From owner-freebsd-mobile Tue Dec 7 18: 1:26 1999 Delivered-To: freebsd-mobile@freebsd.org Received: from atlrel1.hp.com (atlrel1.hp.com [156.153.255.210]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id DEF2C14C03; Tue, 7 Dec 1999 18:01:18 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from darrylo@sr.hp.com) Received: from postal.sr.hp.com (postal.sr.hp.com [15.4.46.173]) by atlrel1.hp.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id BA085C7F9; Tue, 7 Dec 1999 21:01:16 -0500 (EST) 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 SAA24233; Tue, 7 Dec 1999 18:01:38 -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 SAA11226; Tue, 7 Dec 1999 18:01:14 -0800 (PST) Message-Id: <199912080201.SAA11226@mina.sr.hp.com> To: Mike Smith 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 17:10:16 PST." <199912080110.RAA01041@mass.cdrom.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 (generated by tm-edit 7.108) Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Date: Tue, 07 Dec 1999 18:01:13 -0800 From: Darryl Okahata Sender: owner-freebsd-mobile@FreeBSD.ORG Precedence: bulk X-Loop: FreeBSD.org Mike Smith 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 I have one of these, and yes it's likely to be superseded about then; 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 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