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PegMonster
December 7th, 2008, 23:59
One of the most daunting tasks for installing FreeBSD is making sure you have the right hardware for the job.
This is particularly true with laptops/notebooks. They are generally slapped together with cheap or windows friendly hardware with no guarantee for successfully installing FreeBSD. This can be a very pricey gamble.

The reason for this thread is to get feedback from users who have installed FreeBSD on their laptop/notebook to make it easier for those who are looking to do the same.

I know there is already the Laptop Compatibility list (here) (http://laptop.bsdgroup.de/freebsd/), but many models are long outdated and the results tend to be vague in description, if they have any at all.

Please include make, model, what is and isn't working out of the box, how you overcame any problems if you managed to do so, and anything else you would like to add.

Thanks guys.

J
PegMonster
December 8th, 2008, 00:18
I have a Compaq V3230AU.

PROCESSOR – AMD Turion 64 X2 Dual Core Mobile Technology TL-50 1.6GHz
MEMORY - 1024MB DDR2 (2 Dimms)
HARD DRIVE - 80GB 5400rpm
OPTICAL DRIVE - SuperMulti 8X DVD±RW with Double Layer support
COLOUR DISPLAY - 14.1" WXGA High-Definition BrightView Widescreen Display
VIDEO – nVidia GeForce Go 6150
TV-OUT PORT – S-Video Output
LAN - Integrated 10/100 LAN; Broadcom 802.11a/b/g
MODEM - High speed 56K modem
SPEAKERS - Altec Lansing speakers
CARD READER – Ricoh 5-in-1
USB PORT - 3 USB 2.0 ports
EXPRESS CARD SLOT - ExpressCard54 slot (supports both 34 and 54 form factors)
IEEE1394 PORT - Yes
INFRA-RED PORT – Consumer IR
BLUE TOOTH - Yes
BIOS - Phoenix

Unfortunately it wont even boot FreeBSD. It fails before making it to the beastie menu with btx halt errors. I have tried updating the BIOS and disabling acpi, but still no go.
I've searched high and low for solutions, but so far no luck.

J
vermaden
December 8th, 2008, 02:04
I do not want to double the information, here are laptops on which I run FreeBSD succesfully:
http://daemonforums.org/showthread.php?t=1881#post13876
ripcurl
January 28th, 2009, 20:03
Dell Inspiron 1501


Copyright (c) 1992-2009 The FreeBSD Project.
Copyright (c) 1979, 1980, 1983, 1986, 1988, 1989, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994
The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved.
FreeBSD is a registered trademark of The FreeBSD Foundation.
FreeBSD 7.1-STABLE #1: Mon Jan 26 23:28:55 MYT 2009
root@matrix.bsd.my:/usr/obj/usr/src/sys/INSP_1501
Timecounter "i8254" frequency 1193182 Hz quality 0
CPU: AMD Turion(tm) 64 X2 Mobile Technology TL-50 (1596.01-MHz 686-class CPU)
Origin = "AuthenticAMD" Id = 0x40f82 Stepping = 2
Features=0x178bfbff<FPU,VME,DE,PSE,TSC,MSR,PAE,MCE,CX8,APIC,SEP,MTRR,P GE,MCA,CMOV,PAT,PSE36,CLFLUSH,MMX,FXSR,SSE,SSE2,HT T>
Features2=0x2001<SSE3,CX16>
AMD Features=0xea500800<SYSCALL,NX,MMX+,FFXSR,RDTSCP,LM,3DNow!+,3DNow!>
AMD Features2=0x1f<LAHF,CMP,SVM,ExtAPIC,CR8>
Cores per package: 2
real memory = 2011627520 (1918 MB)
avail memory = 1963073536 (1872 MB)
ACPI APIC Table: <PTLTD APIC >
FreeBSD/SMP: Multiprocessor System Detected: 2 CPUs
cpu0 (BSP): APIC ID: 0
cpu1 (AP): APIC ID: 1
MADT: Forcing active-low polarity and level trigger for SCI
ioapic0 <Version 2.1> irqs 0-23 on motherboard
netsmb_dev: loaded
ath_hal: 0.9.20.3 (AR5210, AR5211, AR5212, RF5111, RF5112, RF2413, RF5413)
acpi0: <DELL M08 > on motherboard
acpi0: [ITHREAD]
acpi0: Power Button (fixed)
unknown: I/O range not supported
acpi0: reservation of 0, 1000 (3) failed
ACPI HPET table warning: Sequence is non-zero (2)
Timecounter "ACPI-fast" frequency 3579545 Hz quality 1000
acpi_timer0: <32-bit timer at 3.579545MHz> port 0x8008-0x800b on acpi0
acpi_ec0: <Embedded Controller: GPE 0x14> port 0x62,0x66 on acpi0
acpi_hpet0: <High Precision Event Timer> iomem 0xfed00000-0xfed003ff on acpi0
Timecounter "HPET" frequency 14318180 Hz quality 900
acpi_button0: <Power Button> on acpi0
pcib0: <ACPI Host-PCI bridge> port 0xcf8-0xcff on acpi0
pci0: <ACPI PCI bus> on pcib0
pcib1: <ACPI PCI-PCI bridge> at device 1.0 on pci0
pci1: <ACPI PCI bus> on pcib1
vgapci0: <VGA-compatible display> port 0x9000-0x90ff mem 0xc8000000-0xcfffffff,0xc0100000-0xc010ffff irq 17 at device 5.0 on pci1
acpi_video0: <ACPI video extension> on vgapci0
drm0: <ATI Radeon RS485 XPRESS 1100 IGP> on vgapci0
vgapci0: child drm0 requested pci_enable_busmaster
info: [drm] Initialized radeon 1.29.0 20080613
pcib2: <ACPI PCI-PCI bridge> at device 5.0 on pci0
pci2: <ACPI PCI bus> on pcib2
pcib3: <ACPI PCI-PCI bridge> at device 6.0 on pci0
pci5: <ACPI PCI bus> on pcib3
ath0: <Atheros 5424/2424> mem 0xc0200000-0xc020ffff irq 18 at device 0.0 on pci5
ath0: [ITHREAD]
ath0: WARNING: using obsoleted if_watchdog interface
ath0: Ethernet address: 00:16:cb:b8:99:88
ath0: mac 10.3 phy 6.1 radio 10.2
atapci0: <ATI IXP600 SATA300 controller> port 0x8438-0x843f,0x8454-0x8457,0x8430-0x8437,0x8450-0x8453,0x8400-0x840f mem 0xc0004000-0xc00043ff irq 22 at device 18.0 on pci0
atapci0: [ITHREAD]
atapci0: AHCI Version 01.10 controller with 4 ports detected
ata2: <ATA channel 0> on atapci0
ata2: [ITHREAD]
ata3: <ATA channel 1> on atapci0
ata3: [ITHREAD]
ata4: <ATA channel 2> on atapci0
ata4: [ITHREAD]
ata5: <ATA channel 3> on atapci0
ata5: [ITHREAD]
ohci0: <OHCI (generic) USB controller> mem 0xc0005000-0xc0005fff irq 16 at device 19.0 on pci0
ohci0: [GIANT-LOCKED]
ohci0: [ITHREAD]
usb0: OHCI version 1.0, legacy support
usb0: <OHCI (generic) USB controller> on ohci0
usb0: USB revision 1.0
uhub0: <ATI OHCI root hub, class 9/0, rev 1.00/1.00, addr 1> on usb0
uhub0: 2 ports with 2 removable, self powered
ohci1: <OHCI (generic) USB controller> mem 0xc0006000-0xc0006fff irq 17 at device 19.1 on pci0
ohci1: [GIANT-LOCKED]
ohci1: [ITHREAD]
usb1: OHCI version 1.0, legacy support
usb1: <OHCI (generic) USB controller> on ohci1
usb1: USB revision 1.0
uhub1: <ATI OHCI root hub, class 9/0, rev 1.00/1.00, addr 1> on usb1
uhub1: 2 ports with 2 removable, self powered
ohci2: <OHCI (generic) USB controller> mem 0xc0007000-0xc0007fff irq 18 at device 19.2 on pci0
ohci2: [GIANT-LOCKED]
ohci2: [ITHREAD]
usb2: OHCI version 1.0, legacy support
usb2: <OHCI (generic) USB controller> on ohci2
usb2: USB revision 1.0
uhub2: <ATI OHCI root hub, class 9/0, rev 1.00/1.00, addr 1> on usb2
uhub2: 2 ports with 2 removable, self powered
ohci3: <OHCI (generic) USB controller> mem 0xc0008000-0xc0008fff irq 17 at device 19.3 on pci0
ohci3: [GIANT-LOCKED]
ohci3: [ITHREAD]
usb3: OHCI version 1.0, legacy support
usb3: <OHCI (generic) USB controller> on ohci3
usb3: USB revision 1.0
uhub3: <ATI OHCI root hub, class 9/0, rev 1.00/1.00, addr 1> on usb3
uhub3: 2 ports with 2 removable, self powered
ohci4: <OHCI (generic) USB controller> mem 0xc0009000-0xc0009fff irq 18 at device 19.4 on pci0
ohci4: [GIANT-LOCKED]
ohci4: [ITHREAD]
usb4: OHCI version 1.0, legacy support
usb4: <OHCI (generic) USB controller> on ohci4
usb4: USB revision 1.0
uhub4: <ATI OHCI root hub, class 9/0, rev 1.00/1.00, addr 1> on usb4
uhub4: 2 ports with 2 removable, self powered
ehci0: <EHCI (generic) USB 2.0 controller> mem 0xc0004400-0xc00044ff irq 19 at device 19.5 on pci0
ehci0: [GIANT-LOCKED]
ehci0: [ITHREAD]
usb5: EHCI version 1.0
usb5: companion controllers, 2 ports each: usb0 usb1 usb2 usb3 usb4
usb5: <EHCI (generic) USB 2.0 controller> on ehci0
usb5: USB revision 2.0
uhub5: <ATI EHCI root hub, class 9/0, rev 2.00/1.00, addr 1> on usb5
uhub5: 10 ports with 10 removable, self powered
pci0: <serial bus, SMBus> at device 20.0 (no driver attached)
atapci1: <ATI IXP600 UDMA133 controller> port 0x1f0-0x1f7,0x3f6,0x170-0x177,0x376,0x8420-0x842f at device 20.1 on pci0
ata0: <ATA channel 0> on atapci1
ata0: [ITHREAD]
hdac0: <ATI SB600 High Definition Audio Controller> mem 0xc0000000-0xc0003fff irq 16 at device 20.2 on pci0
hdac0: HDA Driver Revision: 20090113_0125
hdac0: [ITHREAD]
isab0: <PCI-ISA bridge> at device 20.3 on pci0
isa0: <ISA bus> on isab0
pcib4: <ACPI PCI-PCI bridge> at device 20.4 on pci0
pci8: <ACPI PCI bus> on pcib4
bfe0: <Broadcom BCM4401-B0 Fast Ethernet> mem 0xc0300000-0xc0301fff irq 21 at device 0.0 on pci8
miibus0: <MII bus> on bfe0
bmtphy0: <BCM4401 10/100baseTX PHY> PHY 1 on miibus0
bmtphy0: 10baseT, 10baseT-FDX, 100baseTX, 100baseTX-FDX, auto
bfe0: Ethernet address: 00:15:c5:cc:d2:4c
bfe0: [ITHREAD]
sdhci0: <RICOH R5C822 SD> mem 0xc0302000-0xc03020ff irq 20 at device 1.0 on pci8
sdhci0: 1 slot(s) allocated
sdhci0: [ITHREAD]
pci8: <base peripheral> at device 1.1 (no driver attached)
acpi_button1: <Sleep Button> on acpi0
acpi_lid0: <Control Method Lid Switch> on acpi0
acpi_acad0: <AC Adapter> on acpi0
battery0: <ACPI Control Method Battery> on acpi0
acpi_tz0: <Thermal Zone> on acpi0
atkbdc0: <Keyboard controller (i8042)> port 0x60,0x64 irq 1 on acpi0
atkbd0: <AT Keyboard> irq 1 on atkbdc0
kbd0 at atkbd0
atkbd0: [GIANT-LOCKED]
atkbd0: [ITHREAD]
psm0: <PS/2 Mouse> irq 12 on atkbdc0
psm0: [GIANT-LOCKED]
psm0: [ITHREAD]
psm0: model Synaptics Touchpad, device ID 0
cpu0: <ACPI CPU> on acpi0
acpi_throttle0: <ACPI CPU Throttling> on cpu0
powernow0: <PowerNow! K8> on cpu0
cpu1: <ACPI CPU> on acpi0
powernow1: <PowerNow! K8> on cpu1
pmtimer0 on isa0
orm0: <ISA Option ROMs> at iomem 0xc0000-0xccfff,0xcd000-0xcdfff pnpid ORM0000 on isa0
sc0: <System console> at flags 0x100 on isa0
sc0: VGA <16 virtual consoles, flags=0x300>
vga0: <Generic ISA VGA> at port 0x3c0-0x3df iomem 0xa0000-0xbffff on isa0
Timecounters tick every 1.000 msec
acd0: DVDR <TSSTcorp DVD+/-RW TS-L632H/D400> at ata0-master UDMA33
ad4: 57231MB <TOSHIBA MK6034GSX AH101D> at ata2-master SATA150
hdac0: HDA Codec #0: Conexant (Unknown)
hdac0: HDA Codec #1: Sigmatel STAC9220
pcm0: <HDA Sigmatel STAC9220 PCM #0 Analog> at cad 1 nid 1 on hdac0
SMP: AP CPU #1 Launched!
Trying to mount root from ufs:/dev/ad4s2a
acd0: FAILURE - INQUIRY ILLEGAL REQUEST asc=0x24 ascq=0x00
cd0 at ata0 bus 0 target 0 lun 0
cd0: <TSSTcorp DVD+-RW TS-L632H D400> Removable CD-ROM SCSI-0 device
cd0: 33.000MB/s transfers
cd0: Attempt to query device size failed: NOT READY, Medium not present

Initially this laptop came with a Broadcom wireless. I used it for awhile with the ndis driver and decided to replace it with an Atheros mini-pcie card.

Haven't tried getting the builtin winmodem to work though, but it's ok since I don't use it.

After upgrading Xorg to 7.4, DRI works.
ufonpu
February 10th, 2009, 02:36
I have a similar hardware with you and when I reboot after install FreeBSD7.1 i386 it got panic saying "acpi autoload failed,no such file or directory ...btx halted." and I didn't have this problem solved yet.
If you have any info about this problem please info me as quickly.
Thx.
fronclynne
February 10th, 2009, 03:07
Toshiba L305D-S5895 (turion x2, ati radeon (drm0: <ATI Radeon RS690 X1270 IGP> on vgapci0) (using x11-drivers/xf86-video-radeonhd-devel) FreeBSD 7.1-STABLE amd64.
Going to have to patch to get the ath wireless working, I suppose.

N.B.: powerd and this lapbrick do NOT play nice (is this a known problem with Toshibas and I'm ig'n'runt?).

No suspend/hibernate (yeah, I know) . . . when the battery runs down it goes "click" and that is that.

The touchpad is really poorly situated (if I may use such a word to the exclusion of "located" or "designed", since I don't think they did that with it), but it actually works well, when I want to use it, but no [redacted:profanity] middle button. Do they know this is not 1986?

Otherwise, quite fast and the sound card does all that noisy stuff he's s'posed to.
ripcurl
February 11th, 2009, 11:53
I have a similar hardware with you and when I reboot after install FreeBSD7.1 i386 it got panic saying "acpi autoload failed,no such file or directory ...btx halted." and I didn't have this problem solved yet.

I don't have this problem. I'd suggest you try adding this to /boot/loader.conf

module_path="/boot/kernel;/boot/modules"
ufonpu
February 11th, 2009, 18:03
But I can't even log in the systerm.How can I edit the file?
fronclynne
February 12th, 2009, 06:29
But I can't even log in the systerm.How can I edit the file?
LiveFS CD?
PCBSD?
enter it at the loader prompt?
There must be a few other methods I'm not thinkin' of.
ripcurl
February 12th, 2009, 08:25
LiveFS CD?
PCBSD?
enter it at the loader prompt?
There must be a few other methods I'm not thinkin' of.

Yes LiveCD, then enter Fixit mode, mount your / and edit /boot/loader.conf.
trev
February 12th, 2009, 12:05
Eee PC 701 (2G memory, 4G SSD, 16G SDHC)

* CPU: Intel Celeron M 353 900MHz processor (underclocked to 630.07-MHz 686-class CPU)
* WLAN: Atheros 5424/2424 - ath(4)
* Ethernet: Attansic L2 FastEthernet - ae(4)
* Function Keys: acpi_asus(4), acpi_video(4)
* Touchpad: synaptics (X11)
* Hardware monitoring: eeemon(4)
* Audio: Realtek ALC6628 Hi-Definition Audio - snd_hda(4)
* WebCam: unsupported

Works brilliantly except that running FreeBSD off the 16G SDHC card means that I cannot put it to sleep and wake it up again, because putting it to sleep disconnects power from the USB bus which in turn disconnects the SDHC card reader and FreeBSD panics on awakening because it cannot find its file system.

(I need XP on the SSD for my wife's photography cataloguing software).
fronclynne
February 13th, 2009, 03:00
Toshiba L305D-S5895 (turion x2, ati radeon (drm0: <ATI Radeon RS690 X1270 IGP> on vgapci0) (using x11-drivers/xf86-video-radeonhd-devel) FreeBSD 7.1-STABLE amd64.
Going to have to patch to get the ath wireless working, I suppose.

Hoorj! The patch here:
http://people.freebsd.org/~sam/
applies cleanly to 7-STABLE, and (more importantly) ath0 does what it should.
mickey
February 13th, 2009, 19:26
IBM ThinkPad 600 (2645-450):

- Pentium II 300 MHz CPU
- 288 MB Ram
- 5 GB HDD
- Atheros 5212 based cardbus wireless adapter

This machine runs more or less successfully 7.1-RELEASE-p2. Here's what's working or not:


The ACPI DSDT on this machine has a broken PCI IRQ routing, which requires manually fixing the DSDT code and booting with the modified DSDT.
An atheros based wireless cardbus adapter only works with a hacked kernel.
The ath driver every once in a while leads to interrupt storm issues, but these seem to have no notable effect on network connectivity.
ACPI sleep is totally borken, i.e. suspend to death.
Xorg 7.4 with server 1.5.3_5,1 runs successfully with a 1024x768 resolution in 16 bpp.
When using hald with cardbus atheros adapter, requires a faked /usr/sbin/dumpcis, otherwise the ath driver goes mad when hald invokes dumpcis upon the active cardbus adapter.


IBM ThinkPad T30:

- Pentium 4-M 2GHz CPU
- 512MB RAM
- 60GB HDD
- Atheros 5212 based mini-PCI wireless adapter.

This machine successfully runs 7.1-RELEASE-p2.


The sysctl values for the ACPI thermal subsystem needed some finetuning, otherwise the machine would eventually overheat and shutdown when compiling larger stuff.
For ACPI suspend/resume to work correctly one needs to use the radeontool from the ports and tweak rc.suspend/rc.resume in order to have the LCD backlight turned off when suspending.
Suspend/Resume still works not quite reliably.
Xorg 7.4 with server 1.5.3_5,1 runs successfully with a 1024x768 resolution in 24 bpp.
Runs Gnome 2.24 relatively smoothly.
IBM has put a whitelist of mini-PCI adapters into the BIOS, so installing a 'non-authorized' mini-PCI card requires evil BIOS hacking to get rid of the error/warning messages during POST.
As with the ThinkPad 600, this machine also experiences interrupt storm issues with the ath driver, which can not be solved by changing IRQs in BIOS (tried to no avail).
vermaden
March 9th, 2009, 02:34
Dell Latitude D630 power consumption (+/- 0.5W)
screen MAX + wifi ON ---> 22.5W
screen MAX + wifi OFF --> 21.5W
screen MIN + wifi ON ---> 16.5W
screen MIN + wifi OFF --> 15.5W
screen OFF + wifi ON ---> 12.5W
screen OFF + wifi OFF --> 11.5W

Dell Latitude E6400 power consumption (+/- 0.5W)
screen MAX + wifi ON ---> 17.5W (-5)
screen MAX + wifi OFF --> 16.5W (-5)
screen MIN + wifi ON ---> 13.5W (-3)
screen MIN + wifi OFF --> 12.5W (-3)
screen OFF + wifi ON ---> 11.5W (-1)
screen OFF + wifi OFF --> 9.5W (-2)

D630 E6400
cpu T7300 (65nm) P8400 (45nm)
ram 2 x 1GB DDR2 667 2 x 1GB DDR2 800
gfx X3100 (90nm) x4500 (65nm)
scr CCFL WXGA+ LED WXGA+
wir 3945 5300
hdd seagate 7200.2 seagate 7200.3
bay DVD-RW DVD-RW
rod
May 26th, 2009, 21:33
this post should be clasified as "important"

nice work guys.

btw, i search about dell laptops, but i didn't get any info about a vostro a840, if anyone knows about some page dedicated to dell laptops it would be helpful

cheers
sossego
May 27th, 2009, 09:48
If laptop is working under NetBSD, what is needed for it to work under FreeBSD?
ripcurl
May 28th, 2009, 08:03
If laptop is working under NetBSD, what is needed for it to work under FreeBSD?

Hi there,

You could try booting FreeSBIE (http://www.freesbie.org/) on it and see if it detects your hardware.
Oko
May 28th, 2009, 08:18
Hi there,

You could try booting FreeSBIE (http://www.freesbie.org/) on it and see if it detects your hardware.

That is a bad advice. FreeSBIE is dead project and the last release was based on FreeBSD 6.2. There was one major release and many minor releases since then so the hardware support has improved a great deal. However FreeSBIE tools should be still in ports so theoretically one should be able to build FreeBSD LiveCD from 7.2. There is no alive LiveCD project based on FreeBSD to my knowledge at this time. The last LiveCD project TrueBSD seems died about half a year ago.

Since USB sticks are so cheap today and many BIOS-es support booting from USB device one could do honest installation on USB(SCSI HDD) and use that to test the hardware.
sossego
June 2nd, 2009, 09:20
Is there a howto for usb booting as there exists for linux live usb sticks or is it touch and go.
I'd also have to edit the boot defaults to use acpi, control the hardware, etc.
FreeSBIE may be the way to go.
tiko
July 4th, 2009, 00:48
My laptop is rather old by today's standards, but I'm quite pleased with its capabilities under FreeBSD.

I have a stock HP/Compaq NC6000 business laptop with the following hardware:

Pentium M 1.6Ghz
2GB PC2700
60GB IDE
ATI Radeon Mobility 9600
Gigabit Broadcom LAN using gbe driver
Intel wireless using iwi driver (This needs to be updated manually: see this link (http://forums.freebsd.org/showthread.php?t=3849&highlight=iwi).)
Strangely enough, under X, the driver does not crap out. It happened to me only when using the laptop as a terminal.

Running 7.2-Release

Everything on this laptop functions as it should from a users standpoint. The only thing I had to "tweak" was enabling hald for Xorg 7.4 to recognize the touchpad. Battery time is about 2.5 hours, compared to about 1.25 hours with XP.

I have xfce4 and KDE 3.5 successfully installed and functioning properly. Even have flash9 working for Firefox. Overall, very pleased with FreeBSD and this particular laptop.
Eponasoft
July 10th, 2009, 13:56
I'm using an Acer Aspire 3680 without too many problems with FreeBSD 7.2 STABLE. Only issue has been the ACPI, which is easily solved by disabling it, and even then, the only issue it created with it on was a nonworking msk0.
PSY0NIC
July 10th, 2009, 16:53
You can add my post to the list

http://forums.freebsd.org/showthread.php?t=5350
empty
August 12th, 2009, 03:49
Hello everyone.

What laptop should i purchase that FreeBSD will run smoothly on?
Thinking mostly on, wlan,sound and graphics?

Anybody have any suggestions on a netbook? (Around 10" monitor)

Best Regards
empty
vermaden
August 12th, 2009, 06:11
For laptop, its simple: Dell Latitude or IBM/Lenovo ThinkPad.

Personally I have Dell Latitude D630 with Intel X3100 and everything works, others reported the same for R60/R61/T60/T61 ThinkPads. You may also consider older T40/T41/T42/T43 and D600/D610.

As for netbook, better get Dell D430 or HP 2510p, both have about dual core @ 1.2GHz / 2GB RAM / 12" 1280x800, HP 2510p even have the DVD-RW.

I would not look for netbooks. 12 is imho the smalles size to comfortable do anything.

The only netbook I can recommend are Atom Z-series based, but the Puolsbo chipset (with graphics from PowerVR instead of Intel, yes they call it Intel GMA 500, but its created by PowerVR), does not have support in Intel driver, do you end up with 2D without any accerlration.
kano
August 12th, 2009, 10:02
I have an Acer Aspire One netbook, and everything works out of the box with 8.0. Installed with the 8.0-BETA2 usb image.

Some stats;
10" screen, 1.6GHz Intel Atom processor, 1gb ram, 160gb hd, Intel 945GM graphics, wifi works with ath driver and ethernet with alc driver in 8. I ended up paying less than $300 for it at walmart, so I'm quite happy that everything is supported. :)

Small keyboard takes a bit getting used to, but after that I don't mind it. I use openbox and generally have a workspace with a full screen urxvt+screen terminal and another with firefox using the vimperator extension. The small screen doesn't seem to matter when you know how to utilize it. ;)
empty
August 12th, 2009, 17:31
Thanks for the advices,

Any suggestions on SAMSUNG NC10? Looks nice.

Only problem I could think of is the WLAN?

/empty
vasili111
August 20th, 2009, 13:09
Can anyone please recomend any notebook with screen near 13', with weight maximum 2 kg, with 3d acceleration and which runs freebsd without any problem.
vermaden
August 20th, 2009, 13:42
@vasili111

Lenovo X300 mate.

For 12" it will be HP 2510p.

If X4500 and Intel 5100 WiFi are also supported, then Dell E4300.
rghq
August 20th, 2009, 18:53
Toshiba A300 25K

Core 2 Duo Prozessor T6400 2GHz
4 Gb RAM
Intel WiFi 5100
ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3650

One of these "all in one" chipsets except the Graphics chip.

FreeBSD 7.2

Works fine. Just didn't tried the wifi but this should be possible with ndiswrapper.
foldingstock
August 20th, 2009, 21:02
Can anyone please recomend any notebook with screen near 13', with weight maximum 2 kg, with 3d acceleration and which runs freebsd without any problem.

How are you going to tote around a 13' laptop? :PP

If you mean 13", I would suggest one of the smaller thinkpads. Awesome machines.
vermaden
August 21st, 2009, 06:16
Toshiba A300 25K

Core 2 Duo Prozessor T6400 2GHz
4 Gb RAM
Intel WiFi 5100
ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3650

One of these "all in one" chipsets except the Graphics chip.

All in one?

Its CPU(1) + North Bridge(2) + Replacable WIFI 5100 Card(3) + ATI Graphics(4) + 2 Sticks of RAM(6), where do you see "all in one" in that 6 parts?

Its the same hardware as Dell or IBM, but only with much less good CPU in Toshiba.
rghq
August 21st, 2009, 14:25
where do you see "all in one" in that 6 parts?

Sorry - I'm used to other computers where every single part gets bought and assembled one by one ;)
Though the hardware itself is working with FreeBSD, even OpenSolaris causes no problems except connecting to WPA2 networks with the WiFi
ingridseynhaeve
September 1st, 2009, 10:31
Hi PegMonster ,

I have Asus Asus V6800V tested with FreeBSD versions: 5.3.

*XFree86: 1024x768
*APM: Unknown
*ACPI: Not working / Broken
*PC-Card: Partially working
*Cardbus: Partially working


If ACPI enabled, the keyboard and touchpad are not working since the acpi.ko says it is loading.
However, while the kernel contains ACPI for ASUS option, the bluetooth button (and bluetooth recognition, btw) works. That is, the system is fully functional except for the keyboard and touchpad.
With ACPI disabled option, everything runs smoothly except for the ACPI functions.
With PC-Card the system says that it can see only the 16-bit PC card bus.
The cardbus device is found OK.
The same is with 5.4-RC2. :)
Oglon3r
September 17th, 2009, 09:34
Dell Inspiron 5100
Pentium 4 2.8 Ghz
1GB RAM
Ati mobility radeon 7500
I successfully dual booted FreeBSD7.2 with WinXp/sp3pro
Ethernet works
Audio works
kde4 looks amazing
synaptics touchpad << isn't working
I've tried what is recommended here
here (http://lists.freebsd.org/pipermail/freebsd-mobile/2004-December/005342.html) and here (http:/http://jturner.tapetrade.net/docs/installing_freebsd_on_inspirion5100.html)
guide seems too old i cant really get much from it
I'm also attempting to set my wifi with this guide as i got exactly that same wificard
http://www.earthtrax.com/Documents/InstallingWirelessFreeBSD.htm however i haven't been able to resolve the wpa_supplicant issue
Right now my priority is to successfully get the touchpad to work i might try to use a usb mouse tomorrow but until then any help will be greatly appreciated
Oglon3r
September 17th, 2009, 10:20
allright i fixed it by following the guides more closely now the synoptics touchpad fully works but only when im in sysinstall.
it doesnt works in kde4.
i enable the daemon exit sysinstall on console i go startx and mouse doesnt move...
weird im going to check the kde on freebsd website will bring more feedback if i fix this thing thanks
jb_fvwm2
September 21st, 2009, 10:26
"mouse"
"psm0"
you can search for an xorg.conf with those two parameters
kill 2 `pgrep mous`
that might fix it when you have the mouse working in TTY before X
..........
Forty percent chance (guesswork on my part) that would solve
you touchpad problem...
.........
swa
September 25th, 2009, 00:19
Hi, I've been a member allready and reading some but now my first post :)

Packard Bell EASYNOTE SJ51-B-042 (http://support.packardbell.com/nl/item/index.php?pn=PB96F02586&t=1409)

AMD Athlon 64 X2 TK-55
RAM 3 GB DDR2
nVidia GeForce 7000M
LCD 17" TFT WXGA 1440x900
Synaptics Touchpad
1 OCZ SSD Hard Disk 30 GB (System)
1 Seagate 160 GB (/usr/home/)

FreeBSD 7.2 with Gnome, installed PCBSD before but KDE is just not for me.

To do: WLAN, virtual scrolling from the touchpad and someday maybe the webcam.
Did not test Sleep and hibernate because I never use those features

Everything else is working, including Compiz and Flash.
khentiamentiu
October 22nd, 2009, 18:53
Compaq Armada E500
Pentium III 900 Mhz
512 Mb Memory
D-Link 802.11g atheros chipset PCMCIA wireless adapter
OptoRite DVD burner
80GB hard drive

FreeBSD 7.0-Stable works fine on this laptop.
FreeBSD 7.1-Stable works fine on this laptop.
FreeBSD 7.2-Stable and 7.2-Release hve so far prevented me from bringing up a desktop, unless I unplug the D-Link adapter.

Here's what happens for gnome2 (gnome_enable="YES" in /etc/rc.conf):

When gdm starts up, I get 'interrupt storm detected on "irq11:";throttling interrupt source' so frequently that it overwhelms my I/O, and I have to power off the laptop manually. Even CTRL-ALT-DELETE can't get through. The problem goes away if I remove the D-link adapter before booting, and then insert it after the laptop has booted. This is NOT the best thing to do to this laptop, as it tends to cause the machine to reboot.

Here's what happens for xdm with xfce4 in the .xinitrc, and with kdm (added to the ttyv8 line of /etc/ttys):

The login prompt comes up, but I have no keyboard or mouse input. I used the default devices created in /etc/X11/xorg.conf by "Xorg -configure".

I initially discovered these problems when I upgraded from 7.0 to 7.2 using sysinstall, but I get them same result doing a fresh install. It's especially annoying since 7.0 and 7.1 worked so well with my laptop.

I don't yet have workarounds for any of the above, but will repost if and when, in the fullness of time, I do.
khentiamentiu
October 26th, 2009, 05:53
I was able to get my Compaq Armada E500 mouse and keyboard working with xfce and kdm, using information in the sticky at the top of the FreeBSD X.org forum, but that only resulted in the interrupt storm's appearing with xfce and kdm, instead of just with gdm. I've gone over to PCBSD, and will maybe try OpenBSD next.
zeiz
October 28th, 2009, 03:50
Sony VAIO VGN-NR430D. FreeBSD (6.x-8.0RC1), PCBSD, RoFreeSBIE all print something like this:
RAM parity error, likely hardware failure.
Fatal trap 19: non-maskable interrupt trap while in kernel mode
cpuid=0; apic id = 00
instruction pointer = 0x20:0xc05c9106
stack pointer = 0x28:0xc1020a58
frame pointer = 0x28:0xc1020a6c
code segment = base 0x0, limit 0xfffff, type 0x1b
= DPL 0, pres 1, def32, gran 1
processor eflags = interrupt enabled, IOPL = 0
current process = 0 (swapper)
trap number = 19
panic: non-maskable interrupt trap
cpuid = 0
Uptime: 1s
Automatic reboot in 15 seconds....
Smells like a WINLAPTOP though it runs Linux fine.
vermaden
October 28th, 2009, 07:16
@zeiz

Try updating BIOS to newest version.
zeiz
October 30th, 2009, 00:49
Did it recently but who knows... Anyway I wish I could try again but it's actually my wife's laptop and she is in trip. I'll post update later.
So far thanks for idea:)
zeiz
November 26th, 2009, 03:12
Well, I just realized that last time I've made software only update.
I can't find out how to update bios on this laptop. There is no updated roms in their "repos", no even proper specifications. Very likely no bios updates at all. It's even won't officially support Win7 what to say about FreeBSD. So I must make a correction: it's not a winlaptop it's THEVISTALAPTOP.
Hard to believe that it's VAIO...though what to expect for $600?
DrJ
November 26th, 2009, 04:41
Just curious -- has anyone tried to get inking features working on a tablet? I have a Lenovo X61T, and I had intended to install FBSD as a VM in Win7. However, if good inking features are available I *may* reconsider.
Graaf_van_Vlaanderen
December 27th, 2009, 14:36
I'm planning on buying a new laptop, any recommendations?
Speedy
December 27th, 2009, 14:46
IBM used to be the brand to beat (the real manufacturer was Quanta). Nowadays here Lenovo does not sell laptops without bundled Windows, so for me they are out of question. Maybe things are different in Belgium.
My next lappy comes from http://www.powernotebooks.com.
DutchDaemon
December 27th, 2009, 15:03
I haven't been disappointed by the HP Compaq I have, but it is rather pricey. Don't go for the cheap HP stuff (Pavilion, and such).

BTW, I think we had a rather lengthy thread about this already.

Found it, merged in.
Graaf_van_Vlaanderen
December 27th, 2009, 16:01
I haven't been disappointed by the HP Compaq I have, but it is rather pricey. Don't go for the cheap HP stuff (Pavilion, and such).

BTW, I think we had a rather lengthy thread about this already.

Found it, merged in.

I read a couple of weeks ago that Asus (tightly followed by Toshiba) had the least hardware failures. HP was among the worst. I guess the Pavilion is responsible for this.
Another conclusion was that in most cases price is inversely proportional to the failure rate.
Graaf_van_Vlaanderen
December 27th, 2009, 16:15
IBM used to be the brand to beat (the real manufacturer was Quanta). Nowadays here Lenovo does not sell laptops without bundled Windows, so for me they are out of question. Maybe things are different in Belgium.
My next lappy comes from http://www.powernotebooks.com.

Toshiba seems to have some laptops with OpenSolaris preinstalled.
That's the biggest problem I have with purchasing a new laptop: they're always shipped with Windows, so that means that I'm forced to pay for something I will not use. Maybe I should file a complaint with the EU commission. Just like with IE, people should have the free choice in selecting their OS. And this is currently not the case.
DutchDaemon
December 27th, 2009, 18:28
Hook up with our Great Dane (http://forums.freebsd.org/showthread.php?t=6297&highlight=danish) ..
Graaf_van_Vlaanderen
December 27th, 2009, 20:07
Hook up with our Great Dane (http://forums.freebsd.org/showthread.php?t=6297&highlight=danish) ..

Thanks for pointing to this one.
In fact EU commissioner for competition Neelie Kroes is doing an excellent job on those matters.
fonz
December 28th, 2009, 14:25
I read a couple of weeks ago that Asus (tightly followed by Toshiba) had the least hardware failures.
For what it's worth: I have a Toshiba laptop right here. It's been used intensively (almost every day, often left running 24/7) for over 2 years now and the only problem I have with it (from a hardware reliability point of view, at least) is that the CD/DVD player doesn't burn anymore (it still reads, though). I'd say that's pretty reliable :)

Alphons
oYo
January 25th, 2010, 20:20
Ok,this is the laptop thread and where i should put my problems :



I have an HP compaq nx9010 ,an old one ,bought with xp as os.
i am new to FreeBSD ,but i already installed it in a desktop with virtualbox xp was the host and FreeBSD was the guest ,so i learned how to configure it ,i learned UNIX stuff ,and all documentation needed before installing it on the hp laptop,i have to say that now i have a good experience after 2-3 months trying to install and configure X and the connection with internet,i google i read i learn i irc too...easy
but i need some help ,this is where i was stuck:
start x did not start after configuring X as explained in freebsd handbook neither from the laptop.bsdgroup.de list ....etc i won't put more details only if you ask about them .
i had to put xp again to check my hardware exactly ,and here is what i got :


AWC System Information Report

Computer System
Computer Name BOBO-8169CE8331
User Name bobo
Organization
Operating System
OS Name Microsoft Windows XP Professional
OS Version 5.1.2600
ServicePack 2.0
Product ID XXXXX-XXX-XXXXXXX-XXXXX
System Uptime 1/23/2010 1:53:05 AM
Internet Explorer Version 7.0.5730.11
Microsoft DirectX Version 9.0c (4.09.00.0904)
OpenGL Version 5.1.2600.2180 (xpsp_sp2_rtm.040803-2158)
Free Physical Memory 29 MB
Free Page File 309 MB
Free Virtual Memory 2008 MB
Registry
Maximum Size 51MB
Current Size 2MB
Status OK
Center Processor
CPU Name Intel(R) Celeron(R) CPU 2.60GHz
Code Name Model 2, Stepping 9
Manufacturer GenuineIntel
Current Clock Speed 2592Mhz
Max Clock Speed 2592Mhz
Voltage 1.2V
External Clock NULLMhz
Serial Number BFEBF9FF00000F29
CPU ID x86 Family 15 Model 2 Stepping 9
Socket Designation WMT478/NWD
L2 Cache 128KB
Motherboard
Model 0850
Manufacturer Hewlett-Packard
Serial Number None
BIOS Name PhoenixBIOS 4.0 Release 6.0
BIOS Vendor Phoenix Technologies Ltd.
SMBIOS Version KF_KH.F.22
BIOS Date 6/3/2004
BIOS Features
ISA is supported Yes
PCI is supported Yes
PC Card (PCMCIA) is supported Yes
Plug and Play is supported Yes
BIOS is Upgradable (Flash) Yes
BIOS shadowing is allowed Yes
ESCD support is available Yes
Boot from CD is supported Yes
Selectable Boot is supported Yes
BIOS ROM is socketed Yes
Boot From PC Card (PCMCIA) is supported Yes
EDD (Enhanced Disk Drive) Specification is supported Yes
Int 13h - Japanese Floppy for NEC 9800 1.2mb (3.5, 1k Bytes/Sector, 360 RPM) is supported Yes
Int 13h - Japanese Floppy for Toshiba 1.2mb (3.5, 360 RPM) is supported Yes
Int 5h, Print Screen Service is supported Yes
Int 9h, 8042 Keyboard services are supported Yes
Int 14h, Serial Services are supported Yes
Int 17h, printer services are supported Yes
Int 10h, CGA/Mono Video Services are supported Yes
ACPI supported Yes
USB Legacy is supported Yes
AGP is supported Yes
Memory Resource
Total Memory 190 MB
Used Memory 161 MB
Free Memory 29 MB
Memory Usage 84%
Physical Memory
Memory Bank DIMM 1
Description Physical Memory 0
Device Location J400
Capacity 256 MB
Speed NULLMhz
Manufacturer NULL
Data Width 64bit
Memory Type DRAM
Form Factor DIMM
Disk drive
Name ST93012A
Media Type Fixed hard disk media
Capacity 30GB
Interface Type IDE
Partitions 1
Total Cylinders 3648
Total Heads 255
Total Sectors 58605120
Total Tracks 930240
Tracks Per Cylinder 255
Sectors Per Track 512
Bytes Per Sector 63
S.M.A.R.T Support Yes
Current Temperature 23C (73.4F)
CD-ROM Drive
Name SONY CD-RW CRX830E
Drive D:
Transfer Rate NULL
Status OK
IDE Controller
Name ALi M5229 PCI Bus Master IDE Controller
Manufacturer Acer Labs Inc
Status OK
IDE Controller
Name Primary IDE Channel
Manufacturer (Standard IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers)
Status OK
IDE Controller
Name Secondary IDE Channel
Manufacturer (Standard IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers)
Status OK
Video Adapter
Name RADEON IGP 345M
Video Processor ATI RS200M
Manufacturer ATI Technologies Inc.
Video Architecture VGA
DAC Type Internal DAC(350MHz)
Memory Size 64MB
Memory Type Unknown
Video Mode 1024 x 768 x 4294967296 colors
Current Refresh Rate 60Hz
Driver Version 5.1.2600.0
Driver Date 8/16/2002 12:31:00 AM
Monitor
Name Default Monitor
Screen Height 768
Screen Width 1024
Status OK
Local Area Connection
Product Name National Semiconductor Corp. DP83815/816 10/100 MacPhyter PCI Adapter
Driver File DP83815
Manufacturer National Semiconductor Corp.
MAC Address 00:0F:20:23:E3:2D
Sound Device
Name Conexant AC-Link Audio
Manufacturer Conexant
Status OK
Keyboard
Name Standard 101/102-Key or Microsoft Natural PS/2 Keyboard
Description Enhanced (101- or 102-key)
Function Keys 12
Status OK
USBController
Product Name VIA Rev 5 or later USB Universal Host Controller
Manufacturer VIA Technologies
Protocol Supported Universal Serial Bus
Status OK
USBController
Product Name VIA Rev 5 or later USB Universal Host Controller
Manufacturer VIA Technologies
Protocol Supported Universal Serial Bus
Status OK
USBController
Product Name VIA USB Enhanced Host Controller
Manufacturer VIA Technologies
Protocol Supported Universal Serial Bus
Status OK



I only want to configure X with fvwm and the network correctly or probably configuring my kernel...
i will put the log files in this thread after reinstalling FreeBSD8.0 ,follow me and tell me what is wrong ,i don't want a step by step guide or a full system installed in seconds i want to understand what i missed and how that happened .
thank you,
indiocolifa
January 26th, 2010, 04:27
Using ThinkPad R61i Model 7732-A39: Pentium DualCore T2370 (1.73GHz), 3.0MB RAM, 160GB disk.

I've installed FreeBSD 8.0 after using FreeBSD 6.2 in my desktop (7.x releases crashed with kernel panics). This release seems very stable, fast as well.

Configured beeps and Thinkpad ACPI with ibm_acpi_load="YES" in /boot/loader.conf. WLAN working 100%. X working 100%. Thinkpad special keys working so-so (Sleep/Hibernation does not resume), no volume-key, no screen brightness key. I need to adjust ACPI event bitfield (need to read again man ibm_acpi :) ).

Pretty solid experience.
indiocolifa
January 26th, 2010, 04:30
I've also noted that powerd sets power saving to the max when battery powered. My CPU goes as low as 300MHz. I don't remember in WinXP but I'm sure it won't go that low. With that setting, X is somewhat slow, altough I believe powerd should throttle CPU frequency up when processor load increases. Still i'm surprised at the long battery time achieved with such settings.
vermaden
January 26th, 2010, 06:58
I've also noted that powerd sets power saving to the max when battery powered. My CPU goes as low as 300MHz. I don't remember in WinXP but I'm sure it won't go that low. With that setting, X is somewhat slow, altough I believe powerd should throttle CPU frequency up when processor load increases. Still i'm surprised at the long battery time achieved with such settings.

Minimum and Maximum (with small patch) values can be set in /etc/sysctl.conf for the CPU, there are also other options to save a lot of power, check these:
http://daemonforums.org/showthread.php?t=2382
http://wiki.freebsd.org/TuningPowerConsumption

Windows XP would scale that CPU with 800/1200/1600/2000 steps propably, FreeBSD also can be set to that with these in /boot/loader.conf if you wish:
hint.p4tcc.0.disabled=1
hint.acpi_throttle.0.disabled=1
DutchDaemon
January 26th, 2010, 12:40
I've also noted that powerd sets power saving to the max when battery powered. My CPU goes as low as 300MHz. I don't remember in WinXP but I'm sure it won't go that low. With that setting, X is somewhat slow, altough I believe powerd should throttle CPU frequency up when processor load increases. Still i'm surprised at the long battery time achieved with such settings.

If you want a slightly faster 'resume' feature, set you powerd to 'hiadaptive', This will give you less power savings, but the CPU will step up faster, and step down slower.
PseudoCylon
February 4th, 2010, 09:43
Toshiba Satellite U300 (13 inch)

has been working fine since 7.1. Now running 8.0

iwn(4) wasn't part of 7.x. I had to get it off the internet. But it now comes with 8.0

X works fine. But without X, back light won't go off. No big deal.

core2 duo
1 GB ram
Realteck 8102e w/ if_re
Intel 4965AGN w/ if_iwn
Intel 82801H w/ snd_hda
Intel GM965/GL960 w/ i910

[censored] toshiba didn't refund for windows [censored] vista. toshiba breached the EULA, so I ended up with license free vista. The worst part is even it's license free I still don't want it.
p5ycho
February 19th, 2010, 09:37
Just curious -- has anyone tried to get inking features working on a tablet? I have a Lenovo X61T, and I had intended to install FBSD as a VM in Win7. However, if good inking features are available I *may* reconsider.

You are probably running Win7 by now
Installed FreeBSD 8.0 on my X60T a few weeks ago, took the time to install the wacom drivers a few days ago. The wacom tablet functions work just fine (tested briefly in Gimp). My X60t has a serial wacom tablet, X61T probably has so too.

All you need to do is:
- add the serial port settings to /boot/device.hints
hint.uart.4.at="isa"
hint.uart.4.port="0x200"
hint.uart.4.irq="5"
- install wacom drivers
cd /usr/ports/x11-drivers/input-wacom/ && make install clean
- add settings to xorg.conf#wacom stuff
Section "InputDevice"
Driver "wacom"
Identifier "stylus"
Option "Type" "stylus"
Option "Device" "/dev/ttyu4"
Option "ForceDevice" "ISDV4"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
Driver "wacom"
Identifier "eraser"
Option "Type" "eraser"
Option "Device" "/dev/ttyu4"
Option "ForceDevice" "ISDV4"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
Driver "wacom"
Identifier "cursor"
Option "Type" "cursor"
Option "Device" "/dev/ttyu4"
Option "ForceDevice" "ISDV4"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
Driver "wacom"
Identifier "pad"
Option "Type" "pad"
Option "Device" "/dev/ttyu4"
Option "ForceDevice" "ISDV4"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
Driver "wacom"
Identifier "touch"
Option "Type" "touch"
Option "Device" "/dev/ttyu4"
Option "ForceDevice" "ISDV4"
EndSection
These settings are probably the same for the X61t.

I haven't tried things like screen rotation and tablet buttons, as i don't use them. I mainly wanted the high-DPI screen and the tablet functions came with it ;)
DrJ
February 19th, 2010, 12:56
You are probably running Win7 by now
...
I haven't tried things like screen rotation and tablet buttons, as i don't use them. I mainly wanted the high-DPI screen and the tablet functions came with it ;)

Thanks, but you are right: I have Win7 on it now. I too have the high DPI screen (it's wonderful!) but my main use is to read and annotate PDF documents. I review a few hundred proposals for NSF and NIH and technical papers for various journals each year, so I need software to do that. I don't know of any that do this on OSS.

I do have FreeBSD 8-R in a VMware virtual machine. There are some issues with the tools and window focus, but otherwise it works very well.
muythaibxr
February 19th, 2010, 18:58
I have an ASUS U50 (Core i3 arrandale with built-in video, 4G RAM, etc...)

It looks like xorg supports it this Laptop's video with the latest xf86_video_intel version, and the latest drm port, but the FreeBSD kernel DRM driver does not support it (8086:0046 is the PCI ID).

I tried just adding the PCI id to the list of supported IDs to see if I'd get lucky getting it to work, but no such luck.

I wanted to see if anyone else was already working on it, if not, I may try to get it working.

Ken
muythaibxr
February 19th, 2010, 19:00
Sorry for the double post, I forgot to mention I checked both 8.0-STABLE and -CURRENT's kernel support and neither has the PCI ID listed.
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