From owner-freebsd-questions Sat Apr 20 10:54:13 1996 Return-Path: owner-questions Received: (from root@localhost) by freefall.freebsd.org (8.7.3/8.7.3) id KAA21505 for questions-outgoing; Sat, 20 Apr 1996 10:54:13 -0700 (PDT) Received: from ben.britain.eu.net (ben.Britain.EU.net [192.91.199.254]) by freefall.freebsd.org (8.7.3/8.7.3) with SMTP id KAA21500 for ; Sat, 20 Apr 1996 10:54:01 -0700 (PDT) Received: from fennel.compnews.co.uk by ben.britain.eu.net via UKIP with SMTP (PP) id ; Sat, 20 Apr 1996 18:53:14 +0100 Received: from padua.compnews.co.uk by fennel.compnews.co.uk; Sat, 20 Apr 96 18:53:01 BST Message-Id: <23931.9604201752@padua.compnews.co.uk> From: tonyc@compnews.co.uk (Tony Clark) Date: Sat, 20 Apr 1996 18:52:57 +0100 X-Phone-Number: +44 430 432480 X-Fax-Number: +44 430 432458 X-Mailer: Mail User's Shell (7.2.5 10/14/92) To: questions@freebsd.org Subject: Compaq Contura 486 laptop Sender: owner-questions@freebsd.org X-Loop: FreeBSD.org Precedence: bulk I would like to install FreeBSD on my laptop cause i need a much much more stable operating system that Windows 95/OS etc etc.... And been a Unix System Administrator UNIX is the answer :) I have already used/installed/running a freebsd box at our site (as the news server (nntp)) - so i usderstand its pros and cons etc. The following question i need to ask is really compatibility options for freeBSD on my system, i don't want to install FreeBSD to find it doesn't work correctly or that a device on my system is unsupported. With freebsd on a Stand alone PC its easy to purchase the relevant cards that are supported but when you have a laptop its not so easy. Any Advice would be much appricated. QUESTION: Will my laptop support freebsd 2.0.1 ? If not what external devices might i have to purchase ? IBM PCMCIA ethernet controller ? Different PCMCIA modem ? thanx in advance ? ------ MACHINE: Compaq Contura 410C 486 colour laptop Disk Drives:- Generic IDE Disk Type 65 Generic NEC Floppy Disk Display Adaptor:- Western Digital Floopy Disk Controlers:- Compaq Floppy Disk Controller Hard Disk Controllers:- Compaq disk controller Keyboard:- Standard 101/102-Keyboard Modem:- PCMCIA Worldport Miracom 14400 (generic AT command set modem) Monitor:- Laptop Display 640x480 Mouse:- Compaq Internal Trackball (PS/2) Network:- PCMCIA Xircom CE2 Proformance series Ethernet Adaptor PCMCIA Socket:- Compaq PCMCIA Controller Ports (COM & LPT):- Communications Port (COM1) ECP Printer Port (LPT1) System Devices:- Advanced Power Management support Direct memory access controller Motherboard resources Numeric Data processor Plug and Play BIOS Programmable interrupt controller System Board System Board extension for PnP BIOS System CMOS/real time clock System Speaker System Timer (this information was gathered via device control under Windows95) -- Little Tony........ Systems Administrator (PA Data Design)