Date: Tue, 26 Mar 1996 08:58:41 -0800 From: Mark Diekhans <markd@grizzly.com> To: d_burr@ix.netcom.com Cc: freebsd-hackers@freebsd.org, freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Buying a laptop for FreeBSD - advice sought Message-ID: <199603261658.IAA03745@Grizzly.COM> In-Reply-To: <Pine.BSF.3.91.960323050825.197A-100000@starfleet.gov> (message from Donald Burr on Tue, 26 Mar 1996 02:57:39 -0800 (PST))
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>Well, I finally broke down to temptation and am about to purchase a >laptop. Since I want to be able to use this machine with FreeBSD, I'd >like to consult with the group before I make the final decision. I have been running FreeBSD 2.0 on a DX4/75 subnotebook (samsung) with 20mb memory and a 520mb disk for about 8 months now (nice notebook). The DX4/75 is plenty fast, not complaints about speed. I even do rather large compiles on it. >Anyway, here are the spec's on the notebook, and some notes/questions I >have re: them. Any and all answers or help greatly appreciated. > >IntelDX4/100 CPU > This should work. Hopefully the APM features will work with the > FreeBSD apm0 driver? The apm and pcmcia support is basicly experimental. I couldn't get anywhere with the stuff that shipped with 2.1. Some fine people in Japan are working on more support: http://www.mt.cs.keio.ac.jp/person/hosokawa.html but I have yet to get my 28.8 modem card or apm to work. I am too short on time to learn enough to debug it right now, so I am hoping others will get it working. Check out the cards they say work and stick with them. >8 MB RAM expandable to 32 MB > I know, 16 would be better, but I've run on 8 before, with no probs. While my memory was on backorder I was running in 4 mb. I ran emacs from the console. It swapped a lot so it was kind of slow, but it still work much better than I expected. >Removable 520MB Hard drive > I know, a bit small, but my current FreeBSD partition is 540MB > and I'm not exactly hurting for space. I'll eventually want a The 520mb disk is no problem, I have lots of stuff on it. I even have to have a dos partation to be able to use the pcmcia modem card :-( > bigger storage space, and I'm thinking along the lines of a SCSI > PCMCIA adapter and a external Zip or Jaz drive... will this work? > (also see notes below under PCMCIA) Check out what they support... >builtin 16 bit sound card > Is it SB16 compatible? Or will it work with the FreeBSD snd driver? While mine is supposedly sound blaster compatible, I can't get it to work. I haven't put much time into it as its a toy for what I really do. >3.5" 1.44m floppy disk > Just as long as I can boot the FreeBSD bootdisk, I'm happy... Shouldn't be a problem, mine works with an external floppy (not pcmcia). >32-bit VLB Windows accelerator with 1 MB VRAM > Chipset? XFree86 compatible? I don't need >256 colors but would > be nice... Compare the chipset to what XFree86 supports. XFree86 doesn't support the particular cirrus logic chipset I have. The ones that are close don't work. None of the commercial X-servers work either. I am forced to run in 16 color mode until I get the time to debug it (if I ever get the time). >EPP parallel, high-speed serial, sound in/out, external monitor, and >external PS/2 keyboard ports > Good, the serial ports have 16550's. I suppose I should be able > to run a external modem off one of these, if I can't/don't want to > run with PCMCIA devices? The serial port works like a champ, I use high speed external modems with no problem. A very cool thing about the EPP parallel port is that FreeBSD supports TCP/IP over a laplink parallel cable. For <$10, I have a reasonably high speed point to point network with my desktop. Much faster than going over a null modem cable. I install freebsd via parallel port TCP/IP. Good stuff, I owe who ever did the a beer. >If anyone has had experience running FreeBSD (or really, any of the free >UNIX OS's) on this laptop, successful or no, I would appreciate some >insight and/or information. Please e-mail me at d_burr@ix.netcom.com. The bottom line: Pick you system carefully. There are a lot of variables in notebooks and you can't swap cards to get things to work. Find out the video and pcmcia chipsets and compare with the tested ones. Don't expect a ton of "just do this" suggestions. The people on these lists are amazing helpful, but I have found that people don't encounter the same problems I do. Probably due there being so many different notebook configurations and not a large user base. Don't let this discourage you. While the things I have yet to get to work are frustrating, overall I have been very pleased with the system. The pcmcia modem problems have been the only real disadvantage. Its fast and reliable. Having a 3.7 lb Unix system has proven amazingly useful. The high point was the look on my SO's face when I headed off for an extended visit to the john, Unix computer under my arm :-) Feel free to mail me directly if you have more questions, Mark <markd@grizzly.com>
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