Date: Tue, 07 Dec 1999 18:01:13 -0800 From: Darryl Okahata <darrylo@sr.hp.com> To: Mike Smith <msmith@FreeBSD.ORG> Cc: Brett Glass <brett@lariat.org>, mobile@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: Latest laptop recommendations Message-ID: <199912080201.SAA11226@mina.sr.hp.com> In-Reply-To: Your message of "Tue, 07 Dec 1999 17:10:16 PST." <199912080110.RAA01041@mass.cdrom.com>
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Mike Smith <msmith@FreeBSD.ORG> wrote:
> I have one of these, and yes it's likely to be superseded about then;
> thats Dell's 3-month product cycle for you. Mine was obsolete before it
> was shipped. 8( However, I also love it dearly already, and anticipate
> many years of service out of it.
Mine wasn't supposed to ship for ~2 months (because of the
1400x1050 display and 10GB drive), but it arrived in just over a week.
> I didn't bother with XFree and pestered the Xig folks instead. They
It's tempting, but it's hard for me to justify $200 on an X
server. The XFree86 Mach64 server is just sooo close to working.
[ I really, really wish purify was available for FreeBSD. It would
probably make it much easier to fix the server. ]
> > * 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).
>
> I'm not sure about that, but I haven't had time to go around with the OSS
> folks lately. I would hope we can get something resolved there soon.
Well, I'm using -current as of Dec. 2, +/- ~1 day. I tried the OSS
drivers for -current just this morning, and I only got garbled sound out
of /dev/audio. An indication that the OSS sound drivers may need to be
updated for the latest -current include the syslog message (reformatted
for readability):
/kernel: WARNING: driver oss should register devices with
make_dev() (dev_t = "#oss/0")
[ I don't know if this could be causing problems, but the USB ifc, which
I'm *not* using, is using the same IRQ as the sound ifc.
Unfortunately, there seems to be no way (from the BIOS) to either
disable the USB port (not that I'd want to) or change the IRQs used by
the USB or sound devices. ]
> Actually, unless you're particularly feeble, it's not actually that
> heavy. I carried both the 7500 and my old Toshiba around for a week
> while I moved things over, and that was just bearable. OTOH, the massive
> batteries in the 7500, and the fact that you can pack two into it makes
> it ideal for work on the go.
The carrying case you use also makes a big difference. I wouldn't
want to haul the 7500 around in a shoulder bag or briefcase, but it's
easy enough with a backpack-style case. I can stuff a lot of junk into
my backpack, and it wouldn't surprise me if it weighed 20-30 pounds.
[ ... just walked downstairs and weighed it. It's currently around
25-26 pounds. In addition to the laptop & charger, it includes a ton
of stuff like CDROMs (in jewel cases!), unbrella, security cable,
leatherman, palmpilot, minidisc player, PS/2 mouse, calculator,
windbreaker-in-a-bag, papers, etc.. It's also only ~2/3rds full. It
was even heavier over the Thanksgiving weekend, when I also stuffed a
bag of 10 persimmons into it. It's kinda like a bag-of-holding. ;-)
]
--
Darryl Okahata
darrylo@sr.hp.com
DISCLAIMER: this message is the author's personal opinion and does not
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