Sony Vaio SR5



This article shows how to install Gentoo amd64 on a Sony Vaio SR5 laptop. The basic installation is described in the Gentoo Handbook. The laptop was sold in Japan as the SR5, and the online documentation such as exists uses this, though the model number written on the back of the case is PCG-5T3N.

Hardware
CPU               : Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU T9900 DDR               : 6G Hard disk         : Hitachi HTS72323 320G Screen            : 13.3" Widescreen, 1200x800 Graphics           : Intel GM45 Express Chipset Sound              : Intel HD Audio Controller (1 mic in; 1 headphones out; stereo speakers) SATA               : Intel Corporation ICH9M/M-E SATA AHCI Controller Ethernet           : Marvell Technology 88E8040 WiFi               : Intel Wireless WiFi Link 5100AGN TouchPad           : SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad USB                : 2 ports, version 2.0 Optical            : DVD player/burner, dual layer Bluetooth          : Integrated Stereo A2DP Bluetooth Modem              : Integrated V.92/V.90 Modem WebCam             : MOTION EYE camera and microphone Fingerprint sensor :

The official hardware list is on the Sony Japan Website (Japanese). On the right there are two USB ports, the network port (RJ-45), the modem port (RJ-11), an optical drive, and the power button. On the front are the wireless switch and SD card reader. On the left are the VGA connector (DE-15), 1/8" headphone and microphone jacks, the power jack, and a 4-circuit Firewire 400 port. On the keyboard, there are 7 extra keys above the F keys – "MODE" on the left, 5 blank keys in the middle, and "SETTING" on the right.

The below listing shows the PCI devices.


 * 1) lspci

The below listing shows details on the CPU.


 * 1) cat /proc/cpuinfo

Stage
The core 2 processor is an x64 cpu, so get an amd64 stage. The march setting is nocona.

Kernel configuration
You can use gentoo-sources for this machine. Tested with gentoo-sources 2.6.30-r5, 2.6.31-r10, 2.6.34-r6, and 2.6.36-r5.

IDE controller
When correctly configured the following information about the devices can be found here: cat /proc/scsi/scsi

USB support
The following kernel options enable standard USB keyboards, mice, and USB storage devices like memory sticks and external hard drives.

Power management
For power management, ACPI and CPU frequency scaling must be enabled in the kernel.

Wired network adapter
For the Marvell Technology, 88E8040 ethernet adapter you need the following driver.

Wireless network adapter
For the Intel Wireless WiFi Link 5100 you need the following kernel options. Enable the crypto options for WEP, WPA and WPA2 support.

Besides the kernel options you need to emerge the firmware package Iwlwifi and udev to load it.

You also need wpa_supplicant or wireless-tools. Because wpa_supplicant has better crypto support, it is preferable. See the Gentoo Handbook for configuration details.

Using wpa_supplicant
To use wpa_supplicant, emerge it.

The required driver is. Add the following to.

Using wireless-tools
To use wireless-tools, emerge it. See the Gentoo Handbook for configuration details.

There is a bug in linux-2.6.31-gentoo-r*, so the wireless card might fail to load using. If this happens, try emerging and using Rfkill.

Sound card
Sound might be muted by default, so if you don't hear anything, install a volume control program like  and turn sound on.

Video card
To get proper video with the Intel GM45 Express Chipset, which uses the i915 driver, you need the following kernel options.

Add the following line to  so only the required XOrg drivers are installed.

To adjust the screen brightness, one can use  from the   package. The following commands set screen brightness to its maximum and minimum, respectively.

SD Card
When properly configured, an SD card should show up as, or something similar.