Date: Fri, 22 Aug 2008 18:27:29 -0700 From: Jeremy Chadwick <koitsu@FreeBSD.org> To: "Macy, Ryan W PV2 NG NG NGB" <ryan.macy@us.army.mil> Cc: freebsd-hardware@freebsd.org Subject: Re: looking to make the jump from linux to unix (freebsd) need to know if xps m1330n is supported? Message-ID: <20080823012729.GA12042@eos.sc1.parodius.com> In-Reply-To: <f71190a37b3d.48af03c7@us.army.mil> References: <f71190a37b3d.48af03c7@us.army.mil>
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On Fri, Aug 22, 2008 at 06:21:59PM -0500, Macy, Ryan W PV2 NG NG NGB wrote: > Hey guys, first mailing list post... ever! > > Anyways I spent the last 15 minutes running around on google to find out if my dell xps m1330n is supported or not. > > the machine was built for linux (and practically out of the box) so it should pretty much work right? http://linux.dell.com/wiki/index.php/Clients/Products/XPS_M1330n/lspci I believe all of these devices are supported under FreeBSD. Ones worth being concerned about: 1) Broadcom BCM5906M Ethernet NIC -- this NIC probably will not work with FreeBSD unless you install one of the snapshot versions. I see someone has recently committed support for the BCM5906 series to RELENG_6, RELENG_7, and HEAD/CURRENT, but that was 8 weeks ago, which is why you'll need a snapshot and not 7.0-RELEASE, etc... http://www.freebsd.org/cgi/cvsweb.cgi/src/sys/dev/bge/if_bge.c Further proof older versions did not have support for this card: http://unix.derkeiler.com/Mailing-Lists/FreeBSD/questions/2008-04/msg01343.html 2) Intel 3945ABG wireless card -- appears there is a wpi(4) driver which is specific to this card model, but I believe some people have reported problems with it (not sure what their issues were, just going off of memory of things I'd seen in the past). 3) nVidia 8400M GS video card -- if you plan on using X on this machine[1], I recommend you install the i386 version of FreeBSD and not amd64. The nVidia driver for FreeBSD is known to not work on amd64[2]. If you have large amounts of memory in the machine, i386 will require you use PAE mode, which will probably cause you some pain; yep, the situation isn't user-friendly. Linux wins out here. Based on all of the above, I'd recommend you install one of the FreeBSD 7.0 snapshots, which are newer than 7.0-RELEASE, just to ensure you pick up any wireless card modifications or other fix-ups for stuff that has since been addressed since the release of 7.0: ftp://ftp.freebsd.org/pub/FreeBSD/snapshots/200807/ Also, if/when you reply, please remember to keep the mailing list CC'd so people can see your responses. Just a FYI since this is your first time posting. [1]: I don't use X myself, but I base this comment on what I've read time and time again on the mailing lists. Others can correct me if I'm wrong. [2]: If you're not familiar with FreeBSD, know that amd64 is the name of the 64-bit version of FreeBSD, and does not require an AMD processor. Do not confuse this with ia64, which is something *completely* different and you do not want it. -- | Jeremy Chadwick jdc at parodius.com | | Parodius Networking http://www.parodius.com/ | | UNIX Systems Administrator Mountain View, CA, USA | | Making life hard for others since 1977. PGP: 4BD6C0CB |
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