From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Thu Oct 19 21:44:16 2006 Return-Path: X-Original-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 0480516A412 for ; Thu, 19 Oct 2006 21:44:16 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from xfb52@dial.pipex.com) Received: from smtp-out2.blueyonder.co.uk (smtp-out2.blueyonder.co.uk [195.188.213.5]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 91E8F43D45 for ; Thu, 19 Oct 2006 21:44:14 +0000 (GMT) (envelope-from xfb52@dial.pipex.com) Received: from [172.23.170.145] (helo=anti-virus03-08) by smtp-out2.blueyonder.co.uk with smtp (Exim 4.52) id 1GafgS-0001Kw-TH; Thu, 19 Oct 2006 22:44:12 +0100 Received: from [82.41.32.39] (helo=[192.168.0.2]) by asmtp-out5.blueyonder.co.uk with esmtp (Exim 4.52) id 1GafgR-0002x1-0l; Thu, 19 Oct 2006 22:44:11 +0100 Message-ID: <4537F1AA.4030601@dial.pipex.com> Date: Thu, 19 Oct 2006 22:44:10 +0100 From: Alex Zbyslaw User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; FreeBSD i386; en-GB; rv:1.7.13) Gecko/20060515 X-Accept-Language: en MIME-Version: 1.0 To: Wayne References: <4537DF7E.8070606@xxiii.com> In-Reply-To: <4537DF7E.8070606@xxiii.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Cc: FreeBSD Questions Subject: Re: Recommended Hardware X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Thu, 19 Oct 2006 21:44:16 -0000 Wayne wrote: > If I was going to build or spec' a system, what subset of the > supported hardware is best? I've heard cons, like manufacturer's > apathy or negativity towards FreeBSD. I guess Pros would include > stable, actively developed drivers, consistency and long term > availability of products (unlike manufacturers who release 3 totally > different boards in a year with the same model number!), etc... Pick something you think you like the look of and type in all the various critical components as searches to Google, along with freebsd, or just start by searching the mailing lists You'll discover some reasonable absolutes like sil3112 controllers are rubbish, but otherwise you'll get a variety of opinions. There are no absolutes as everything depends to some extent on the bottom line - how much are you prepared to pay? Also worth checking out sites like tomshardware.com for mainboard reviews etc (if you can face the adverts) and just general googles - usually the detritus rises to the top :-( That strategy will work for building/buying yourself one or two machines. If you're buying a shedload for a machine room somewhere then pick some manufactures like Dell, HP etc, pick the model numbers that interest you and type those in to Google along with freebsd. Those have worked for me so far, and yes, it is labour intensive. --Alex