From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Wed May 21 16:43:53 2008 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 56C88106567B for ; Wed, 21 May 2008 16:43:53 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from sonicy@otenet.gr) Received: from kane.otenet.gr (kane.otenet.gr [195.170.0.77]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id D1EAC8FC21 for ; Wed, 21 May 2008 16:43:52 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from sonicy@otenet.gr) Received: from aquarius.dyndns.org (athedsl-4443696.home.otenet.gr [79.129.190.32]) by kane.otenet.gr (8.13.8/8.13.8/Debian-3) with ESMTP id m4LGhppt030869 for ; Wed, 21 May 2008 19:43:51 +0300 Message-ID: <4834516F.1010002@otenet.gr> Date: Wed, 21 May 2008 19:44:31 +0300 From: Manolis Kiagias User-Agent: Thunderbird 2.0.0.14 (X11/20080501) MIME-Version: 1.0 To: "freebsd-questions@freebsd.org" References: <972994690801011020u60ed0a0et6d8356cdb1f6f974@mail.gmail.com> <20080102141419.GB61289@sandvine.com> <20080521143210.GA70289@rebelion.Sisis.de> In-Reply-To: <20080521143210.GA70289@rebelion.Sisis.de> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Subject: Re: Asus eee (was Re: G4 Quicksilver as Web Server?) 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: Wed, 21 May 2008 16:43:53 -0000 Matthias Apitz wrote: > El día Friday, January 18, 2008 a las 10:41:28PM -0500, Garance A Drosehn escribió: > > >> At 9:14 AM -0500 1/2/08, Ed Maste wrote: >> >>> On Tue, Jan 01, 2008 at 06:20:22PM +0000, James Jeffery wrote: >>> >>> >>>> Before i end the toipic, anyone got any feeback on the Asus Eee (mini >>>> laptops) with FreeBSD? >>>> >>> It works, but no drivers exist for the wireless or wired Ethernet ports. >>> The wireless is a newer Atheros part and ath(4) should gain support for >>> it, but I have no idea what the timeline will be. The wired Ethernet >>> is an Atheros (formerly Attansic) L2 10/100, and I'm not aware of any >>> concrete plans for a driver for it. >>> >>> I've used a Linksys USB200M USB ethernet (axe(4) driver) with mine and >>> that works well. >>> >> One of the guys I know is running FreeBSD on the Eee, and has written >> up the following information for anyone who is interested in doing >> what he did: >> >> http://nighthack.org/wiki/EeeBSD >> >> This includes tips on how to get the wireless working, and sound, >> and some oddities with how X11 works. >> > > Thanks for that hint. I'm thinking in buying such a device to have it > with me as a typewriter, mostly; normally I use FreeBSD 7.0-REL on my > laptop with around 200 compiled ports: KDE, OpenOffice, Lyx, StarDict, > ... > the compilation normally takes 2-3 days to have it all ready; > > of course, on that limited device with 4 or 8 GByte SSD it is not an > option to compile the stuff up from /usr/ports on the system itself, not > only from the point of view of disk space, but also because of the limited > lifetime write cycles of the SSD; > > in short: what would be the easiest way to move the installed ports from > my laptop to such an Eee PC? can I make, for example, packages from my > ports and install them? > > Thx > > matthias > > [Sending this a second time to the list only, since it had too many recipients the first time and was probably rejected] I happen to have an eeePC and have successfully installed FreeBSD on it. It can be done in various ways (even without a CDROM, if you have an external USB disk). I can attest the instructions in nighthack.org work: Sound and wireless work fine. There are a few things you can do it to speed it up: - The SSD is too small for the classic partitioning scheme of FreeBSD. Probably a large '/' partition or a '/' and '/home' will do. Do not use swap. - Turn of logging (syslogd_enable="NO" in /etc/rc.conf) - Edit /etc/ttys and reduce the number of virtual terminals. You probably don't need them. - Do not compile anything on the eee. It wil be a test of its abilities and your patience. Compile the kernel on another a PC and copy it via a USB key. Either use ready made packages (possibly after setting PACKAGESITE to packages-7-stable) or use 'make package' on your main pc to create packages and transfer them. - The eee will happily run X and any environment you choose. I have tried XFCE and GNOME with no problem. More memory will be better, but not absolutely necessary. - As others have said, the wired LAN does not currently work. - Note you can install either to SSD or an external SDHC. The SSD is somewhat faster though. (But you can get larger SDHCs). I am dual booting Linux and FreeBSD on mine right now. Linux is on the SSD and FreeBSD on an 8GB SDHC.