Linux on Sony Vaio - Miscellaneous

A page that I found recommends installing the spicctrl and sjog packages to get control over the LCD brightness and JogDial.

To get spicctrl working, you need the sonypi kernel module. Fortunately, it’s installed in the stock Debian kernel.

Unfortunately, there’s no entry in /dev for it. Create one with:

# mknod /dev/sonypi c 10 250

Create a new file, /etc/modutils/sonypi, containing the following:

alias char-major-10-250 sonypi
options sonypi minor=250

Run update-modules to rebuild /etc/modules.conf.

Then, you can test it like this:

$ spicctrl -a
$ spicctrl -b 100
$ spicctrl -b 255
$ sjog

I haven’t figured out how to get the jog control to come back when you next use the dial. I’ll look into that later.