Windows Failure caused by ntldr or ntdetect.com missing

find these file e.g. Windows XP SP2 install CD \support\tools

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/555304

P.S. if you copy ntdetect.chk to ntdetect.com, it will print out lots of debug information when probing your hardware on boot

Ubuntu

Ubuntu works out fine on my VAIO. To my surprise, the function keys (volume control and brightness control) are recognized.

But using the default boot options will hang at the ACPI part for minutes. So I add "acpi=off" in the grub menu, and this solved the problem.

There is now a module that can read/write NTFS partitions. They claim it to be stable.

Beryl on Ubuntu

all the windows doesn't have decorations, if you change DefaultDepth to 24 in /etc/X11/xorg.conf, and then right click the Beryl Manager, choose Advanced -> Redering -> Copy, then reboot, it should work out.

a reference http://wiki.beryl-project.org/wiki/Main_Page

How to mark a partition active

go to Admin Tools -> Computer Management -> Disk Management

Tool to recover boot sector damage

testdisk: running under Windows, Linux, OS X

How to Setup Solaris Nevada Build 38 on VAIO VGN-S460

prep:
  1. BACKUP EVERYTHING
  2. download ISO image from SUN website
  3. burn DVD or you wish to use VMWare
  4. make sure you have a primary partition with at least 7G space

the movements:

  1. boot from DVD
  2. grub that comes with the DVD will load
  3. if you are installing Solaris 10, edit grub boot item: find the line start with "kernel", at the end add ",acpi-user-options=0" there is no space before comma
  4. follow the screens, it's fool-proof
  5. Java Desktop System is recommended, it looks better than CDE

config X:

  1. download nvidia drive from http://www.nvidia.com/object/unix.html
  2. the webpage tells you exactly what to do

config ethernet:

  1. create file "/etc/resolv.conf" with one line: 
    nameserver 000.000.000.000 # your DNS
  2. create file "/etc/defaultrouter" with one line: 
    router 000.000.000.000 # your gateway
  3. edit file "/etc/nsswitch.conf", replace the line "hosts: files" with "hosts: files, dns"
  4. use these commands: 
    rem_drv iprb
add_drv -i '"pci8086,1068"' iprb
ifconfig iprb0 plumb
ifconfig iprb0 dhcp
    if it doesn't work, then first check "ifconfig -a" to see if iprb is in the list. Also check if iprb is in /dev. If you are using a different computer system, use "prtconf -pv" to find out the right device address then use the address in "update_drv -i pciXXXX,XXXX iprb"

refer to these articles:

http://www.linuxsir.org/bbs/showthread.php?t=170342

http://www.sun.drydog.com/faq/6.html

http://chinaunix.net/jh/6/424768.html

config wifi:

  1. edit file "/etc/resolv.conf" "/etc/defaultrouter" as above
  2. go to http://www.opensolaris.org/os/community/laptop/wireless/, download iwi package, the 0.4 version requires Solaris Nevada B31+; if you are using different computer systems, choose a nother package to install; the webpage tells you how to install the package
  3. wificonfig is already bundled with Solaris Nevada; download it only if you are using Solaris 10
  4. wifi scan: 
    wificonfig -i iwi0 scan
  5. wifi connect with WEP encryption: 
    wificonfig createprofile <profilename> essid=<your ssid> encryption=wep wepkey1=<your wep key>
wificonfig -i iwi0 connect <profilename>
ifconfig iwi0 plumb
ifconfig iwi0 dhcp

add user 

useradd username
passwd username
mkdir -p /export/home/username
chown username /expoer/home/username
also change the user's home dir in file /etc/passwd accordingly

How to Setup Mac OS X for x86 on VAIO VGN-S460

2006/03/12

This HOWTO is for VAIO VGN-S460, but it may also works for other VAIO computers in S-series, FS/FJ series, TR series. There is ABSOLUTELY NO GUARANTEE, you are using this at your own risk.

Requirement:

Check whether your CPU supports SSE2 or SSE3 using CPU-Z or etc. (Most laptops with Pentium M including S460 support SSE2)

Prep:

  1. Backup your data. Trust me. You'd better have a GRUB start-up CD/DVD or other rescue tools like Boot Magic CD or etc in case the MBR screwed up.
  2. Prepare the VAIO Recovery Kit (1 CD-R, 1 DVD-R).
  3. If you can find the DVD image for Mac OS X 10.4.x, the read related document careful and then burn the DVD so that you should skip steps 3~5. The following steps will allow you create a Mac OS X 10.4.1 installation DVD.
  4. Get the image often tagged as "Apple.OS.X.x86.Developer.Kit.Install.DVD-pheNIX (or deadmoo)". DON'T search "deadmoo" on any BitTorrent site and download it, that is illegal.
  5. Unpack it, you might get "Marklar-Tiger.iso". MD5 check sum of the .iso file is e78fe52e30a1f8c5b29d4b7932a16c5e and the size is: 4,293,001,216 bytes.
  6. Get the "Generic_OSx86_Install_DVD_Patcher_Release1.rar", unpack, you will find a program called "PPF-o-Matic" and a patch named "Marklar-Tiger-patch-release1.ppf". Run the program, apply the ppf patch to the file "Marklar-Tiger.iso". MD5 checksum for your patched Marklar-Tiger.iso file should now be 9a5270e693b2148ba685638f05ea76c2 and the size remains the same 4,293,001,216 bytes.
  7. Burn the patched iso file onto DVD using your favorite program. DVD-/+RW is recommended.

Installation:

There are various ways to install Mac OS X for x86.

Pear PC/VMWare method: please do google research. This is not native installation therefore it is slow but safe.

dd method: Directly copy the image file (~6G) to a partition, google some useful guides.

DVD method:

If you already have Windows and Linux dual-boot using GRUB or LILO:

  1. you need to use tools e.g. Partition Magic to make a PRIMARY partition (>5G) in, say, NTFSformat. DON'T do the installation on a logic partition, it will be big trouble.
  2. The installation takes about 20 min. After you see the installtion GUI, go to Utilities and then Disk Utility, choose the PRIMARY partition you want to install Mac OS X, then choose Erase to format the partition to apple format (0xaf).
  3. Before you press the Install button, choose Customize to choose all the packet you need. (Drivers for Printers just don't work, so de-select them all; there is an item alled "hacks", you must choose one and only one from "SSE2" and "SSE3")
  4. After restart, if you see Darwin (bootloader for OS X) take control, that will be fine, you will be able to load Windows or Linux from Darwin. If MBR fails, you can still use GRUB start-up CD or etc to load Windows/Mac OS X/Linux on your hard drive then recover your MBR and change GRUB config files for triple boot.

If you have only Windows, make an PRIMARY partition as discussed in the above step a1. The installation is pretty much the same as in the above steps (a2~a3). After you restart, Darwin should take control, on the countdown screen press F8, you will have dual boot for Windows and OS X.

There are several known issues with Mac OS X on VGN-S laptop, most of them is common on installation on other computers, like graphics accelerator doesn't work; wireless doesn't work and so on. To my surprise the speaker on S460 worked on OS X, but of course you cannot use Fn key to control volume.

Check out some pictures showing Mac OS X running on a PC.

2006/03/10

This is for my own notes. Boot my Linux from GRUB CD-ROM (from GRUB command prompt): 
root (hd0,6)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.9-22.0.1.ELhugemem ro root=LABEL=/ rhgb quiet
initrd /boot/initrd-2.6.9-22.0.1.ELhugemem.img
Boot my Windows XP: 
root (hd0,0)
chainloader +1
After you are done, type "boot" to start the system.

2006/02/17

Add some pictures.

How to Setup Linux on a Sony VAIO VGN-S460P?

11-23-2005

I am using a Sony VAIO VGN-S460P laptop. This little cute toy already has Windows XP Pro installed. I want to setup both Windows XP and Linux on it. The Linux distribution I am using is "Scientific Linux SL release 4.1 (Beryllium)", the kernel version is "Kernel 2.6.9-22.0.1.ELhugemem on an i686".

It has an 80GB drive, but some of the space (around 10G) has been taken by the backup system. Following SONY's instructions, you can create backup media of DVD/CD and therefore reclaim the 10G on your hard drive.
Resize the partition and install Linux
Setup X