Hello everyone,
I have a couple of small Windows tablets based on Intel Atom processors, and I am interested in installing FreeBSD on them. Before attempting the installation, I would like to find out how well FreeBSD currently supports the hardware in these devices.
The two platforms I am particularly interested in are:
Intel Atom Z3735 – tablet with 1 GB RAM
Intel Atom Z8300 (Cherry Trail) – tablet with 2 GB RAM
I would especially like to know about the following hardware components:
GPU / graphics acceleration – Intel HD Graphics support, including DRM/KMS, hardware acceleration and usable desktop performance
Audio – Intel SST / I2S audio and codecs such as Realtek/ES8316/ES8336
Wi-Fi – support for the wireless chipsets commonly found in these tablets
Bluetooth
Touchscreen and multitouch
Accelerometer / orientation sensor
eMMC storage
SD card reader
USB
Display and brightness control
Battery status and charging
Power management / suspend
Volume and hardware buttons
UEFI/EFI boot support, especially on tablets with 32-bit UEFI firmware
Any other Cherry Trail/Bay Trail-specific hardware that may require special configuration or patches
My main concern is whether these tablets can provide a reasonably complete FreeBSD experience, rather than simply being able to boot FreeBSD.
For example, if the GPU works only with basic framebuffer output and has no proper acceleration, or if Wi-Fi/audio/touchscreen require unsupported drivers, that would be important for me to know before installing it.
I would therefore appreciate any detailed information about the current FreeBSD hardware support for Bay Trail (Z3735) and Cherry Trail (Z8300), including which components are fully supported, partially supported, unsupported, or require manual configuration.
If there are specific FreeBSD versions, kernel options, drivers, patches, or configuration files that work particularly well with these Atom tablets, I would also be very interested in hearing about them.
If the hardware support is sufficiently good, I would like to install FreeBSD on these tablets and experiment with using them as lightweight FreeBSD systems.
Thank you in advance for any information, especially from anyone who has already run FreeBSD on Intel Atom Z3735/Z8300 tablets.
I have a couple of small Windows tablets based on Intel Atom processors, and I am interested in installing FreeBSD on them. Before attempting the installation, I would like to find out how well FreeBSD currently supports the hardware in these devices.
The two platforms I am particularly interested in are:
Intel Atom Z3735 – tablet with 1 GB RAM
Intel Atom Z8300 (Cherry Trail) – tablet with 2 GB RAM
I would especially like to know about the following hardware components:
GPU / graphics acceleration – Intel HD Graphics support, including DRM/KMS, hardware acceleration and usable desktop performance
Audio – Intel SST / I2S audio and codecs such as Realtek/ES8316/ES8336
Wi-Fi – support for the wireless chipsets commonly found in these tablets
Bluetooth
Touchscreen and multitouch
Accelerometer / orientation sensor
eMMC storage
SD card reader
USB
Display and brightness control
Battery status and charging
Power management / suspend
Volume and hardware buttons
UEFI/EFI boot support, especially on tablets with 32-bit UEFI firmware
Any other Cherry Trail/Bay Trail-specific hardware that may require special configuration or patches
My main concern is whether these tablets can provide a reasonably complete FreeBSD experience, rather than simply being able to boot FreeBSD.
For example, if the GPU works only with basic framebuffer output and has no proper acceleration, or if Wi-Fi/audio/touchscreen require unsupported drivers, that would be important for me to know before installing it.
I would therefore appreciate any detailed information about the current FreeBSD hardware support for Bay Trail (Z3735) and Cherry Trail (Z8300), including which components are fully supported, partially supported, unsupported, or require manual configuration.
If there are specific FreeBSD versions, kernel options, drivers, patches, or configuration files that work particularly well with these Atom tablets, I would also be very interested in hearing about them.
If the hardware support is sufficiently good, I would like to install FreeBSD on these tablets and experiment with using them as lightweight FreeBSD systems.
Thank you in advance for any information, especially from anyone who has already run FreeBSD on Intel Atom Z3735/Z8300 tablets.
