Linux users of Sony Z1 series

[Stuart Shelton <>]

On Wed, 2005-03-16 at 20:19 +0100, Brouard Nicolas wrote:
> You can link these two programs to Fn-Esc and Fn-F12 respectively using
> sonyxosd. But the sonyxosd program, even in its rpm form, is still
> difficult to install because of the XOSD perl libraries. In my view, we
> still need something intermediate between sonypidd and sonyxosd where
> the final user could choose how to link the function keys to its
> preferred programms in a file like ~/.sonypidrc to supersede the ever
> wrong default.

The new 1.5 release of SonyXOSD now supports the reading of a config
file from /etc/sonyxosd.conf - from which everything about it can be
configured ... except for the key mappings :)

(I have also make Gentoo ebuilds that will automagically build and
install SonyXOSD and all prerequisites, including Perl modules and
libraries.  Unfortunately, as I no longer use an rpm-based distribution
I don't know what the best way to convert this to an RPM would be.  The
main problem with this is the installation of the perl modules.  For
anyone who's happy using CPAN, this installation is trivial - perhaps it
could be scripted?)

I'll see if there's a nice way to add key mappings to the config file
for the next release - the problem is making something that is as
flexible as SonyXOSD is now, but isn't too complex for someone who
doesn't want to edit the sonyxosd script directly.

I think I might add a "CommandOverride" option in the config file to
redefine key actions...

> What is not working on a Sony Z1 under Linux? Nothing anymore?

Hmm - the internal modem is a little patchy (thought can be used through
slmodem and the AC97 modem driver)

I think the only missing features are now the correct operation of the
P1/P2 buttons.  I still can't understand why Sony won't just tell us how
to address the additional buttons - it's not as if it will benefit
competitors or harm sales at all!

        Stuart