First off, I am a complete newbie in every possible way. I am not much of a computer person, though I was able to get Ubuntu working, but only because it was so easy.
FreeBSD is a different beast. I have my heart set on getting it to work, but I know it won't be easy. I have another thread in the "Installing and Upgrading" forum if you want to help me there.
I have just learned that getting a FreeBSD laptop isn't as easy as buying whatever laptop you like and installing from a USB drive. I previously wanted a Dell Latitude 3590, but k.jacker graciously pointed out that some of the hardware might not work (such as the wireless and graphics).
I just now found this very helpful page that lists the compatibility of various laptops with FreeBSD: https://wiki.freebsd.org/Laptops You will notice that most of the laptops are old and, therefore, not relevant to someone like me. There is one, however, from 2018 that looks like it should work. It's the Thinkpad T480. The only thing that isn't defined for that model is "Needs configuration." I do see that the Thinkpad T470s, which I take is its predecessor, needs configuration, so I think one can reasonably assume this one will as well. Does anyone know what this will entail, and if it will be easy for a newbie like myself to do a special configuration? I also found this thread in the FreeBSD Forums that relates to a patch someone made for the Thinkpad T480: https://forums.freebsd.org/threads/freebsd-on-new-thinkpads-t480.66319/ What exactly does that mean for the compatibility of this laptop?
Lastly, assuming this is the only new computer that is (almost) fully compatible with FreeBSD, does it matter which configuration I buy (i.e. there are different configurations of the Thinkpad T480 that have different specs -- things like processor and memory)? By the way, I am planning to use FreeBSD as my primary computer for things like browsing the web, listening to mp3s, and editing documents in LibreOffice. Basically, I want to run FreeBSD as an alternative to Mac or Windows.
Thanks in advance.
FreeBSD is a different beast. I have my heart set on getting it to work, but I know it won't be easy. I have another thread in the "Installing and Upgrading" forum if you want to help me there.
I have just learned that getting a FreeBSD laptop isn't as easy as buying whatever laptop you like and installing from a USB drive. I previously wanted a Dell Latitude 3590, but k.jacker graciously pointed out that some of the hardware might not work (such as the wireless and graphics).
I just now found this very helpful page that lists the compatibility of various laptops with FreeBSD: https://wiki.freebsd.org/Laptops You will notice that most of the laptops are old and, therefore, not relevant to someone like me. There is one, however, from 2018 that looks like it should work. It's the Thinkpad T480. The only thing that isn't defined for that model is "Needs configuration." I do see that the Thinkpad T470s, which I take is its predecessor, needs configuration, so I think one can reasonably assume this one will as well. Does anyone know what this will entail, and if it will be easy for a newbie like myself to do a special configuration? I also found this thread in the FreeBSD Forums that relates to a patch someone made for the Thinkpad T480: https://forums.freebsd.org/threads/freebsd-on-new-thinkpads-t480.66319/ What exactly does that mean for the compatibility of this laptop?
Lastly, assuming this is the only new computer that is (almost) fully compatible with FreeBSD, does it matter which configuration I buy (i.e. there are different configurations of the Thinkpad T480 that have different specs -- things like processor and memory)? By the way, I am planning to use FreeBSD as my primary computer for things like browsing the web, listening to mp3s, and editing documents in LibreOffice. Basically, I want to run FreeBSD as an alternative to Mac or Windows.
Thanks in advance.