FreeBSD on a GPD Pocket: can it be done (with networking)?

O

oranos

I dug up an old laptop (a GPD Pocket) that I had completely forgotten I had, and I thought I might try to install FreeBSD on it and convert it into a self-hosting DNS server. This is the original 2017 model, not the Pocket 2 or Pocket 3. It uses a 128GB eMMC card for storage (because disks take up space and it's designed to be as tiny as possible).

The main issue I'm having right now is that, both on the live disk and the install, the wireless card (802.11ac Wlan 2x2 MIMO) isn't recognized at all: ifconfig returns just the lo device, no vlan in sight. That's kind of a problem because it doesn't have an Ethernet port, meaning I can't connect to any of the FreeBSD servers to download packages or ports.

I'm assuming this is some kind of missing firmware issue, but it's entirely possible that I'm just doing something stupid. Any ideas on how I can get it working?
 
oranos said:
convert it into a self-hosting DNS server
Click to expand...
No ethernet and Maybe Intel Wifi 7265 (Gleaned From Amazon Review).
I disagree with this concept for networking. Nothing personal.

Great mini for Libre Office for students though. Get that Wifi running and you are golden for mini laptop.

Which version of GPD Mini is it?
I see Pocket, Pocket 2 and Pocket 3

Do you know exactly what model Wifi card it uses?
That might help us some.
Try with this command:
pciconf -lv | grep -B 3 network
 
Thanks for the reply! I don't see the model I have in the Amazon page you linked (in fact, I can't seem to find it on Amazon at all). The best I can find is this description on the company's website of the model. My (gen 1) model seems to have been crowded out by the newer models. This is the output of pciconf -lv | grep -B 3 network:

Code: 
none2@pci0:1:0:0:  class=0x028000 rev=0x02 hdr=0x00 vendor=0x14e4 device=0x043ec subdevice=0x0036


vendor = 'Broadcom Inc. and subsidiaries'

device = 'BCM4356 802.11ac Wireless Network Adapter'
class   =  network
 
i have a celeron based tablet that might have similar hardware
the wifi chip is on sdio bus (like in most arm socs) which is not supported in freebsd yet
it has some kind of realtek wifi chip
you may have better success with openbsd/netbsd(both have sdio support) or some linux distro
 
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