Sony VAIO PCG-V505DX

[adler]

I don't post lightly and have been through all of the FAQS that I can read, but seem to have a few problems w/ my SONY notebook.

1. The system has no Floppy drive and I'm interested in saving my configuration settings. Help? - it seems that a good deal of the systems that now ship have no Floppies. Before I do an install to HDD I'd like to get a better grip on how I see things working.

2. Thin waver modems (like I have w/ my SONY) are a problem in setting up my dial-up connection (reading the FAQS this seems apparent). Any help hear?

3. I have several wireless connection possibilities and although my system works perfectly w/ my present set-up I'd like to switch completley over to Knoppix and explore the better possibilities of LINUX. But cannot cofigure my system to work w/ Knoppix 3.4.

4. I'd like to dual boot. In the earlier days of competitive OSs I'd played w/ OS WARP from IBM and had hoped that they would have been more successful in getting to market. The IBM OS had better everything. Since I've discovered and would like to switch to LINUX what dual boot s/w is suggested?

Thanks all in advance for your help.

ADLER

[j.drake]

I have a Sony laptop that's working fine in 3.4 with the 2.6 kernel (PCG-FXA47, IIRC). I do seem to recall that I had to d/l some BIOS and other upgrades from Sony to get it to work right. Try the Sony support website and make sure you have everything you need.

I use a USB key. My laptop has a floppy drive, but I can't even remember the last time I used a floppy. Thumbdrives have gotten so cheap that there's no need. Everytime bigger ones come out, the smaller ones go on sale for $10-20 after rebates, and I pick a few up. Right now, I have a 64MB Lexar that's serving quite adequately as my persistent home. I don't use dialup (I use DSL), so I don't know about the modem. I can't advise you on the HD install - I still don't trust dual boot from a single HD, but with a laptop, there's not too much choice but to do that, at least for a REAL HD install. I have my HD partitioned with one NTFS partition for Windows and FAT32 for the rest. I might consider doing a "poor man's" or "beginner's" install, essentially doing the same as live CD, so that you still need a persistent home and saved configuration, but you don't run the risks associated with a bootloader. If your BIOS will support it, there are articles in the DOCS tab at the top of the page which explain how to boot from a thumbdrive.

[adler]

j.,

Thanks for the response. It is about time that I pick up a thumb drive anyway. The costs certainly have dropped drastically.

I'll check the SONY site to see what BIOS up-dates are out there, BUT will set a restore point before I start any downloads. SONY has had some problems w/ up-dates especially w/ MS XP Pro up-dates. Although their site says that they recommend it I've had pc crashes trying to up-date my OS.

I look forward to other responses back to see if I can get my modem and wireless card up and running, but first need the tumb drive so that I can save my configuration. This'll will be a learning curve, but not too steep and I look forward to going full throtle to Knoppix.

J., thanks again.

ADLER