From owner-freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Thu Mar 16 10:20:40 2017 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@mailman.ysv.freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:1900:2254:206a::19:1]) by mailman.ysv.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 7169DD0E469 for ; Thu, 16 Mar 2017 10:20:40 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from smithi@nimnet.asn.au) Received: from sola.nimnet.asn.au (paqi.nimnet.asn.au [115.70.110.159]) (using TLSv1 with cipher DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA (256/256 bits)) (Client did not present a certificate) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id C133A1BD7 for ; Thu, 16 Mar 2017 10:20:38 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from smithi@nimnet.asn.au) Received: from localhost (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by sola.nimnet.asn.au (8.14.2/8.14.2) with ESMTP id v2GAKDGT064256; Thu, 16 Mar 2017 21:20:14 +1100 (EST) (envelope-from smithi@nimnet.asn.au) Date: Thu, 16 Mar 2017 21:20:13 +1100 (EST) From: Ian Smith To: Michael Sierchio cc: phnxcs_rep@lycos.com, Polytropon , freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Toshiba A-205 S5880 laptop compatibility In-Reply-To: Message-ID: <20170316202016.O31244@sola.nimnet.asn.au> References: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.23 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Thu, 16 Mar 2017 10:20:40 -0000 In freebsd-questions Digest, Vol 667, Issue 4, Message: 10 On Wed, 15 Mar 2017 15:20:54 -0700 Michael Sierchio wrote: > On Wed, Mar 15, 2017 at 2:48 PM, wrote: > > I have an older Toshiba laptop and a (store bought) copy of FreeBSD 3.4 > > and wonder if these two would play well together. The software is dated > > January 2000 and I bought the laptop new in November 2008. > > > > > Wrong question - that version is likely too old for your hardware. For the > love of all that is holy and good in the universe, use a > currently-supported version. 3.4 was EOL in 1999! Definitely! FreeBSD 10 should run fine on this machine. And I tend to disagree with one part of Polytropon's otherwise fine assessment; this should have no trouble at all on recent FreeBSD, I wouldn't bother with FreeSBIE. Seems FreeBSD 7.0 was out around when this machine was new: ftp://ftp-archive.freebsd.org/pub/FreeBSD-Archive/old-releases/amd64 Here's one good page I found of its specs: http://gadgetaz.com/Laptop/Toshiba_Satellite_A205-S5880--2339 > https://download.freebsd.org/ftp/releases/amd64/amd64/ISO-IMAGES/10.3/FreeBSD-10.3-RELEASE-amd64-memstick.img.xz On the OP's summary I was going to suggest the i386 version instead .. > > Toshiba Satellite A-205 S5880 > > Intel Pentium Dual 1.86 GHz CPU (T2390) > > 3 GB RAM > > 32 Bit > > 184 GB HD (NTFS) > > CD/DVD .. but you're right, Michael; the T2390 is 64 bit, dual core, non-HT. http://ark.intel.com/products/35153/Intel-Pentium-Processor-T2390-1M-Cache-1_86-GHz-533-MHz-FSB That aspect was rather confusing on the Toshiba website, because they shipped it with only 32-bit Vista and were being generally ambivalent about 64-bit for it. To the OP: I wouldn't download the .xz version unless you already have an xz decompresor. The plain memstick.ing is only ~760MB. In fact, as it has a DVD reader/burner, I'd tend to suggest the DVD version, which includes installing basic packages for xorg and KDE, to get you started with a graphical environment, eg the above URL or at: ftp://ftp2.au.freebsd.org/pub/FreeBSD/releases/amd64/amd64/ISO-IMAGES/10.3/ and chose the -memstick.ing or FreeBSD-10.3-RELEASE-amd64-dvd1.iso I expect you could use its existing Vista to burn a DVD for it? According to the Toshiba specs PDF, it also has 'Atheros 802.11b/g wireless-LAN', which has a pretty good chance of working with 10.3. The best (and nowadays pretty cheap) upgrade you could do would be to replace the 1GB RAM in one slot with another 2GB chip, for 4GB RAM. cheers, Ian