Jogdial (sonypi) problems with Debian Etch 2.6.18

bence8810 · 01-05-2007, 09:29 AM

Hi

I have an old Vaio U1 laptop, which supposed to work well with Linux, and the sonypi module, which is available in kernels since 2.4, etc. I had it working on a kernel 2.6.11 before, and now I reinstalled Debian Testing, and the kernel is 2.6.18, and Sonypi doesnt work. I guess there is something with UDEV, but I am not sure.

With Sonypi, I have to add the following to /etc/modprobe.d/aliases

Code:

alias char-major-10-62 sonypi
options sonypi minor=62 useinput=0

I also created the Device:

Code:

mknod /dev/sonypi c 10 62

When I reboot the computer, this /dev/sonypi is gone.

..but I guess with the new kernel, /dev/ is not used? Should I do something else since UDEV has taken control?

If I do a:

Code:

modprobe sonypi

It will take all my options from the /etc/modprobe.d/aliases file, so that part is working, and I have the following in dmesg:

Code:

sonypi: Sony Programmable I/O Controller Driver v1.26.
sonypi: detected type2 model, verbose = 0, fnkeyinit = off, camera = off, compat = off, mask = 0xffffffff, useinput = on, acpi = on
sonypi: enabled at irq=11, port1=0x1080, port2=0x1084
sonypi: device allocated minor is 62
input: Sony Vaio Jogdial as /class/input/input9
input: Sony Vaio Keys as /class/input/input10
sonypi command failed at drivers/char/sonypi.c : sonypi_call1 (line 646)
sonypi command failed at drivers/char/sonypi.c : sonypi_call2 (line 657)
sonypi command failed at drivers/char/sonypi.c : sonypi_call2 (line 659)
sonypi command failed at drivers/char/sonypi.c : sonypi_call1 (line 646)

When I start X, and I open a browsed, I cannot even scroll with the Jogdial. It was working like a charm in old kernels. Also, if I install sjog, and start it, it will show on the screen briefly, then disapear, like it should. But no matter what I do, press the Jogdial, turn it, scroll, there is no effect what so ever.

What should I do to get sonypi working with the new kernel and UDEV system? Any help would be appreciated,

Thanks

Ben

bence8810 · 01-07-2007, 09:26 AM

Hi

I recompiled my kernel and included the SONYPI in it. However, my jogdial still doest work. The kernel is fine, as I can set brightness with spicctrl with no problem, and that relies also on the SONYPI thing.

What can be wrong? Does anyone have their jogdial working with kernekl 2.6.18 or something similarly new? I had it working with 2.6.8 and 2.6.11 also, as I looked at my notes now. How strange....

Anything would be welcome on this issue,

Thanks

Ben

bence8810 · 01-08-2007, 03:02 PM

Hi

Further to my war of Sonypi on Vaio PCG-U1, I have discovred a few more things, with the help of the Author of Sonypi. I enabled Verbose logging 2 on the sonypi kernel-piece (not a module anymore). If its just a module, you can do this by having the folloing option in /etc/modprobe.d/aliases

Code:

option sonypi verbose=2

or if you have it compiled in the kernel, like I do

Code:

echo "2" /sys/modules/sonypi/parameters/verbose

Then, I turned the jogdial, and pressed all the Sony specific keys, and then watched the output of dmesg. This is what I saw:

Code:

sonypi: unknown event port1=0xff,port2=0xff
sonypi: unknown event port1=0xff,port2=0xff
sonypi: unknown event port1=0xff,port2=0xff
sonypi: unknown event port1=0xff,port2=0xff
sonypi: unknown event port1=0xff,port2=0xff
sonypi: unknown event port1=0xff,port2=0xff
sonypi: unknown event port1=0xff,port2=0xff
sonypi: unknown event port1=0xff,port2=0xff
sonypi: unknown event port1=0xff,port2=0xff
sonypi: unknown event port1=0xff,port2=0xff
sonypi: unknown event port1=0xff,port2=0xff

Does anyone know what to do from here? I am puzzled. I guess the events are not recognized in a proper manner, but the other U1 owners report it differently, on their webpages which I readh thoroughly over and over. The only thing different, that they are using a much older kernel, 2.4, or 2.6 but the early editions.

Again, any help is welcome..

Ben

bence8810 · 01-12-2007, 10:00 AM

Hi

I can see this is not a problem for many people, just by looking at the number of replies

Well, but I should never give up, right?

So here is what I have further, but still no resolution.

I now have tried with a Knoppix live CD which boots fine with some special parameters, and then Sonypi is completely useable. So the jogdial works from Linux, and on this Laptop as well, not only on others' which I started to believe little by little.

A fellow U1 owner told me he now has 2.6.18 kernel with also Debian, and he has the Sonypi working, however he didnt have the Same ETCH release, but one from before and he did a dist-upgrade in apt.

What can be the problem which prevents me from having the Sonypi thing working?

Thanks

Ben

bence8810 · 01-13-2007, 02:09 PM

With no replies this thread is rather a progress report, but as I am getting closer, and my problem is getting to be more general, I hope someone can have an input on it.

Now, I found the problem. When I take out my PCMCIA card, all goes well, and sonypi immediately starts working.

I have a 32bit PCGA-C300s card, with Madwifi drivers. When the card is in the slot, sonypi acts up, but upon removal, it all works like a charm.

Would there be some kind of a confusion or resource-fight between the pcmcia and sonypi? But as far as I understand, 32bit cards are assigned resources from hotplug and not PCMCIA.

What can I do to troubleshoot this strange problem? When I plug in a 16bit card, no problems what so ever.

Thanks

Ben

asabjorn · 01-28-2007, 01:22 AM

I have an Sony Vaio SZ340. I recently moved to Debian Etch from Ubuntu Dapper Drake, and all the fn-keys but the brightness works as they should in KDE in Debian Etch while in Dapper even brightness works. Since these two distributions share a lot I would believe that Dapper contains the solution to the problem. Maybe there is a missing dependency/patch in Etch?

bence8810 · 01-28-2007, 09:01 AM

Hi

Sorry I forgot to post back, the solution was found, and it was regarding a kernel fault. It only happens when I insert a Cardbus 32bit card to the PCMCIA slot. I believe no matter what distribution you have, if you kernel is above 2.6.13 or -14, you will have this problem when sonypi and cardbus 32bit are used together.

The solution to the problem rigth now is that I have to modify in /include/asm-i386/pci.h file in kernel source the following line:

#define PCIBIOS_MIN_IO 0x1000

and I had to change it to

#define PCIBIOS_MIN_IO 0x4000

This will make sure that the Cardbus wont take the range from the Sonypi. When I recompiled the kernel given this mod, It was working like a charm. A bug to the kernel was filed, and I am sure they will fix it sooner or later.

The fix came from Stelian, the maintainer of the Sonypi package.

Best regards,

Ben

asabjorn · 01-28-2007, 05:24 PM

Thank you very much! It is good that the solution is that simple. Has this fix been reported upstream to the Debian Etch maintainers?

bence8810 · 01-29-2007, 02:07 AM

Hi

As this isnt a problem related to Debian Etch, but the stock kernel used for variety of distributions, no, it wasnt reported to them. It was reported to the bugzilla.kernel.org directly, and they have already responded on it.

The link to the bugreport can be found here:

http://bugzilla.kernel.org/show_bug.cgi?id=7836

Cheers,

Ben

pentode · 01-29-2007, 11:37 AM

You may be the only person in the entire world who ever actually used the Jogdial.8-) I have it on my Sony laptop - I never used it when it was working under Windows. I did get it working under Debian for a while, but to be honest, I haven't even tried it for a year or so probably. It probably doesn't work anymore, just like yours.

Seems like a very minor issue, really - and very specific to Sony. If that's your only issue, consider yourself doing very well.

bence8810 · 01-30-2007, 01:59 AM

Hi

Yes, I consider myself very good, specially that it works now. It is one of the major features why I buy low-end tiny Sony laptops, like the U1 and the C1. I dont use an external mouse, and the jogdial helps me a lot, but of course it only works the way I want under linux.

In Windows, when I move it, immediately the smart program opens up, and suggests very convinient things to me, which I dont really care for. Whereas in Debian, I set it to only scroll on webpages unless I press the button, to which it reacts with a menu from where I can choose my most used apps. Like this, I dont need a fancy Desktop enviroment with a fancy menu, as I use the jogdial instead. |Bootup time shortens with a whole minute just by dumping KDE or Gnome for Enlightment, or some other tiny desktop. This way, my 866Mhz Crusoe sort of runs fast.

So to summerize the thing, its one of the most important thing for me, hence I spent the huge amount of time it took to find the fix. If its not useful to you, just read on to other threads, and to other people like me, it might be a great deal after all.

Cheers

Ben