From owner-freebsd-mobile@FreeBSD.ORG Thu May 8 09:43:23 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 B183A37B405 for ; Thu, 8 May 2003 09:43:23 -0700 (PDT) Received: from msgbas1x.cos.agilent.com (msgbas1x.cos.agilent.com [192.25.240.36]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 69D8143FBD for ; Thu, 8 May 2003 09:43:22 -0700 (PDT) (envelope-from darrylo@soco.agilent.com) Received: from relcos2.cos.agilent.com (relcos2.cos.agilent.com [130.29.152.237]) by msgbas1x.cos.agilent.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id 1193C170F0; Thu, 8 May 2003 10:43:22 -0600 (MDT) Received: from mina.soco.agilent.com (mina.soco.agilent.com [141.121.54.157]) by relcos2.cos.agilent.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id ACEFF655; Thu, 8 May 2003 10:43:21 -0600 (MDT) Received: from mina.soco.agilent.com (darrylo@localhost [127.0.0.1]) SMKit7.1.1_Agilent) with ESMTP id JAA27320; Thu, 8 May 2003 09:43:21 -0700 (PDT) Message-Id: <200305081643.JAA27320@mina.soco.agilent.com> To: jesse@wingnet.net In-Reply-To: Your message of "Wed, 07 May 2003 12:19:11 EDT." Mime-Version: 1.0 (generated by tm-edit 1.7) Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Date: Thu, 08 May 2003 09:43:20 -0700 From: Darryl Okahata cc: freebsd-mobile@freebsd.org Subject: Re: ideal laptop recommendations? X-BeenThere: freebsd-mobile@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list Reply-To: Darryl Okahata List-Id: Mobile computing with FreeBSD List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Thu, 08 May 2003 16:43:24 -0000 "Jesse D. Guardiani" wrote: > How long have you had the Thinkpad? And do you know where I might purchase > one besides On-line? (Bestbuy and Circuit City don't carry them) I've had it since mid-January or so. Sorry, I don't know of any brick-and-mortar stores that carry them. Just to give a more balanced view (lest others think that we're all IBM zealots), my Thinkpad A31 is a nice, solid notebook, but it's not completely without issues/problems: * The A31 does not come with a floppy. You can get an external floppy, but it's an USB floppy. This is not an issue for me (I can still boot from CDROM), but it's an issue for some. * If you want to dual-boot Windows and FreeBSD, and still keep the special IBM software that allows you to quickly reinstall Windows from an hidden partition (it's very nice), you'll have to specially-install FreeBSD, as the IBM software appears to use a "boot track" instead of a "boot sector". The normal FreeBSD approach of installing a new boot sector *will* screw things up (for the IBM software, not FreeBSD). Note that you don't have to preserve the IBM software. You can always wipe the disk clean and install FreeBSD onto the entire disk. It's only if you want to dual-boot where this becomes a problem. And, it's definitely an issue, as some (many? most? all?) Thinkpads DO NOT COME WITH WINDOWS RECOVERY CDROMS. Unless you pay extra ($20-$30???) and order the recovery CDROMs from IBM (I think they're "free" if you get them within the first 30 days after getting a Thinkpad), the only way to "reinstall" windows is via the special recovery partition (and using it REQUIRES an intact/unchanged boot sector). [ Just to clarify: you can't change the code in the boot sector, but you can change the partition table. You can resize partitions and repartition the disk, but you must not replace the boot code if you want to keep the IBM recovery software. If you don't care about the recovery software, you can, of course, blow away the boot sector and replace it with something else. ] Here's a procedure for making an IBM A31 Thinkpad dual-bootable: http://www.freebsd.org/cgi/getmsg.cgi?fetch=70352+75495+/usr/local/www/db/text/2003/freebsd-mobile/20030413.freebsd-mobile * With 5.0-RELEASE, ACPI is broken. I haven't tried the latest -current with the recent ACPI updates, however, although I am using the latest IBM A31 BIOS. * APM seems to work, but there are issues: I can't get the laptop to hibernate (suspend-to-disk), and suspending from X11 causes the resume to "hang" (LCD display becomes "blotchy" without displaying any text or graphics). The latter is possibly fixed with newer versions of XFree86 (I'm using 4.2.1, and need to upgrade), and the workaround is to switch to a vty before suspending. [ For some people, using a kernel with "options SC_NO_SUSPEND_VTYSWITCH" fixes the "suspend from X11" problem for them. It does not work for me. ] * Under WinXP pro (ick), disconnecting the AC while the laptop is going into suspend mode (suspend-to-RAM, not disk) seems to eventually result in an OS crash/hang. The laptop may (or may not) successfully resume, but a crash/hang seems to occur eventually. [ I can't help but wonder if this is an ACPI issue. ] * Under WinXP pro (ick), there is a feature where the laptop will go into hibernation (suspend-to-disk) if it's been in suspend mode (suspend-to-RAM) for a specified period of time. This seems to work only if the suspend mode was entered while the battery was being used; if the suspend is entered while on AC, the hibernation does not occur (but, it does seem that a forced hibernation does occur when the batteries are just about drained). -- Darryl Okahata darrylo@soco.agilent.com DISCLAIMER: this message is the author's personal opinion and does not constitute the support, opinion, or policy of Agilent Technologies, or of the little green men that have been following him all day.