting into the new kernel with the stamina switch works, and doing the boot into "old, reboot, then new" with the speed switch also works. In either case I get a text login prompt. Using the rc.local.moved script does NOT work in stamina mode. I have a 1600x900 screen, so probably this is the reason. I get some garbage and then a black screen and a crash. :( In speed mode, I've been fiddling around between nouveau and nvidia following instructions I found here: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/BinaryDriverHowto/Nvidia Namely, I used the commands like: apt-get --purge remove xserver-xorg-video-nouveau apt-get install nvidia-current and then gone back, each time trying /etc/rc.local.moved (or simply startx). So far I seem to have to choose between either 1600x900 nouveau, with a black screen after a few minutes of use (not a full crash, I can still type and hear sound, etc, but I don't know how to make the screen come back...) or 1024x768 nvidia, which seems to have more longevity but looks terrible. If anyone has a tip on the best way to configure X, or the nvidia driver, that would be great. Adam's guide doesn't spend much time on it. -Justin _______________________________________________ Mailing list: https://launchpad.net/~sony-vaio-z-series Post to : [email protected] Unsubscribe : https://launchpad.net/~sony-vaio-z-series More help : https://help.launchpad.net/ListHelp
