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Date:      Sat, 12 Aug 2000 01:00:05 +0100 (WEST)
From:      Jose Gabriel Marcelino <gabriel@maquina.com>
To:        freebsd-mobile@freebsd.org, freebsd-hardware@freebsd.org
Subject:   Notebook recommendation
Message-ID:  <Pine.BSF.4.21.0008120037410.18835-100000@devils.maquina.com>

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Hi,

I'm planning to buy a notebook and I want to run FreeBSD on it, of course.

My main requirements are:

- It has to be lightweight < 2.5Kg ( < 5.5 lbs)
- Battery should last at the very least 2+ hours.
- 1024x768 resolution
- Compatibility with the Cisco Aironet 340 cards I already ordered
(shoulnd't be too difficult, just requires a PC Card slot).
- Maximum compatility with FreeBSD.

After drooling a bit over the Sony Vaios, I have found their price tags to
put them too low on the bang for the buck ratio, and I don't need the
FireWire or memory card ports.

I've now found the Asus model M8320 notebook to fit the requirements
nicely, but I would like to hear some more opinions.

This machine has a Silicon Motion 710 graphic chip, which seems to be
supported in (only) XFree86 3.6 (ie, no 4.0 support yet). It's a 2D only
chip but that's ok for my needs.

For sound it has the Intel 440MX chipset as it's AC'97 controller, so it
should be supported in a (future?) i8xx driver, it's already fully
supported in Linux so I guess it's just a question of time (or maybe some
work from me :) to have it working in FreeBSD.

It also seems to have an Intel 82559 Ethernet controller which is nice and
a Lucent 1641 DSP as a modem chip which already has some Linux support
(and even a binary modem Linux kernel module from Lucent itself). This
comes out by a combo network/phone line RJ-45 jack which makes me a little
afraid of how one changes it's mode.

I also like the fact that it has a removable CD-Rom drive as it seems to
make the airplane companies happier.

Does anyone have one of this machines? How does it work under FreeBSD? I
would appreciate your comments very much. 

Thanks!

Best regards,

Gabriel




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