From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Tue Nov 18 11:27:49 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 4DBCE1065674 for ; Tue, 18 Nov 2008 11:27:49 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from wojtek@wojtek.tensor.gdynia.pl) Received: from wojtek.tensor.gdynia.pl (wojtek.tensor.gdynia.pl [IPv6:2001:4070:101:2::1]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 55E138FC20 for ; Tue, 18 Nov 2008 11:27:48 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from wojtek@wojtek.tensor.gdynia.pl) Received: from wojtek.tensor.gdynia.pl (localhost [IPv6:::1]) by wojtek.tensor.gdynia.pl (8.14.3/8.14.2) with ESMTP id mAIBRh5O084219; Tue, 18 Nov 2008 12:27:43 +0100 (CET) (envelope-from wojtek@wojtek.tensor.gdynia.pl) Received: from localhost (wojtek@localhost) by wojtek.tensor.gdynia.pl (8.14.3/8.14.2/Submit) with ESMTP id mAIBRgNv084216; Tue, 18 Nov 2008 12:27:43 +0100 (CET) (envelope-from wojtek@wojtek.tensor.gdynia.pl) Date: Tue, 18 Nov 2008 12:27:42 +0100 (CET) From: Wojciech Puchar To: Matthew Seaman In-Reply-To: <49227279.8040607@infracaninophile.co.uk> Message-ID: <20081118122350.X84157@wojtek.tensor.gdynia.pl> References: <7f8a05a80811171609h2f5742cfo2ae003415a99e45f@mail.gmail.com> <49227279.8040607@infracaninophile.co.uk> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed Cc: stephen jackson , freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: FreeBSD and hardware?? 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: Tue, 18 Nov 2008 11:27:49 -0000 > If you're thinking of trying out FreeBSD, then this is the right place to > come. A word of warning though: it's not at all like Windows, or even > MacOSX. You will be expected to learn quite a bit about the low level MacOSX can run unix programs, but in every other respect is not like unix as you said. > nitty-gritty of the OS in order to achieve the best results. Of course, > the "best results" are very good indeed, and in my humble opinion, well > worth the effort required. > > Installing on laptop type hardware is a tricky proposition: it's very much > luck of the draw whether your particular model has sufficient driver support For FreeBSD supported laptops Lenovo as generally good choice. Of course others may work too. It's best to go to the shop and run LiveCD, check dmesg to see if everything is detected, check if it works, and then buy/not buy. But yes - laptops have very often strange/nonstandard hardware. > Driver support really is the kicker in all of this. Apple MacOSX doesn't > have this problem, since it only runs on Apple proprietary hardware. If the AFAIK it can be run on ordinary PC with simple patches. just because todays Apple hardware are just ordinary PCs, just with 2-3 times higher price ;) > Even if Apple does have a driver for a piece of kit not already supported in > FreeBSD, it cannot be assumed that Apple will automatically donate the code > to the FreeBSD project. BTW are there any drivers in FreeBSD source tree that was written by Apple?