Date: Tue, 21 Feb 2012 16:44:10 +0100 From: Polytropon <freebsd@edvax.de> To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Cc: Da Rock <freebsd-questions@herveybayaustralia.com.au> Subject: Re: Hardware compatibility Message-ID: <20120221164410.447b4676.freebsd@edvax.de> In-Reply-To: <4F42E911.1010202@herveybayaustralia.com.au> References: <CAPoQBCiKje8XywWsBp8k=Mb_Nq9CYyKuLUut05b2DBxG2n1rUA@mail.gmail.com> <20120220203515.185b038d.freebsd@edvax.de> <4F42E911.1010202@herveybayaustralia.com.au>
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On Tue, 21 Feb 2012 10:45:05 +1000, Da Rock wrote: > To the OP, check the pages Polytropon has linked here, but the chances > of getting exactly that are nil to impossible. I've run about 6 or more > laptops now without too much trouble. The biggest problems were > wireless, but that was the bad old days... most support is there now > thanks to Adrianns work. Today's problems seem to be suspend/resume/hibernate (all the variations of "it's not switched on, but also not switched off entirely") and some specific sorts of wireless devices. > Having a live disk is not likely to help for several reasons: > 1. there aren't really the tools to see if something will actually work > in a production environment (unless pc-bsd have a disc I don't know > about). For instance, wifi maybe recognised but not actually work and > error like crazy only once you start to use it. The main idea of using such a system is to most precisely determine the _present_ hardware to allow further investigations (e. g. web searches and mailing list questions). The OS from disc or stick can help to identify the hardware. If you're running a live file system from a USB stick, you can do things like: # dmesg # pciconf -lv # usbconfig # sysctl -a If you start the system by "boot -v" (verbose logging), dmesg will contain some more lines than usual. If you have a USB stick, you can easily save the output of those commands to persistent files. If you have X in the mix, you can also check the support for the display and obtain other information that might be important later on (especially GPU info): # glxinfo # xvinfo Log files worth saving are in /var/log, as well as Xorg.0.log for X-related things. If you prepare some programs, you can also do some testing, e. g. multimedia, gaming, 3D support, networking and so on. > 2. The BIOS will get in your way - see recent thread regarding samsung > laptop not installing. I don't think the salespeople will let you play > with that either. Depends. If you're interested in buying one of the more expensive ones, they will offer you a "test ride" which includes that you have a look at the CMOS setup (which is something very typical for you as an IT professional). You can say: "The BIOS is defective, it doesn't allow me to boot a standard OS. Let's see... for 100$ less, I would still do you a favour and buy it." :-) > If you do this *and* get it to boot, you want to get a copy of pciconf > -lv which will give you the best idea on whats what. You may be able to > use a linux live disk (if you can get it to boot) to accomplish this better. USB sticks seem to be the best solution as they can allow you to store files (as the results of your investigation). -- Polytropon Magdeburg, Germany Happy FreeBSD user since 4.0 Andra moi ennepe, Mousa, ...
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