From owner-freebsd-mobile Fri Mar 8 7:20: 4 2002 Delivered-To: freebsd-mobile@freebsd.org Received: from mail19a.dulles19-verio.com (mail19a.dulles19-verio.com [161.58.134.133]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with SMTP id 1477337B400 for ; Fri, 8 Mar 2002 07:19:49 -0800 (PST) Received: from 198.104.176.109 (198.104.176.109) by mail19a.dulles19-verio.com (RS ver 1.0.60s) with SMTP id 036849662; Fri, 8 Mar 2002 10:18:45 -0500 (EST) Message-ID: <3C88D5D2.A718A09F@pythonemproject.com> Date: Fri, 08 Mar 2002 07:16:34 -0800 From: Rob X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.76 [en] (X11; U; FreeBSD 4.5-STABLE i386) X-Accept-Language: en MIME-Version: 1.0 To: ElephantChild Cc: freebsd-mobile@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Opinions requested: FreeBSD-stable and Sony Vaio FXA series References: Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Loop-Detect: 1 Sender: owner-freebsd-mobile@FreeBSD.ORG Precedence: bulk List-ID: List-Archive: (Web Archive) List-Help: (List Instructions) List-Subscribe: List-Unsubscribe: X-Loop: FreeBSD.org Hi, I have what was the top-of-the-line FX-290 (1GHz P3, 30G HD, 15" screen). It is dual boot Win2K and FBSD. My only FBSD complaint is that I can only get VESA sized console, and then with special kernel params. But other than that sound works very well. I haven't tried the CD burner yet, but it is recognized by the OS. I use the built in ethernet, and printing is no problem either. My main complaint with this unit was that Sony bypassed Win2k and went right to Windows XP support. So it took months to get all of the Win2k drivers and utilities. Also, I use it for Python programming and found that Win2K runs Python 50% or more faster than FreeBSD :( Rob. ElephantChild wrote: > > I searched the -questions, -hardware, and -mobile archives and saw many > mentions of Vaios, some of them discouraging, most encouraging, but none > that mention that model specifically. (there's a semblance of specs at > http://www.sonystyle.com/vaio/fxaseries/specs.shtml.) > > I plan to use that one as a dual-boot 'doze+FreeBSD-stable machne, and I'd > like to hear about any stories, good or bad, that you may have about it or > its components. I saw that the graphics chipset seems to work under XF86 > (on other Vaio models), and I suspect that the internal modem is a *spit* > winmodem and thus won't work, but it says nothing about the CPU and MB/bus > chipset. I also saw caveats about (lack of) ACPI support in -stable, and > about PCI interrupt vs. polling configuration traps, and about incomplete > support for the sorta-kinda fxp ethernet interface that other Vaios use > (and which may not be what this one uses - specs don't say.) OTOH, I saw > lots of (apparently successful) suggestions for daling w/ some of those on > other models. > > I'm prepared, if necessary, to show up at a dealer w/ FreeBSD boot CD in > hand and see what dmesg and the partition editor say, and or to ask > salescritters, but I thought I'd ask here first, as the answers will > probably be more helpful. Horror stories, pointers, clue stick > applications, or suggestions to ask on -questions or -hardware gratefully > accepted. > > Thanks in advance. > > To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org > with "unsubscribe freebsd-mobile" in the body of the message -- The Numeric Python EM Project www.pythonemproject.com To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-mobile" in the body of the message