This is a great Linux laptop. I'm running Gentoo. The SZ450 is quite similar to all others in the SZ series.
| component | status | notes |
|---|---|---|
| sound | works | Built in speakers and mic work. Haven't tried external yet. Driver: snd_hda_intel lspci: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) High Definition Audio Controller (rev 02) |
| video (stamina) | works | When booted with the switch set to "stamina," the Intel video chip is active. It works great with the i810 driver and DRI. Dual head works with or without Xinerama (with hardware acceleration only on the built-in display). Screens can be independently resized with xrandr, and I'm looking forward to being able to turn the external output on and off with xrandr in X.Org 7.3. lspci: Intel Corporation Mobile 945GM/GMS/940GML Express Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 03) |
| video (speed) | mostly works | When booted with the switch set to "speed," the nVidia video chip is active. It works with the nvidia driver. Dual head works (with hardware acceleration on both displays). I haven't tried TwinView. Screens can be independently resized with xrandr. Brightness control does not work. Waking from suspend does not work. lspci: VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation G72M [GeForce Go 7400] (rev a1) |
| pcmcia | haven't tried | lspci: CardBus bridge: Texas Instruments PCIxx12 Cardbus Controller |
| ethernet | works | Driver: sky2 |
| modem | haven't tried | |
| suspend to RAM | works | acpitool -s (only works with intel video) |
| suspend to disk | haven't tried | acpitool -S?, suspend2? |
| acpi | works | Battery sensor, AC adapter sensor, three temperature sensors, power and lid buttons, and suspend to RAM all work. With sony_laptop in the 2.6.22-rc6 kernel various controls work: audiopower, cdpower, brightness (only with intel video), fanspeed, wwanpower (except I have no wwan), and bluetoothpower. The screen brightness control is particularly useful. The S1 and S2 buttons and the wireless on/off switch produce ACPI events with sony_laptop, but the speed/stamina switch does not. Strangely S1 press, S1 release, S2 press, and S2 release all result in the same ACPI event. The speed/stamina switch doesn't do anything discernable while the system is running, but the wireless on/off switch kills power to the bluetooth adapter and affects the ipw3945 RF kill switch (detected by the driver). |
| optical drive | works | cdrecord: MATSHITA DVD-RAM UJ-852S |
| 802.11abg | works | Driver: ipw3945 |
| bluetooth | works | lsusb: 044e:300d Alps Electric Co., Ltd |
| fingerprint reader | doubtful | I don't believe there is a driver, but I haven't tried it yet. |
| TPM | haven't tried | |
| camera | works | Driver: r5u870. lsusb: 05ca:1835 Ricoh Co., Ltd |
| ExpressCard slot | haven't tried | |
| 5-in-1 memory card | haven't tried | This is an ExpressCard that came with the laptop. |
| Memory Stick Media Slot | haven't tried | This is a built-in card reader. |
| IEEE 1394 | haven't tried | (aka firewire, aka i.LINK) I'm pretty sure this will work as it has been detected by the kernel. lspci: FireWire (IEEE 1394): Texas Instruments PCIxx12 OHCI Compliant IEEE 1394 Host Controller |
| usb | works | No problems. Uses uhci and ehci drivers. |
| touchpad | work | All features work with synaptics driver in X. |
| G-Sensor Shock Protection | doubtful | Hard disk protection accelerometer. |