From owner-freebsd-mobile@FreeBSD.ORG Tue Nov 18 19:06:22 2003 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-mobile@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 8F90116A4CE for ; Tue, 18 Nov 2003 19:06:22 -0800 (PST) Received: from mail.speakeasy.net (mail7.speakeasy.net [216.254.0.207]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 89CC343FD7 for ; Tue, 18 Nov 2003 19:06:21 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from msmith@code-fu.com) Received: (qmail 11052 invoked from network); 19 Nov 2003 03:06:21 -0000 Received: from unknown (HELO code-fu.com) ([66.92.151.60]) (envelope-sender )encrypted SMTP for ; 19 Nov 2003 03:06:21 -0000 Message-ID: <3FBADE2E.8050803@code-fu.com> Date: Tue, 18 Nov 2003 22:06:22 -0500 From: "Michael A. Smith" User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; FreeBSD i386; en-US; rv:1.5) Gecko/20031109 X-Accept-Language: en-us, en MIME-Version: 1.0 To: timopie@dodo.com.au, freebsd-mobile@freebsd.org Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Subject: Re: BSD support? X-BeenThere: freebsd-mobile@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list List-Id: Mobile computing with FreeBSD List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Wed, 19 Nov 2003 03:06:22 -0000 > I am patiently saving money to purchase a laptop, hopefully by the end > of this year. I would like to know if there are any laptop > manufacturers that specificially support BSD, and by supporting they > choose specific default hardware configurations that will give the > least problems on BSD. I have a bottom-of-the-line Sony Vaio (PCG-FX101). I got it new a few years ago (it's a Celeron 600). I installed FreeBSD on it the day I brought it home and it's been great. It was the cheapest Vaio I could get, and doesn't have too many bells and whistles (no memory stick, but it's got UBS and FireWire, etc...). Video was never a problem. Sound was supported in the FreeBSD version released just after I bought it. I'm running 4.9-STABLE on it now and everything's supported but the modem (it sees the FireWire bus, but I've never used it). I'd suggest looking for slightly older hardware -- stuff that's in the middle of the price range or lower. It has a better chance of being supported, and is cheaper. I'd definitely recommend my Vaio. -- Michael A. Smith Programmer at Large