From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Tue Aug 21 11:39:59 2012 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 6710F1065723 for ; Tue, 21 Aug 2012 11:39:59 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from feenberg@nber.org) Received: from mail2.nber.org (mail2.nber.org [66.251.72.79]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 06E0C8FC0A for ; Tue, 21 Aug 2012 11:39:58 +0000 (UTC) Received: from nber6 (nber6.nber.org [66.251.72.76]) by mail2.nber.org (8.14.4/8.14.4) with ESMTP id q7LBZkqb057166; Tue, 21 Aug 2012 07:35:48 -0400 (EDT) (envelope-from feenberg@nber.org) Date: Tue, 21 Aug 2012 07:27:27 -0400 (EDT) From: Daniel Feenberg X-X-Sender: feenberg@nber6 To: doug@fledge.watson.org In-Reply-To: Message-ID: References: <1552740774.89081.1345522411775.JavaMail.root@mri-mail> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed X-Anti-Virus: Kaspersky Anti-Virus for Linux Mail Server 5.6.39/RELEASE, bases: 20120821 #7754249, check: 20120821 clean Cc: "James D. Parra" , freebsd-questions@freebsd.org, Locksmith Subject: Re: Building a FreeBSD desktop. 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: Tue, 21 Aug 2012 11:39:59 -0000 On Tue, 21 Aug 2012, doug@safeport.com wrote: > > > On Mon, 20 Aug 2012, James D. Parra wrote: > >> I was looking to build a desktop to learn FreeBSD and was wondering if >> there >> is a list of parts to build one or to just look at the hardware >> comparability list? I just don't want to order wrong parts. >> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ >> >> If don't want to make the full commitment to building a desktop, a good way >> to learn about FreeBSD is to install within a virtual machine. Either >> VMWare or VirtualBox will serve you well. >> > If you have a system you want to try you can also check out > http://laptop.bsdgroup.de/freebsd/index.html. That is a great resource for laptops, too bad it isn't mentioned in the Handbook compatibility chapter. We have purchased many desktop motherboards for FreeBSD over the years, from Intel, Gigabyte, ASUS, MSI and others. None mentioned FreeBSD compatibility, none was on any list promising FreeBSD compatibility and none has failed to boot and run well. That said, rarely the onboard ethernet has not been recognized and we had to add a PCI NIC until the next version of FreeBSD included the proper drivers. No NIC has ever been incompatible in our experience. We have not ever tested APM or ACPI, and if you follow the newsgroup you will know that those are sometimes problematic. Notice how few laptops support APM or ACPI with FreeBSD. Also, while onboard video has always worked for us, some people will notice that the drivers do not always provide the full performance available in Windows. We have not found the Handbook compatibility list very helpful. The list is mostly by chip, which card vendors don't mention in their literature. It would be nice to see a list of currently available products, by retail model number. That doesn't exist as far as I can tell. So it comes down mostly to your feelings about those issues. If you will be upset by less than optimal 3D graphics perforance, there is a risk. Otherwise, don't worry. But why order parts? If you want to learn FreeBSD, just take any old windows box and install FreeBSD over the existing windows install. It will work fine and won't cost you anything. daniel feenberg