Date: Thu, 16 Mar 2017 11:30:45 +0100 From: Polytropon <freebsd@edvax.de> To: Ian Smith <smithi@nimnet.asn.au> Cc: Michael Sierchio <kudzu@tenebras.com>, freebsd-questions@freebsd.org, phnxcs_rep@lycos.com Subject: Re: Toshiba A-205 S5880 laptop compatibility Message-ID: <20170316113045.794dbe9b.freebsd@edvax.de> In-Reply-To: <20170316202016.O31244@sola.nimnet.asn.au> References: <mailman.28430.1489625347.4386.freebsd-questions@freebsd.org> <20170316202016.O31244@sola.nimnet.asn.au>
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On Thu, 16 Mar 2017 21:20:13 +1100 (EST), Ian Smith wrote: > In freebsd-questions Digest, Vol 667, Issue 4, Message: 10 > On Wed, 15 Mar 2017 15:20:54 -0700 Michael Sierchio <kudzu@tenebras.com> wrote: > > On Wed, Mar 15, 2017 at 2:48 PM, <phnxcs_rep@lycos.com> 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. I just suggested FreeSBIE as a means of checking _before_ installing with an OS version "of _that_ time"; it comes with GUI and sound and graphics and applications and what not, so its testing results are broader than what you can do with a FreeBSD 10 installation CD and "dmesg". :-) Otherwise, FreeBSD 10 is a good suggestion of what to run on the OS level. I have a similarly equipped Lenovo R61i that even runs Chromium and Firefox without much problems, so I'd even say _that_ kind of software will run fine, too. I didn't want to use Gnome or KDE on that particular machine, so I cannot suggest if those desktop environments will perform sufficiently well... > 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. Both i386 and amd64 will work. Maybe i386 will run a little bit more performant, but amd64 will enable you to benefit from RAM expansion 4+ GB. > 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. A good suggestion. And keep an eye on the memory usage, you'll be surprised that it doesn't get exhausted as quickly as one would assume. But there is _never_ anything wrong with having "more RAM than needed"; i386 will only waste a small percentage if you install 4 GB (as a certain part of the RAM is consumed for the GPU component anyway, I assume), so "no regret" pre- programmed. ;-) -- Polytropon Magdeburg, Germany Happy FreeBSD user since 4.0 Andra moi ennepe, Mousa, ...
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