Linux users of Sony Z1 series

[Stuart Shelton <>]

Various people have been enquiring about an upgrade to SonyXOSD to allow
it to control the brightness on newer Sony laptops which control screen
brightness via ACPI rather than by the sonypi device.


I've modified SonyXOSD to support this, but as I don't have one of these
laptops I've been unable to test it.


Although I can insert the sonyacpi module on my Z1, it only returns
random garbage rather than useful data.


I have ensured that SonyXOSD's functionality remains the same for users
with legacy (e.g. non ACPI-controlled) laptops (like mine ;) - but
testers willing to take a look at the new version would be very welcome.


The test pre-release is available from:

http://files.sony-tools.homeunix.net/sony/_versions/sonyxosd-1.6

... this file should be downloaded and copied over the "sonyxosd" file
installed from

http://files.sony-tools.homeunix.net/sony/sonyxosd-1.5.tar.bz2

... or, if using the Gentoo ebuild of SonyXOSD, over /usr/bin/sonyxosd.


Once I've got a few confirmations that this new code does the right
thing, I'll be able to release SonyXOSD-1.6 - featuring the new ACPI
code and also the ability to change key mappings via the config file.

Any feedback welcomed,

        Stuart