From owner-freebsd-mobile Tue Nov 5 9:52:38 2002 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 3433537B401 for ; Tue, 5 Nov 2002 09:52:36 -0800 (PST) Received: from postal3.es.net (postal3.es.net [198.128.3.207]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 7539B43E75 for ; Tue, 5 Nov 2002 09:52:35 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from oberman@es.net) Received: from ptavv.es.net ([198.128.4.29]) by postal3.es.net (Postal Node 3) with ESMTP id MUA74016; Tue, 05 Nov 2002 09:52:34 -0800 Received: from ptavv (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by ptavv.es.net (Tachyon Server) with ESMTP id 971C15D04; Tue, 5 Nov 2002 09:52:33 -0800 (PST) To: Mike Harding Cc: freebsd-mobile@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Laptop 'short list'? In-reply-to: Your message of "Tue, 05 Nov 2002 06:47:19 PST." <20021105144719.ADE431310B@netcom1.netcom.com> Date: Tue, 05 Nov 2002 09:52:33 -0800 From: "Kevin Oberman" Message-Id: <20021105175233.971C15D04@ptavv.es.net> Sender: owner-freebsd-mobile@FreeBSD.ORG Precedence: bulk List-ID: List-Archive: (Web Archive) List-Help: (List Instructions) List-Subscribe: List-Unsubscribe: X-Loop: FreeBSD.org > From: Mike Harding > Date: Tue, 5 Nov 2002 06:47:19 -0800 (PST) > Sender: owner-freebsd-mobile@FreeBSD.ORG > > > I don't currently have a laptop, but I need to get one soon. I'll > probably be running XP/FreeBSD dual boot. I haven't found much into > on the web, sorry about bothering the list. Had a few questions: > > - What are some good laptops for FreeBSD? By this I mean > - installs > - suspend and resume work (or whatever power functions, I don't know > if suspend to disk is supported) > - 3d Video is supported (maybe) meaning non-nvidia, right? > - The ultra-lightweights have some appeal to me, I don't know that > I'm looking to replace my desktop, so the really small laptops > seem nice, unless they're not usable for extended periods because > of a small screen or keyboard. > > Any stores that have good stock? I haven't really been able to look > at laptops. Any good deals out there? > > Also, how much memory should I get for XP? I know that it's a pig - I > will be using powerpoint, but mostly just Office. My group just bought new laptops late last summer. We decided that we wanted two spindle systems with hi-res displays and as light as possible. We selected IBM T30s with 14.1 inch 1400x1050 displays and built-in wireless and 10/100 Ethernet. (They have BlueTooth, too, but I have no use for it.) It's very fast. I love the box, even if it's not very sexy looking. It is blazingly fast with a 1.8 GHz CPU and good I/O so that I have done a 4.7 buildworld in under 25 minutes. (Very few tests of overall system performance are really more diverse than a buildworld.) And, at 4.5 pounds, it's not too heavy. APM support is good with V4. I'll have to try current on it some day to see how well the ACPI stuff works. If you create a hibernate partition it will hibernate, suspend and resume. Power management stuff (like performance, screen brightness, and disk spin-down all work. The wireless card I have (Intel branded, but actually Intersil) works with the wi driver with no tweaks. Likewise the Intel 10/100 card (fxp). You can also get the Cisco WI-Fi card, but I have no experience with it. Sound worked with minimal kernel set-up. X setup was easy using the -config option to the X server to create an initial configuration. There is a bug in the ATI/Radeon driver in 4.2.1 which causes come clipping problems that can be fixed by using the CVS drivers. This applies to ANY laptop with a Radeon card. CD/DVD seem to work fine. I have played movies and audio as well al installing FreeBSD from CD and burning ISO 9660 disks. I am looking forward to support for UDF in current so I can do packet operations, but writing UDF is not even in current yet. (This is a universal problem for FreeBSD.) And it's FAST! Problems: 1. The modem in the new Agre WinModem which still lacks a driver. I understand that support is being worked on, but I have no idea when it will arrive. It seems that almost all new laptops are coming with this WinModem, so I expect that someone will get it working before long, almost certainly by building shims to the Agre supplied Linux driver. 2. BIOS settings can be partly accomplished at boot-up time, but many most options must be set up using the IBM PS2 utility which requires Windows, DOS, or a bootable floppy. (And the T30 does not have a floppy and requires a port replicator to plug one in.) 3. The display and BIOS are not a very happy match. The drivers in Windows and APM seem to interact in some manner to make things work cleanly and I am hoping for IBM to fix BIOS so the OS need not get involved. If the display is turned off, it will not re-sync when turned back on. IT can be synced by switching to a text screen (CRTL-ALT-F2) before turning off. If it has turned off in graphics mode, switch to text mode and use to turn the display off. Press ,Shift> to turn the display on and go back to graphics mode (. The latter problem is the most annoying and the one I'd most like to see fixed, but it may be a while as IBM has to do it. Linux has made tweaks to the APM code to work around it and I am looking at ways to do the same thing in FreeBSD, but the APM code is VERY different and the Linux code is far more complex, so I may not succeed. Still, I am very happy with the box. (Did I mention that it is FAST?) R. Kevin Oberman, Network Engineer Energy Sciences Network (ESnet) Ernest O. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) E-mail: oberman@es.net Phone: +1 510 486-8634 To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-mobile" in the body of the message