Skip site navigation (1)Skip section navigation (2)
Date:      Sat, 18 Feb 2017 16:34:08 -0500
From:      Sergei Akhmatdinov <sakhmatd@inventati.org>
To:        freebsd-questions@freebsd.org
Cc:        David Christensen <dpchrist@holgerdanske.com>
Subject:   Re: Laptop recommendation
Message-ID:  <20170218213408.6ftvgiy7j5gwzxvt@silverbeast>
In-Reply-To: <140316c2-a061-de66-7e1f-212ac88f235e@holgerdanske.com>
References:  <CAA3eX7Z4zaEu%2BpAoJSYmCDs-TPSYMasutU6Y0Bk9Wq_gG2zNbA@mail.gmail.com> <140316c2-a061-de66-7e1f-212ac88f235e@holgerdanske.com>

next in thread | previous in thread | raw e-mail | index | archive | help

--hb5jcx6eddfnw5zl
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Disposition: inline
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable

> When I bought my laptop back in 2007, I blew it -- it has a wireless
> networking card with a Broadcom chipset that is not FOSS-friendly. Debian
> has a work-around using proprietary firmware, but I would prefer a laptop
> with 100% FOSS-supported hardware.

Perhaps I am going off on a tangent, but most of the time you can buy
an Aetheros card online and replace it.

I currently use 11-STABLE on an Acer Inspire V3-571. It comes with
some Broadcom card preinstalled, but I swapped it out for an
Aetheros AR9285.

Once the wireless networking card is replaced, everything else works
out of the box in STABLE. RELEASE currently lacks full Elantech
touchpad support. Suspend to RAM works too, suspend to disk doesn't,
but I hardly ever use suspend anyway.

> Probably the best strategy is to boot a live CD of your FOSS of choice on
> whatever computer you are considering buying, and then take a look at dme=
sg,
> etc.. Typically, this limits your purchasing options to the local geograp=
hic
> market.  But, you might be able to find a savvy eBay seller who will send
> you dmesg output.

With FreeBSD, suspend support is still one of the big questions,
so I would check that when doing a live CD test.

> This is not a new question.  Over the years, people have tried starting
> businesses dealing in hardware for FOSS and/or existing businesses have
> offered products with FOSS.  They never seem to last.  STFW and see what =
you
> can find currently.

Why, the businesses that do that still exist. Minifree and System76
come to mind. The problem is that you will be severely overpaying
for what they offer.

Cheers,
--=20
Sergei Akhmatdinov

My GPG public key:
gpg --keyserver pgp.mit.edu --recv-keys AD800D99

--hb5jcx6eddfnw5zl
Content-Type: application/pgp-signature; name="signature.asc"

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
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=am15
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

--hb5jcx6eddfnw5zl--



Want to link to this message? Use this URL: <https://mail-archive.FreeBSD.org/cgi/mid.cgi?20170218213408.6ftvgiy7j5gwzxvt>