Date: Mon, 31 Jul 2017 11:16:41 -0500 (CDT) From: "Valeri Galtsev" <galtsev@kicp.uchicago.edu> To: "Duane Whitty" <duane@nofroth.com> Cc: "Polytropon" <freebsd@edvax.de>, duane@nofroth.com, freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Wireless on Dell Latitude D630 Message-ID: <43326.128.135.52.6.1501517801.squirrel@cosmo.uchicago.edu> In-Reply-To: <55b043f5-c3ed-98e1-f295-0943006bf43f@nofroth.com> References: <a20418fe-6e76-a7b6-a25f-97b73191d115@nofroth.com> <20170731174036.c6675425.freebsd@edvax.de> <55b043f5-c3ed-98e1-f295-0943006bf43f@nofroth.com>
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On Mon, July 31, 2017 10:44 am, Duane Whitty wrote: > > On 17-07-31 12:40 PM, Polytropon wrote: >> On Mon, 31 Jul 2017 12:19:27 -0300, Duane Whitty wrote: >>> Polytropon, in an earlier thread on this list (FreeBSD 11.1, Xfce, and >>> laptop screen and external monitor resolution) you mentioned you were >>> using a Dell Latitude D630. Do you have the wireless working under >>> FreeBSD on that machine? I am writing this email from D630. >> >> Yes, it works very nicely, even though I do not regularly use it >> due to a "fixed installation" of that particular machine, even >> with a docking station. :-) >> > > That's awesome. Thanks for your quick reply. Incidentally, Dell is known for changing chipsets almost on daily basis. With the same laptop model you may have multiple choices of wileress adapter. Intel one may cost a few dollars more (but you know what you get). "Dell wireless card" may mean any chipset Dell can get their hands on at lowerst cost to them, and the "re-brand" it as Dell; if you are lucky (from the point of view of FreeBSD compatibility), you may get Atheros, if you are not, you may get crap like Broadcom BCM 43xx (the last is proprietary with very little of info about internals disclosed, but the worst is: it has 64 bit bus front end, but is 32 bit internally... mess in other words). So, good luck. If worst comes to worst, you can get different WiFi card on e-bay, make/model that is known to work under FreeBSD. The good news about Dell is, they do not make in BIOS list of "approved" adapters, as opposed to nasty guys like Compaq, I'm not sure is after HP bought them out they still do so. But I grew big tooth against them as I had to unsolder BIOS EPROM chip, dump its content, and edit it with hex editor to make my compaq laptop boot with good WiFi card to replace Broadcom BCM 43xx crap. Incidentally, that is the same Compaq who used "clean room design" to reverse engineer, write full specs, and another group wrote new BIOS and made their IBM PS compatible: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_PC_compatible (and made hundreds times more in revenues during the first year compared to what they invested). This was the most upsetting fact for me (that it was they who had "whitelisted" hardware in BIOS), so I gave up on Compaq for good. Good luck! Valeri > > Best Regards, > Duane > > -- > Duane Whitty > duane@nofroth.com > _______________________________________________ > freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list > https://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions > To unsubscribe, send any mail to > "freebsd-questions-unsubscribe@freebsd.org" > ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Valeri Galtsev Sr System Administrator Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics Kavli Institute for Cosmological Physics University of Chicago Phone: 773-702-4247 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
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