Windows is not working properly on my my daughters Sony Laptop Computer Model VPCCW23FX. We are contemplating installing Ubuntu on it. Other Linux recommendations? Mint for example?

She will be returning home next week from college. In the meantime, I will prepare a Ubuntu Live-CD to test the computer out when she gets here.

My question, are there any known compatibility issues concerning this laptop with Ubuntu 12.10?

One post mentioned problems with the video chip for the S series of Viao computers.

Might help. I don't own a Viao but from what I have read. This works in Ubuntu and Linux Mint.

http://ubuntuportal.com/2012/01/bumb...on-ubuntu.html

http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...-works-946603/

Could you please tell us in more detail what you mean? what doesn't work properly? Most computers work very well with Windows, before changing to Linux I would recommend to check for hardware issues.

As for Ubuntu, take a live-DVD and check it, if a live-system runs well, it will also run well when it's installed on the disk.

Markus

Thanks for responding. Details below. But before I begin, I just want to preface my statement that I am NOT seeking help with Windows. The purpose of this post is to see if there are any know issues with the Sony Vaio VPCCW23FX that would preclude using it with Linux/Ubuntu. If we keep Windows as the OS, I would probably wipe the hard drive and do a clean re-install. I am exploring the possible existence of any obvious compatibility issues of this laptop model with Linux/Ubuntu.
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According to my daughter, she keeps getting the message that she does not have a valid version of Windows. Previously, the computer would not recognize the optical drive. That issue seems to have been "fixed" by her school's IT department. But for whatever reason, they could not "fix" the Windows validation issue.

I don't have much faith in the capability of the school's IT department. It's also difficult to get a true understanding of what could be wrong when you can't physically explore the computer. Anyway, I have to wait till she comes home for Thanksgiving break before I can actually work on the computer.

One quick thing I plan to do, is to go back to a very early Windows restore point. Hopefully there is one before these issues appeared.

I will also use Ubuntu's live CD option to test out how well Ubuntu works with the computer before actually installing it.

As of Windows: Provided the copy (lisense) of Windows is actually valid (was already installed when the laptop was new), Microsoft calculates a checksum which is only valid for the present hardware-configuration, so they can see if one tries to put a Windowscopy into another computer. If you change any hardware-component (the optical drive in your case) it can happen, that the new hardware is not accepted by the Windowscopy because the checksume is wrong. Then Windows tells you that you have a non-valid copy. This can be solved when you call Microsoft's hotline and ask them for help. As I said before, this will only work if you have really a valid license (there should be a license-button anywhere on the computer, on a laptop at the bottom, if you call them and explain your issue they will ask you for this license-key).

As of Linux: I don't know how new the computer is. Most likely one has problems with very new laptops and their Graphics-adapter and/or their wireless-adapter. As I wrote above, take an Ubuntu-Live-DVD (recent version) boot it and check if everything works (wireless and graphics) if yes, everything is ok.

Markus

1 members found this post helpful.

Thanks for that thought. We do have a valid copy with a sticker. When my daughter gets here with the computer, I can follow-up on that.

Thanksgiving Day Update - The Windows "not genuine issue" is now fixed. - My daughter arrived home for Thanksgiving with the computer. Evidently, for reasons unknown, my daughter's school IT Department entered a new product code when examining the computer. That triggered the "not genuine" error message and kicked out the following error code "0x800700D". An internet search, suggested by another daughter, led to this Microsoft webpage: Error code 0x8007000D when trying to activate a Windows server 2008 or Windows 7 machine using any type of product key.. Downloaded the program, ran it and rebooted. The Windows "not genuine" error message was no longer there. Good News.

To enter BIOS - Sony Vaio Laptop - VPCCW23FX - press F2. (This line for historical purposes)

Now for the Bad news.
Evidently the Optical Drive is dead. My daughter's school IT Department had supposedly fixed this issue. I had hoped to test Ubuntu with the live CD, but the computer would not boot from the CD. So on "Black Friday" we will visit the computer repair place, assuming that they are open.

The computer repair place was open, so I bought an new optical drive and installed it in the laptop. The YouTube videos helped tremendously.
I was able to boot into Ubuntu 12.10 off the optical drive and make a wireless connection to the home network, and access the internet.
Preliminary indications are that Ubuntu will work on the Sony Vaio Laptop (VPCCW23FX) without issue.

Will she be using this laptop for schoolwork?
ie using Microsoft Office?
I wouldn't recommend going the linux route unless she's willing to struggle with formatting issues when trying to open word/excel documents on libreoffice or google docs. I've had countless formatting issues with essays written in MLA format
MS Office 2010 can be ran under wine, but I've had some issues were documents created in the MS Office under wine would not be recognized as a valid word document. Blackboard (a popular online service a lot of universities use for schoolwork and announcements and such) would give me the error of "not a valid file"
I love linux and all, but for school, Windows is much better, unless the computer is powerful enough for virtualization.

Most people don't use MS-Office only. MS-Office and playing games are the only reasons ot have Windows installed. But for a student there's often more to do with a computer than office and games only.
I would install dualboot.
Linux is important for those students who not only have office-work to do. If you have to (or want to ) learn programming, in Linux there are all languages available. If you need the computer for surfing the internet, doing it with Linux is much more secure. There are more examples. Well, I'm no student anymore (and back than we had no laptops and Linux was very young) but in my opinion (as Windows-sysadmin) a computer with Windows only is very useless.

Markus

Yes. The software she has been using is Open Office and GIMP, so she essentially half-way there in terms of being Linux compatible. She is unaware of any school related programs that would absolutely require that her computer have Windows installed.

To reiterate, the Sony Vaio Laptop (VPCCW23FX) worked with Ubuntu (12.10) live CD.

I use Linux as my main OS, I taught my mother, father, and siblings how to use Linux, but for me, MS Office is a necessaity.
It may not be for other people, but libre/open office and the other alternatives such as google docs don't cut it for me.
It pains me to say it, but I really wish MS made an office suite for Linux. I'm surprised google hasn't so far.

For writing essays and printing them, open/libre office works fine, but when you start opening those documents across multiple platforms where you are not allowed to use libre/open office, that's when it becomes a problem.

Yup, that would be nice, no pain, but who would then purchase Windows any more?

Markus

thanks for sharing. I got the actual answer