Re: tlug: Sony Vaio

["Manuel M. T. Chakravarty" <chak@example.com>]

craigoda@example.com wrote,

> From: "Manuel M. T. Chakravarty" <chak@example.com>
> Subject: Re: tlug: Sony Vaio
> Date: Fri, 18 Sep 1998 17:01:32 +0900
> 
> Manuel,
> this is  a very informative e-mail.  I hadn't actually tried the modem
> extensively since I was on an ethernet.  I shall try it
> now.  :-)

I got it to work on two different VAIO 505's.  So, please tell
me if you run into any problems.

> chak> There is one problem however.  The 505 does not have a
> chak> built-in CD-ROM (not surprising given its size).  The
> chak> optional (external) CD-ROM from Sony comes with a special
> chak> kind of PCMCIA card, which doesn't work with Linux.  Maybe I
> chak> should say, doesn't work for me.  Maybe somebody already
> chak> wrote a driver, I don't know -- if anybody has some
> chak> information regarding this matter, please tell me.
> 
> Ahh, I was about to buy the CD-ROM.  Good thing I didn't.

If I understand the manual correctly, the CD-ROM has to be
plugged in at boot time to be recognized by the BIOS.  To
me, this sounds like some awful hardware kludge.

> I wonder
> if the VAIO will work with a SCSI CD.  I think there are
> PCMCIA SCSI cards for under 150 USD.  SCSI might also be
> nice for other periphs.

A standard PCMCIA SCSI controller should work, I guess.

> Say, has anyone ever played with the universal serial port or the infrared
> port with the VAIO under Linux?  The infrared link might be very nice
> with something like pilot-xfer.

That would be exciting.  I vaguely remember having read
somewhere on the net about a project that tries to utilize
the infrared ports with Linux.  But, I didn't have the time
to look more closely at it, yet -- and I don't remember
anymore where I read it...

Manuel

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