From owner-freebsd-mobile Tue Dec 7 12:48:35 1999 Delivered-To: freebsd-mobile@freebsd.org Received: from palrel3.hp.com (palrel3.hp.com [156.153.255.226]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 31B2914D49 for ; Tue, 7 Dec 1999 12:48:33 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from darrylo@sr.hp.com) Received: from postal.sr.hp.com (root@postal.sr.hp.com [15.4.46.173]) by palrel3.hp.com (8.8.6 (PHNE_17135)/8.8.5tis) with ESMTP id MAA02349; Tue, 7 Dec 1999 12:48:11 -0800 (PST) Received: from mina.sr.hp.com (root@mina.sr.hp.com [15.4.42.247]) by postal.sr.hp.com with ESMTP (8.8.6 (PHNE_17190)/8.7.3 TIS 5.0) id MAA29368; Tue, 7 Dec 1999 12:48:31 -0800 (PST) Received: from localhost (darrylo@mina.sr.hp.com [15.4.42.247]) by mina.sr.hp.com with ESMTP (8.8.6 (PHNE_17135)/8.7.3 TIS 5.0) id MAA25669; Tue, 7 Dec 1999 12:48:07 -0800 (PST) Message-Id: <199912072048.MAA25669@mina.sr.hp.com> To: will andrews Cc: Brett Glass , mobile@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: Latest laptop recommendations Reply-To: Darryl Okahata In-reply-to: Your message of "Tue, 07 Dec 1999 14:32:26 EST." Mime-Version: 1.0 (generated by tm-edit 7.108) Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Date: Tue, 07 Dec 1999 12:48:06 -0800 From: Darryl Okahata Sender: owner-freebsd-mobile@FreeBSD.ORG Precedence: bulk X-Loop: FreeBSD.org will andrews wrote: > On 06-Dec-99 Brett Glass wrote: > > So far, the best candidate I've found is the Gateway Solo 9150 -- not their > > latest model, nor their fastest (the 9150 has a 333 MHz Celeron). But it > > seems to use supported chipsets. Does anyone have experience with this > > model? With others that are worth considering? > > I like my Dell Inspiron 7000, which works well with FreeBSD (I can even get > XF86_Mach64 X server working with the ATI Rage Pro AGP card), however, beware > the modem. You should be able to get Dell to put one in that works with > FreeBSD; ask about, say, a "Linux-compatible" modem. :-) While I love my Inspiron 7500, I don't think it meets Brett's requirements (note: the 7000 is no longer available, and there are rumors that the 7500 may be obsoleted in January or February). In particular: * XFree86 3.3.5 does not work on it "out of the box" (note that this is for the 7500, and not the no-longer-available 7000). The 7500 uses the ATI Rage Mobility-P chipset, which isn't yet supported by XFree86. I've got an hacked-up (*very* unofficial) version of the Mach64 server working, but it's a bit buggy (the server starts corrupting graphics after a couple of hours of use, but I think this is an XFree86 bug). * Sound doesn't work. The 7500 uses the Maestro 2E, which Brett specifically said he didn't want. FreeBSD-current doesn't support the Maestro, and even the OSS drivers don't work (on a recent -current, but that's probably due to the recent changes in -current). That said, the 7500 is a very nice machine. Other pros and cons: * The 1400x1050 display is gorgeous under X. Going back to 1024x768 is like going back to using crayons. ;-) * Having built-in DVD/CDROM and floppy drives are very nice. * Suspend/resume works under Win98 and 3.3-RELEASE. I don't know about -current, as I just installed -current on my 7500, and I'm waiting for the pccard fixes (pccard has broken suspend/resume in -current). [ Well, if you take out the pccard drivers in -current, suspend/resume does work. ] [ Also, by "suspend/resume" in 3.3-RELEASE, I'm talking about "suspend-to-RAM". I haven't figured out how to do a suspend-to- disk under FreeBSD. I'm not sure it's even possible. ] * The 7500 is a desktop replacement. It's big and heavy (~9.5lbs+). It's fine for carrying to/from work, but it's probably not good if you travel a lot. However, if power, power, and more power is more important than portability, it's the way to go. * Having a 15" or 15.4" display, the laptop is big, and so it won't fit into some laptop carrying cases. I've got a nice laptop backpack (one that looks like a plain jane backpack, and not one of those laptop cases that say, "steal me"), and the 7500 doesn't really fit. I have to put the laptop sideways into the backpack, and, even then, it's a tight fit. * The laptop can get hot. I wouldn't want to use it on my lap, as the bottom can get uncomfortably warm/hot. The middle of the keyboard gets warm (the hard disk is below there), and the area around the [Enter] key to the top of the keyboard gets surprisingly warm (probably due to the CPU). For me, the warm area under [Enter] and [Backspace] can get a bit uncomfortable when typing. There is a fan to cool the CPU, but, as I'm not doing a lot of CPU-intensive stuff, the fan hasn't turned on very often. I don't (yet) have the port replicator, and so I can't comment on how it affects the airflow. [ Note: even though it makes the keyboard warm, I don't think the hard disk gets any hotter than those of the other laptops I've used (Toshiba 730CDX & HP Omnibook 3000CTX). ] * If you order the standard modem, you get a winmodem. My "solution" was to delete the modem from the order, which saved a little $$$. -- Darryl Okahata darrylo@sr.hp.com DISCLAIMER: this message is the author's personal opinion and does not constitute the support, opinion, or policy of Agilent Technologies, or of the little green men that have been following him all day. To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-mobile" in the body of the message