Re: tlug: Sony Vaio

[Frank Bennett <bennett@example.com>]

I have a Sony Vaio 731 (A4 size, with internal CD-ROM/Floppy
slot), so this is strictly speaking off the topic of this
thread.  I had some trouble with interrupts to get the modem to
work also, but that's been covered already.

I do have a couple of remaining niggles, though, that someone
might be able to help with.

First, (generic notepad PC problem here), the mousepad is right
under my thumbs with my typing position, and I keep accidentally
tapping it, which proxies for a single click of the left mouse
button.  This has nice effects like ripping the cursor to a new
position while I'm typing at full speed, or jerking the focus to
a new window, where the text I'm typing takes hold as a series of
keystroke commands ...

I've taped a credit card over the thing for the time being, which
I can flip back and forth as I find need for the mouse.  But it
would be a lot nicer if I could configure, say, the 無変換 key to
attach and detach the /dev/psaux soft link.  Does anyone know how
this might be set up and propagated to all applications running
under X?

Someday they'll move these pads to the left or the right where
they will not get in the frigging way: I can't see any reason why
they need to be smack in the middle like this.

Second, "hibernation" does not function on the Vaio the way it
did on the Toshiba Libretto that I used before this machine.  On
the Libretto, the last 20 megs of the hard disk were left free
(i.e. there was no partition in that space).  Hibernation caused
hardwired code in the Libretto itself to write the content of
memory into that space.

I forgot to leave this space free when I set up the Vaio.  This
_should_ give me a corrupted filesystem every time the machine
goes down in hibernation mode.  But instead, everything spins
down and I get a flashing red power light.  Hitting "return" once
or twice will wake the machine back up quite quickly, without
accessing the disk.  But (here's the problem) this "deep
suspension" relies on a battery somewhere in the machine; if it's
left on battery too long, the machine shuts down and the content
of memory is lost --- so you have to restart a system that was
shut down abruptly, possibly leading to filesystem corruption.

Does anyone have a Vaio that hibernates properly to disk?  If so,
have you left the tail end of the disk free?  It occurs to me
that the Vaio might be saving me from my own stupidity by
refraining from doing a "proper" hibernate, because it sees a
partition in the way ... ?

-- 
-x80
Frank G Bennett, Jr         @@
Faculty of Law, Nagoya Univ () email: bennett@example.com
Tel: +81[(0)52]789-2239     () WWW:   http://rumple.soas.ac.uk/~bennett/
--------------------------------------------------------------
Next Nomikai: 18 September, 19:30 Tengu TokyoEkiMae 03-3275-3691
Next Meeting: 10 October, Tokyo Station Yaesu central gate 12:30
--------------------------------------------------------------
Sponsor: PHT, makers of TurboLinux http://www.pht.co.jp