Date: Sun, 27 Jul 2003 11:09:20 +0930 From: Greg 'groggy' Lehey <grog@FreeBSD.org> To: Thanjee Neefam <thanjee@fastmail.fm> Cc: FreeBSD Questions <freebsd-questions@freebsd.org> Subject: Re: New Laptop Message-ID: <20030727013920.GH45069@wantadilla.lemis.com> In-Reply-To: <20030726231341.945FB61C32@smtp.us2.messagingengine.com> References: <20030726190110.E61A237B405@hub.freebsd.org> <20030726231341.945FB61C32@smtp.us2.messagingengine.com>
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--VkqCAaSJIySsbD6j Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline [Format recovered--see http://www.lemis.com/email/email-format.html] Long/short syndrome. On Saturday, 26 July 2003 at 15:13:41 -0800, Thanjee Neefam wrote: > > I am considering buying a new laptop (my current one is a Dell Inspiron > PII-233 without a CD Drive (it broke :( )) > > I just simply want to know if there is a particluar range of laptops that > work better with FreeBSD. ie: they use totally standard quality hardware, > no panic on installs, also good value for money. > > I have had all good experiences with my Dell Inspiron regarding > FreeBSD, but the time has come to improve my hardware. I have also had a number of Dell laptops and have been relatively satisfied, so when the time came to buy a new one, I bought an Inspiron 5100. I have just got it (3 days ago), and I've spent all the intervening time trying to set it up. Problems include: - The onboard Ethernet chip (Broadcomm 4400) isn't supported. A driver is under development, but the current version is very flaky. - Out of the box, the system will freeze up if you put in any PCMCIA card. You can fix this one with the following entry in your /boot/loader.conf: hw.pci.allow_unsupported_io_range=1 This problem also affects the Inspiron 5150. - I can't get X to start. This problem does not affect the Inspiron 5150. It appears to be a problem mapping the video BIOS, and I'm currently working on it. - It's missing a lot of the legacy connectors, like serial and parallel ports and a PS/2 keyboard connector. This means that if I want to use an external mouse or keyboard, I have to buy a USB one, and I can't do remote kernel debugging with it. It also has no floppy, which is only a problem if you can't get the network to work :-) On the plus side, the price is good, and it has firewire as well as USB. Greg -- When replying to this message, please copy the original recipients. If you don't, I may ignore the reply or reply to the original recipients. For more information, see http://www.lemis.com/questions.html See complete headers for address and phone numbers --VkqCAaSJIySsbD6j Content-Type: application/pgp-signature Content-Disposition: inline -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.2.0 (FreeBSD) iD8DBQE/Iy1IIubykFB6QiMRAvMMAJ4m7pKyrv2r43tkjQ/P5whWmls46wCfWMd3 aVk0rtz6ZnKMM0Tiq//wrOA= =fTZp -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- --VkqCAaSJIySsbD6j--
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