From owner-freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Wed Mar 30 13:58:14 2016 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 DA30DAE370E for ; Wed, 30 Mar 2016 13:58:14 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from galtsev@kicp.uchicago.edu) Received: from cosmo.uchicago.edu (cosmo.uchicago.edu [128.135.70.90]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id BB19C1288 for ; Wed, 30 Mar 2016 13:58:14 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from galtsev@kicp.uchicago.edu) Received: by cosmo.uchicago.edu (Postfix, from userid 48) id 285F0CB8CDC; Wed, 30 Mar 2016 08:58:08 -0500 (CDT) Received: from 128.135.52.6 (SquirrelMail authenticated user valeri) by cosmo.uchicago.edu with HTTP; Wed, 30 Mar 2016 08:58:08 -0500 (CDT) Message-ID: <16137.128.135.52.6.1459346288.squirrel@cosmo.uchicago.edu> In-Reply-To: References: <56FB5230.2070703@holgerdanske.com> Date: Wed, 30 Mar 2016 08:58:08 -0500 (CDT) Subject: Re: Recommended laptop for FreeBSD 10.2 Xfce workstation? From: "Valeri Galtsev" To: "Felix Friedlander" Cc: "David Christensen" , freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Reply-To: galtsev@kicp.uchicago.edu User-Agent: SquirrelMail/1.4.8-5.el5.centos.7 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain;charset=iso-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit X-Priority: 3 (Normal) Importance: Normal X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.21 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Wed, 30 Mar 2016 13:58:14 -0000 On Tue, March 29, 2016 11:35 pm, Felix Friedlander wrote: > >> On 30 Mar 2016, at 15:12, David Christensen >> wrote: >> >> freebsd-questions: >> >> Thank you for the replies so far. :-) >> >> >> Is there such a thing as a "reference laptop" that FreeBSD is developed >> and validated against? > > No. At least, not that I’ve ever heard of. > > Alternative answer: whatever the developers happen to be using at the time > :-) > >> Failing that, I'm going to lower the bar and ask if there are *any* >> laptops that meet my basic needs OOTB: >> >> I'm looking for a new or used laptop that is known to work >> correctly with FreeBSD 10.2, Xfce, Firefox, Thunderbird, (whatever >> free) Office, etc., plus encryption and virtualisation. > > > I think what might be helpful would be a list of what *not* to buy. > Here’s what I’ve found: > > * Broadcom wireless cards are a no-go. (Broadcom Ethernet is fine though.) > * Stay away from Skylake at the moment if you want maximal hardware > support. Most issues will probably be fixed over time, but right now > it’s not quite perfect. > * Several laptops have EFI implementations known to cause problems - look > before you buy. > > Other than this, FreeBSD has played fairly OK with most laptop hardware > I’ve tried. > > Anyone want to add to this? To add to "NO-NO" or rather "not yet" list: Intel 7xxx WiFi (Intel additions to WiFi stack (?) necessary for 7xxx series didn't make it into FreeBSD yet). I would also add 6xxx series as "maybe" - it is described as it works, but I didn't make it work for myself (yet; didn't have much chance to put effort into that). As far as Intel WiFi is concerned, here is the list of what is supported: https://www.freebsd.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=iwn&apropos=0&sektion=4&manpath=FreeBSD+11-current&arch=default&format=html Valeri > > -- > Felix Friedlander > > ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Valeri Galtsev Sr System Administrator Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics Kavli Institute for Cosmological Physics University of Chicago Phone: 773-702-4247 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++