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I have an 4+ year old VAIO laptop with the following specs: Intel Core 2 Duo T6600 2.2 GHz, 4GB PC2-6400 SDRAM memory.

Sadly, the hard drive crashed. I contacted Sony to get the recovery disk, but they wanted me to pay $160 for Windows and drivers. I have hence decided to go the Linux way instead.

The sony VAIO representative said that I needed to buy the CD from them anyway because it contains the drivers necessary for the machine to work and not crash.

Can I just put in a new SSD hard drive, install Linux, and then look for the drivers or would my system crash again?

Also, would Ubuntu 13.10 work fine on my old laptop?

mickmackusa
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user247562
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    Since all the Ubuntu drivers you need are likely to be Ubuntu repository, you don't need anything from Sony. Create a LiveDVD/USB of Ubuntu and try without installing. This will tell you that everything works or not. If everything works you don't need anything from Sony. those Windows drivers are useless for Ubuntu in any case. Go ahead with the SSD and install Ubuntu. – user68186 Feb 12 '14 at 20:01
  • Does this answer your question? Will my device work with Ubuntu? – karel Jan 10 '22 at 20:00

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YES, you can buy a SSD or a normal hard drive what ever you like put it in your laptop and run Ubuntu on it and your laptop should work just fine.

In fact, chances are that you will not have to look to much for the drivers since Ubuntu has a lot of them in its repository and it should be a easy transition.

If for any reason you will not like Ubuntu you can decide to buy a Windows license later anyhow.

Mihai
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Since all the Ubuntu drivers you need are likely to be Ubuntu repository, you don't need anything from Sony. As far as I know Sony will provide Windows drivers only and those are useless in Ubuntu.

  1. Create a LiveDVD/USB of Ubuntu and

  2. Try without installing. This will tell you that everything works or not.

  3. If everything works, go ahead with the SSD and install Ubuntu.

Hope this helps

user68186
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  • The only catch would be if he/she need a BIOS update. I had to install windows on a machine just for that. But normally he shouldn't, especially with an old machine. – Rmano Feb 12 '14 at 20:50
  • Thanks @Rmano for pointing out the potential BIOS update problem. I can't speak of this particular laptop, but recently I updated the BIOS of my notebook with DrDOS booted from an USB. But that is a whole another question. – user68186 Feb 12 '14 at 21:19
  • you are right. I have a Samsung laptop where the only way to update the bios is from Windows. I think, at least... – Rmano Feb 12 '14 at 21:23