sony-vaio-z-series team mailing list archive

[Rajiv Mordani <mode@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Jason,
	I have win 7 and ubuntu karmic running on the same computer Z790 
(dual boot of course). The only problem I have is getting a bios that 
allows me to switch how to select the graphics card and since the new bios 
does not allow EFI boot (the only way it does is if you disconnect the 
optical drive and hard drive and I am not adventurous enough to try to 
even get to that under the keyboard) I can't even get to modify the bios 
that way. If anyone has a bios (and tell me how they flashed it) please 
let me know. For the janitor script info see -

http://global-social.net/sony-VGN-Zseries

and for dual boot win 7 and ubuntu see -

http://0xc0dedbad.com/blog/2010/01/30/dual-boot-linux-and-windows-7-on-sony-vaio-z/

- Rajiv

On Thu, 18 Mar 2010, ravenskrag@xxxxxxxxx wrote:

> On Thu, Mar 18, 2010 at 12:04 PM, Alexei Pashkovsky <alexei@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> > So far I did not see a single operating system that would run on this
> > laptop 100%, every OS has its "issues" :
> > Linux can't switch gfx cards and Nvidia card drains the battery.
> > WinXP won't switch gfx neither, and also brightness controls are not
> > working.
> > WinVista - not going to even start the list of problems.
> > Win7 - gfx switch, battery issues, random crashes and reboots.
> > In addition, the built-in webcam is a really bad one, with shady colors
> > and no focus at all.
> >
> > Alexei.
> Hey there,
>
> Little bit of nit picking here, but you can switch graphics cards on
> Linux, but you need to shut down, there is no hot switching support.
> I believe the same case is true for XP.  I also believe that there is
> something to get the brightness to work on XP.  Correct me if I am
> wrong.  Also, the NVidia card takes more power as it is a dedicated
> card, and thus, of course, will drain the battery more than the
> integrated card.
>
> I agree though that the 185 NVidia linux drivers sap more power than
> is sometimes necessary, as there is no power saving mode, only a
> performance mode.  The newer drivers seem to solve this problem, but
> the janitor does not install the 32-bit libs on a 64-bit system, which
> is only a problem if you use WINE.  I assume that other 32 programs
> may also be affected.  If that is not a problem for you (and if you
> don't know what I'm talking about then you are most likely in that
> category) then go ahead and use the janitor and pick the FTP download
> - that's what I would do if I could let go of my desire to play
> commercial games without windows.
>
> Vista just has problems in general.  That's what you get when you
> sacrifice backwards compatibility.  That's my view on it anyway.  I
> don't want to go there, and yes, I do use vista myself.
>
> Another note, as of yet I believe you still can not use W7 and Linux
> on the same computer.
>
> Jason
>
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