Date: Wed, 4 Aug 2010 17:29:05 +0530 From: Mubeesh ali <mubeeshalivm@gmail.com> To: David Wolfskill <david@catwhisker.org> Cc: freebsd-mobile@freebsd.org Subject: Re: free bsd on laptops Message-ID: <AANLkTikJiAyCEx11-hPLv4gEoEkyXTjnpZ2Y3yR=apHy@mail.gmail.com> In-Reply-To: <20100804112234.GY12818@albert.catwhisker.org> References: <AANLkTikftz1cm50BM6M6rTrGMqt1S4WnzmbG%2BGgWeidd@mail.gmail.com> <20100804112234.GY12818@albert.catwhisker.org>
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Hi , Thanks david for your detailed reply. I hope these would work in a bsd laptop: ATI or NVIDIA graphics card hibernate or suspend functionality touchpad built in wireless card mostly Intel dot11 N wireless cards datacard ;make qualcomm (bsnl evdo mmx 300 ) thanks, Mubeesh On Wed, Aug 4, 2010 at 4:52 PM, David Wolfskill <david@catwhisker.org>wrote: > On Wed, Aug 04, 2010 at 03:25:41PM +0530, Mubeesh ali wrote: > > Hi , > > > > I am looking for suggestions on buying laptops for exclusively running > > free bsd . Please advise if we should specifically avoid certain > wireless > > or graphics cards which have less or no support in bsd, Any good vendor > > suggestion with good bsd support for hardware will also be helpful. As > of > > now i am running free bsd in vmware to learn it. > > > > > > Please excuse if this was a wrong mailing list or if this was not an > > appropriate question here. This is my first email to the list. > > The match between topic & list is fine, but you will likely get better > results if you list (and prioritize) requirements of which you are > aware. > > I'll list below some thoughts I've had on *my* requirements for a laptop > that runs FreeBSD exclusively, so you have a startinig-point. I don't > expect that your requirements will match mine, but the list should help > you get started on thinking in terms of your requirements: > > Requirements for laptop > > * Only OS on it will be FreeBSD, so FreeBSD needs to run well on it. > > * Physical screen resolution of at least 1600x1200. > > * Needs to be capable of using 2 batteries at the same time (so a > battery may be swapped out while it's running), which must be > initerchangeable. It would be best if it were to drain one battery > before switching to the other. > > * Needs a touchpad-type pointing device. > > * Must be able to be configured to remain active with the lid closed. > And must be able to cool itself adequately during a "make buildworld" > with the lid closed -- with a suitable -j value for the machine in > question. > > * Primary critical workload is rebuilding FreeBSD & ports; a machine > that is faster at this is better than one that is slower (other > things being equal). > > * Need a working port for serial console. > > * Prefer built-in wlan & wired NICs. > > * Prefer working DRI. > > * Should be quiet in normal operation. > > * It would be nice if devices attached via a docking station were > usable. > > Background: My laptop is my primary "desktop" (i.e., user-facing) > environment; other machines I use are normally rather more focused > on specific applications, while the laptop runs everything I'm > interested in. > > My "present laptop" is somewhat of a nebulous concept, as it started out > as a Dell Inspiron 8200, and I've been "maintaining" the hardware by > buying > used, working laptops (one Inspiron 8200; one Dell Latitude C840) and > cannibalizing/swapping parts -- with an occasional supplement from new > commodity parts (RAM; disk drive) or purchased spares (keyboard -- I > wear them out). It has: > > * 1600x1200 screen (UXGA) > * CPU: Mobile Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 - M CPU 2.40GHz > * ATi Radeon RV250 [Mobility FireGL 9000] rev 1 video (as a daughter > card) with 64MB video RAM. > * A serial port that I had used as a serial console until I fried it. > * Samsung CD-RW/DVD-ROM SN-324B/U101> CDRW drive > * disk: 114473MB <FUJITSU MHV2120AH 000000A0 supports UDMA100 > * wlan is miniPCI iwi0: <Intel(R) PRO/Wireless 2200BG> (at the moment) > * wired NIC is xl0: <3Com 3c905C-TX Fast Etherlink XL> > * Has both trackpoint & touchpad > * Has 2 PCcard slots > * 1 Firewire port > * 1 external monitor port > > Under FreeBSD 4.x (yes, I've had (an instantiation of) it since > before 6.x was branched), I could be running FreeBSD, and pressing > the chord Fn+F1 would bring the machine into the "BiOS setup" mode > (asme as hitting F2 early in boot sequence), and escaping from that > allowed FreeBSD to continue running. That hasn't worked since 6.x > -- probably a result of ACPI vs. APM, I'm guessing. > > Under FreeBSD 6.x (IIRC), devices (disk drives; PCI devices) on the > docking station were also recognized, but that didn't work under > 7.x or later last I checked (several months ago). > > The laptop seems to lose its mouse now & then; I hacked around this by > setting the HOOKRESUME & INITAFTERSUSPEND flags in device.hints, so if > it looses the mouse, I suspend (to RAM), then resume -- and the mouse is > back. > > Also, unlike my desired configuration, the current laptop appears to > drain the batteries (if more than one is available) concurrently, thus > minimizing the probability that a battery may be safely swapped when > it's low and the machine is running. (I suppose I could hack around > this by normally only having a single battery available, and when it > gets low -- assuming(!) that I realize this at an appropriate time -- > plug a fresh battery in the other bay....) > > Further, I have the laptop configured to boot from each of its 4 > slices, and each slice boots a version of FreeBSD. For a while, I > had the slices booting: > > 1 FreeBSD stable/6 (6-STABLE) > 2 FreeBSD stable/7 (7-STABLE) > 3 FreeBSD stable/8 (8-STABLE) > 4 FreeBSD head (9.0-CURRENT) > > I also have private mirrors of the FreeBSD SVN and CVS repositories > on it (updated overnight), and track changes to the versions of > FreeBSD that I run on a daily basis. I also update the installed > ports on a daily basis. (I only have one instantiation of each > port installed, under the lowest-numbered version of FreeBSD that > I run. I depnd on the misc/compat* ports to be able to use the > ports under later versions of FreeBSD.) > > About 3 or 4 months ago, I stopped tracking stable/6, and no longer > run it. I expect that within the month, I will stop tracking (and > running) stable/7, as well. (The big hold-up there will be rebuilding > all of the ports under stable/8: it takes a long time to do -- I > have about 870 ports installed, some of which take a long time all > by themselves.) > > The approach allows me to compare behavior of different versions > of FreeBSD on the same hardware, which I find useful. > > I generally start the builds early in the morning; it is usual for > the final build (that of CURRENT) to continue as I begin my commute > into work. With the exception of 2-5 days/month (when I have evening > meetings or the like, so I drive in), that involves a car ride down > to the train station (10 minutes), catching a train (20 minute > ride), then catching light rail (23 minute ride), then walking for > a few minutes -- door-to-door, about an hour if all goes well. > During this time, the laptop: > > * Is nearly always entirely on battery power. > > * Is running -- indeed, it's doing things such as "make buildworld", > which uses battery power a bit more rapidly than most typical > desktop-type applications. > > * Is subject to a fair amount of jostling and vibration. If I ever get > around to cycling part of the way, it's likely to be subject to a > great deal more vibration. And I wouldn't be able to damp the > vibration with my hands (for example). > > * Needs to be able to shed excess heat -- while being protected against > the above-cited vibration. > > > [And att this point, I'm still pretty much stuck with using my old > laptop -- I can't find a new one that even meets the screen-resolution > requirement for me.] > > Peace, > david > -- > David H. Wolfskill david@catwhisker.org > Depriving a girl or boy of an opportunity for education is evil. > > See http://www.catwhisker.org/~david/publickey.gpg<http://www.catwhisker.org/%7Edavid/publickey.gpg>for my public key. >
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