Out of luck with my computers, buying a new laptop.

D

Dan9

I have two computers and when I tried out the LiveCD, it failed to boot so it appears that I'm out of luck. Although I have never used BSD before, from what I hear, it seems very interesting so I'm going to buy a laptop just to use it. I was planning on buying a laptop in the future anyway so it's not much trouble.

I saw which laptop works and which doesn't work but they seem to be old or it says it's "partially working" and I can't seem to find a perfect working laptop. Since most of them is old, I can't buy the laptop other than ebay or amazon (no warranty). I want to use both OpenBSD and FreeBSD (amd64) so finding a laptop that works for both of these is a difficult task. From what I read, I heard that thinkpad laptop are one of the best. I read somewhere that many developers of BSD uses thinkpad laptop.

My current budget is $3,500 but if it's cheaper, I have more money to donate to FreeBSD and OpenBSD so that would be great :p

What I want to know is if there are people out there with fairly new laptop (that I can still buy on the official website) that are working out of the box for both FreeBSD and OpenBSD. I been looking at Lenovo thinkpad with Intel video card but I'm afraid it may not work so I want to make sure I'm buying the right laptop.

Thank you for reading.
 
dmesg:
Code: 
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 8.0-RC3 #0: Fri Nov 13 19:18:27 PST 2009
    lntv@detox.home1.dc.rr.com:/usr/obj/usr/src/sys/DETOX9
Timecounter "i8254" frequency 1193182 Hz quality 0
CPU: AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X2 Dual-Core Processor TK-57 (1899.99-MHz 686-class CPU)
  Origin = "AuthenticAMD"  Id = 0x60f82  Stepping = 2
  Features=0x178bfbff<FPU,VME,DE,PSE,TSC,MSR,PAE,MCE,CX8,APIC,SEP,MTRR,PGE,MCA,CMOV,PAT,PSE36,CLFLUSH,MMX,FXSR,SSE,SSE2,HTT>
  Features2=0x2001<SSE3,CX16>
  AMD Features=0xea500800<SYSCALL,NX,MMX+,FFXSR,RDTSCP,LM,3DNow!+,3DNow!>
  AMD Features2=0x11f<LAHF,CMP,SVM,ExtAPIC,CR8,Prefetch>
real memory  = 3221225472 (3072 MB)
avail memory = 2489487360 (2374 MB)
ACPI APIC Table: <PTLTD  	 APIC  >
FreeBSD/SMP: Multiprocessor System Detected: 2 CPUs
FreeBSD/SMP: 1 package(s) x 2 core(s)
 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
kbd1 at kbdmux0
acpi0: <GATEWA SYSTEM> on motherboard
acpi0: [ITHREAD]
acpi0: Power Button (fixed)
unknown: I/O range not supported
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 0x10> port 0x62,0x66 on acpi0
acpi_button0: <Power Button> on acpi0
acpi_button1: <Sleep Button> on acpi0
acpi_lid0: <Control Method Lid Switch> 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 0xb0000000-0xbfffffff,0xcfdf0000-0xcfdfffff,0xcfe00000-0xcfefffff at device 5.0 on pci1
hdac0: <ATI RS690 High Definition Audio Controller> mem 0xcfdec000-0xcfdeffff at device 5.2 on pci1
hdac0: HDA Driver Revision: 20090624_0136
hdac0: [ITHREAD]
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
pci8: <ACPI PCI bus> on pcib3
ath0: <Atheros 9280> mem 0xf0200000-0xf020ffff irq 18 at device 0.0 on pci8
ath0: [ITHREAD]
ath0: AR9280 mac 128.2 RF5133 phy 13.0
pcib4: <ACPI PCI-PCI bridge> at device 7.0 on pci0
pci14: <ACPI PCI bus> on pcib4
re0: <RealTek 8101E/8102E/8102EL PCIe 10/100baseTX> port 0xa000-0xa0ff mem 0xf0300000-0xf0300fff irq 19 at device 0.0 on pci14
re0: Using 1 MSI messages
re0: Chip rev. 0x34000000
re0: MAC rev. 0x00000000
miibus0: <MII bus> on re0
rlphy0: <RTL8201L 10/100 media interface> PHY 1 on miibus0
rlphy0:  10baseT, 10baseT-FDX, 100baseTX, 100baseTX-FDX, auto
re0: Ethernet address: 00:03:25:26:cb:92
re0: [FILTER]
atapci0: <ATI IXP600 SATA300 controller> port 0x8440-0x8447,0x8434-0x8437,0x8438-0x843f,0x8430-0x8433,0x8400-0x840f mem 0xf0409000-0xf04093ff irq 22 at device 18.0 on pci0
atapci0: [ITHREAD]
atapci0: AHCI v1.10 controller with 4 3Gbps ports, PM supported
ata2: <ATA channel 0> on atapci0
ata2: port is not ready (timeout 0ms) tfd = 000001d0
ata2: software reset clear timeout
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 0xf0404000-0xf0404fff irq 16 at device 19.0 on pci0
ohci0: [ITHREAD]
usbus0: <OHCI (generic) USB controller> on ohci0
ohci1: <OHCI (generic) USB controller> mem 0xf0405000-0xf0405fff irq 17 at device 19.1 on pci0
ohci1: [ITHREAD]
usbus1: <OHCI (generic) USB controller> on ohci1
ohci2: <OHCI (generic) USB controller> mem 0xf0406000-0xf0406fff irq 18 at device 19.2 on pci0
ohci2: [ITHREAD]
usbus2: <OHCI (generic) USB controller> on ohci2
ohci3: <OHCI (generic) USB controller> mem 0xf0407000-0xf0407fff irq 17 at device 19.3 on pci0
ohci3: [ITHREAD]
usbus3: <OHCI (generic) USB controller> on ohci3
ohci4: <OHCI (generic) USB controller> mem 0xf0408000-0xf0408fff irq 18 at device 19.4 on pci0
ohci4: [ITHREAD]
usbus4: <OHCI (generic) USB controller> on ohci4
ehci0: <EHCI (generic) USB 2.0 controller> mem 0xf0409400-0xf04094ff irq 19 at device 19.5 on pci0
ehci0: [ITHREAD]
usbus5: EHCI version 1.0
usbus5: <EHCI (generic) USB 2.0 controller> on ehci0
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]
hdac1: <ATI SB600 High Definition Audio Controller> mem 0xf0400000-0xf0403fff irq 16 at device 20.2 on pci0
hdac1: HDA Driver Revision: 20090624_0136
hdac1: [ITHREAD]
isab0: <PCI-ISA bridge> at device 20.3 on pci0
isa0: <ISA bus> on isab0
pcib5: <ACPI PCI-PCI bridge> at device 20.4 on pci0
ACPI Warning: \\_SB_.PCI0.P2P_._PRT: Return Package has no elements (empty) 20090521 nspredef-545
pci20: <ACPI PCI bus> on pcib5
atrtc0: <AT realtime clock> port 0x70-0x71 irq 8 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 3
acpi_acad0: <AC Adapter> on acpi0
battery0: <ACPI Control Method Battery> on acpi0
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 ROM> at iomem 0xcd800-0xce7ff 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
usbus0: 12Mbps Full Speed USB v1.0
usbus1: 12Mbps Full Speed USB v1.0
usbus2: 12Mbps Full Speed USB v1.0
usbus3: 12Mbps Full Speed USB v1.0
usbus4: 12Mbps Full Speed USB v1.0
usbus5: 480Mbps High Speed USB v2.0
ugen0.1: <ATI> at usbus0
uhub0: <ATI OHCI root HUB, class 9/0, rev 1.00/1.00, addr 1> on usbus0
ugen1.1: <ATI> at usbus1
uhub1: <ATI OHCI root HUB, class 9/0, rev 1.00/1.00, addr 1> on usbus1
ugen2.1: <ATI> at usbus2
uhub2: <ATI OHCI root HUB, class 9/0, rev 1.00/1.00, addr 1> on usbus2
ugen3.1: <ATI> at usbus3
uhub3: <ATI OHCI root HUB, class 9/0, rev 1.00/1.00, addr 1> on usbus3
ugen4.1: <ATI> at usbus4
uhub4: <ATI OHCI root HUB, class 9/0, rev 1.00/1.00, addr 1> on usbus4
ugen5.1: <ATI> at usbus5
uhub5: <ATI EHCI root HUB, class 9/0, rev 2.00/1.00, addr 1> on usbus5
acd0: DVDR <Optiarc DVD RW AD-7563A/WX05> at ata0-master UDMA33
ad4: 305245MB <WDC WD3200BEVT-22ZCT0 11.01A11> at ata2-master SATA300
hdac0: HDA Codec #0: ATI RS690/780 HDMI
pcm0: <HDA ATI RS690/780 HDMI PCM #0 Digital> at cad 0 nid 1 on hdac0
hdac1: HDA Codec #0: Sigmatel STAC9205X
hdac1: HDA Codec #1: Lucent/Agere Systems (Unknown)
pcm1: <HDA Sigmatel STAC9205X PCM #0 Analog> at cad 0 nid 1 on hdac1
uhub0: 2 ports with 2 removable, self powered
uhub1: 2 ports with 2 removable, self powered
uhub2: 2 ports with 2 removable, self powered
uhub3: 2 ports with 2 removable, self powered
uhub4: 2 ports with 2 removable, self powered
GEOM: ad4s1: geometry does not match label (255h,63s != 16h,63s).
acd0: FAILURE - INQUIRY ILLEGAL REQUEST asc=0x24 ascq=0x00 
(probe0:ata0:0:0:0): TEST UNIT READY. CDB: 0 0 0 0 0 0 
(probe0:ata0:0:0:0): CAM Status: SCSI Status Error
(probe0:ata0:0:0:0): SCSI Status: Check Condition
(probe0:ata0:0:0:0): NOT READY asc:3a,0
(probe0:ata0:0:0:0): Medium not present
(probe0:ata0:0:0:0): Unretryable error
uhub5: 10 ports with 10 removable, self powered
acd0: FAILURE - INQUIRY ILLEGAL REQUEST asc=0x24 ascq=0x00 
cd0 at ata0 bus 0 target 0 lun 0
cd0: <Optiarc DVD RW AD-7563A WX05> Removable CD-ROM SCSI-0 device 
cd0: 33.000MB/s transfers
cd0: Attempt to query device size failed: NOT READY, Medium not present
SMP: AP CPU #1 Launched!
Root mount waiting for: usbus5
ugen5.2: <Chicony Electronics Co., Ltd.> at usbus5
Root mount waiting for: usbus5
ugen5.3: <Generic> at usbus5
umass0: <Bulk-In, Bulk-Out, Interface> on usbus5
umass0:  SCSI over Bulk-Only; quirks = 0x0000
Root mount waiting for: usbus5
umass0:2:0:-1: Attached to scbus2
Trying to mount root from ufs:/dev/ad4s1a
(probe0:umass-sim0:0:0:0): TEST UNIT READY. CDB: 0 0 0 0 0 0 
(probe0:umass-sim0:0:0:0): CAM Status: SCSI Status Error
(probe0:umass-sim0:0:0:0): SCSI Status: Check Condition
(probe0:umass-sim0:0:0:0): NOT READY asc:3a,0
(probe0:umass-sim0:0:0:0): Medium not present
(probe0:umass-sim0:0:0:0): Unretryable error
da0 at umass-sim0 bus 0 target 0 lun 0
da0: <Generic- Multi-Card 1.00> Removable Direct Access SCSI-0 device 
da0: 40.000MB/s transfers
da0: Attempt to query device size failed: NOT READY, Medium not present
wlan0: Ethernet address: 00:23:4d:ce:6d:b2
drm0: <ATI Radeon RS690 X1270 IGP> on vgapci0
info: [drm] MSI enabled 1 message(s)
vgapci0: child drm0 requested pci_enable_busmaster
info: [drm] Initialized radeon 1.29.0 20080528
info: [drm] Setting GART location based on new memory map
info: [drm] Loading RS690/RS740 Microcode
info: [drm] Num pipes: 1
info: [drm] writeback test succeeded in 1 usecs
drm0: [ITHREAD]
 
pciconf -lv
Code: 
hostb0@pci0:0:0:0:	class=0x060000 card=0x12341002 chip=0x79101002 rev=0x00 hdr=0x00
    vendor     = 'ATI Technologies Inc. / Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.'
    device     = 'RS690 Host Bridge'
    class      = bridge
    subclass   = HOST-PCI
pcib1@pci0:0:1:0:	class=0x060400 card=0x79121002 chip=0x79121002 rev=0x00 hdr=0x01
    vendor     = 'ATI Technologies Inc. / Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.'
    device     = 'RS690 PCI to PCI Bridge (Internal gfx)'
    class      = bridge
    subclass   = PCI-PCI
pcib2@pci0:0:5:0:	class=0x060400 card=0x12341002 chip=0x79151002 rev=0x00 hdr=0x01
    vendor     = 'ATI Technologies Inc. / Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.'
    class      = bridge
    subclass   = PCI-PCI
pcib3@pci0:0:6:0:	class=0x060400 card=0x12341002 chip=0x79161002 rev=0x00 hdr=0x01
    vendor     = 'ATI Technologies Inc. / Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.'
    device     = 'RS690 PCI to PCI Bridge (PCI Express Port 2)'
    class      = bridge
    subclass   = PCI-PCI
pcib4@pci0:0:7:0:	class=0x060400 card=0x12341002 chip=0x79171002 rev=0x00 hdr=0x01
    vendor     = 'ATI Technologies Inc. / Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.'
    device     = 'RS690 PCI to PCI Bridge (PCI Express Port 3)'
    class      = bridge
    subclass   = PCI-PCI
atapci0@pci0:0:18:0:	class=0x01018f card=0x0565107b chip=0x43801002 rev=0x00 hdr=0x00
    vendor     = 'ATI Technologies Inc. / Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.'
    device     = 'IXP SB600 Serial ATA Controller'
    class      = mass storage
    subclass   = ATA
ohci0@pci0:0:19:0:	class=0x0c0310 card=0x0565107b chip=0x43871002 rev=0x00 hdr=0x00
    vendor     = 'ATI Technologies Inc. / Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.'
    device     = 'IXP SB600 USB Controller (OHCI0)'
    class      = serial bus
    subclass   = USB
ohci1@pci0:0:19:1:	class=0x0c0310 card=0x0565107b chip=0x43881002 rev=0x00 hdr=0x00
    vendor     = 'ATI Technologies Inc. / Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.'
    device     = 'IXP SB600 USB Controller (OHCI1)'
    class      = serial bus
    subclass   = USB
ohci2@pci0:0:19:2:	class=0x0c0310 card=0x0565107b chip=0x43891002 rev=0x00 hdr=0x00
    vendor     = 'ATI Technologies Inc. / Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.'
    device     = 'IXP SB600 USB Controller (OHCI2)'
    class      = serial bus
    subclass   = USB
ohci3@pci0:0:19:3:	class=0x0c0310 card=0x0565107b chip=0x438a1002 rev=0x00 hdr=0x00
    vendor     = 'ATI Technologies Inc. / Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.'
    device     = 'IXP SB600 USB Controller (OHCI3)'
    class      = serial bus
    subclass   = USB
ohci4@pci0:0:19:4:	class=0x0c0310 card=0x0565107b chip=0x438b1002 rev=0x00 hdr=0x00
    vendor     = 'ATI Technologies Inc. / Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.'
    device     = 'IXP SB600 USB Controller (OHCI4)'
    class      = serial bus
    subclass   = USB
ehci0@pci0:0:19:5:	class=0x0c0320 card=0x0565107b chip=0x43861002 rev=0x00 hdr=0x00
    vendor     = 'ATI Technologies Inc. / Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.'
    device     = 'IXP SB600 USB Controller (EHCI)'
    class      = serial bus
    subclass   = USB
none0@pci0:0:20:0:	class=0x0c0500 card=0x0565107b chip=0x43851002 rev=0x14 hdr=0x00
    vendor     = 'ATI Technologies Inc. / Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.'
    device     = 'ATI SMBus (ATI RD600/RS600)'
    class      = serial bus
    subclass   = SMBus
atapci1@pci0:0:20:1:	class=0x01018a card=0x0565107b chip=0x438c1002 rev=0x00 hdr=0x00
    vendor     = 'ATI Technologies Inc. / Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.'
    device     = 'ATI RD600/RS600 IDE Controller (RD600/RS600)'
    class      = mass storage
    subclass   = ATA
hdac1@pci0:0:20:2:	class=0x040300 card=0x0565107b chip=0x43831002 rev=0x00 hdr=0x00
    vendor     = 'ATI Technologies Inc. / Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.'
    device     = 'IXP SB600 High Definition Audio Controller'
    class      = multimedia
    subclass   = HDA
isab0@pci0:0:20:3:	class=0x060100 card=0x0565107b chip=0x438d1002 rev=0x00 hdr=0x00
    vendor     = 'ATI Technologies Inc. / Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.'
    device     = 'ATK0110 ACPI Utility (1043.4.0.0)'
    class      = bridge
    subclass   = PCI-ISA
pcib5@pci0:0:20:4:	class=0x060401 card=0x00000000 chip=0x43841002 rev=0x00 hdr=0x01
    vendor     = 'ATI Technologies Inc. / Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.'
    device     = 'IXP SB600 PCI to PCI Bridge'
    class      = bridge
    subclass   = PCI-PCI
hostb1@pci0:0:24:0:	class=0x060000 card=0x00000000 chip=0x11001022 rev=0x00 hdr=0x00
    vendor     = 'Advanced Micro Devices (AMD)'
    device     = 'Athlon64/Opteron/Sempron (K8 Family) HyperTransport Technology Configuration'
    class      = bridge
    subclass   = HOST-PCI
hostb2@pci0:0:24:1:	class=0x060000 card=0x00000000 chip=0x11011022 rev=0x00 hdr=0x00
    vendor     = 'Advanced Micro Devices (AMD)'
    device     = 'Athlon64/Opteron/Sempron (K8 Family) Address Map'
    class      = bridge
    subclass   = HOST-PCI
hostb3@pci0:0:24:2:	class=0x060000 card=0x00000000 chip=0x11021022 rev=0x00 hdr=0x00
    vendor     = 'Advanced Micro Devices (AMD)'
    device     = 'Athlon64/Opteron/Sempron (K8 Family) DRAM Controller'
    class      = bridge
    subclass   = HOST-PCI
hostb4@pci0:0:24:3:	class=0x060000 card=0x00000000 chip=0x11031022 rev=0x00 hdr=0x00
    vendor     = 'Advanced Micro Devices (AMD)'
    device     = 'Athlon64/Opteron/Sempron (K8 Family) Miscellaneous Control'
    class      = bridge
    subclass   = HOST-PCI
vgapci0@pci0:1:5:0:	class=0x030000 card=0x0565107b chip=0x791f1002 rev=0x00 hdr=0x00
    vendor     = 'ATI Technologies Inc. / Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.'
    device     = 'ATI Mobility Radeon x1250 (RS690)'
    class      = display
    subclass   = VGA
hdac0@pci0:1:5:2:	class=0x040300 card=0x79191002 chip=0x79191002 rev=0x00 hdr=0x00
    vendor     = 'ATI Technologies Inc. / Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.'
    device     = 'Radeon X1200 Series Audio Controller'
    class      = multimedia
    subclass   = HDA
ath0@pci0:8:0:0:	class=0x028000 card=0xe006105b chip=0x002a168c rev=0x01 hdr=0x00
    vendor     = 'Atheros Communications Inc.'
    device     = 'Atheros AR5B91 Wireless Network Adapter (0001)'
    class      = network
re0@pci0:14:0:0:	class=0x020000 card=0x0565107b chip=0x813610ec rev=0x01 hdr=0x00
    vendor     = 'Realtek Semiconductor'
    device     = 'RTL8100E/RTL8101E/RTL8102E-GR (RTL8100-8101E-8102E-PCIEXPRESS)'
    class      = network
    subclass   = ethernet
 
Dan9 said:
What I want to know is if there are people out there with fairly new laptop (that I can still buy on the official website) that are working out of the box for both FreeBSD and OpenBSD. I been looking at Lenovo thinkpad with Intel video card but I'm afraid it may not work so I want to make sure I'm buying the right laptop.
Click to expand...
Yea, shopping for hardware compatible with the BSDs can be an art form. All the latest, greatest laptops that I've ever bought have always worked as in it'd boot up, but some features such as ACPI or network/wireless cards would be unusable. If you search around here for laptop recommendations and stick to popular brands like Lenovo and Dell most or all things will probably work out the box, especially now with 8.0 upon us.

Set yourself up a bootable USB stick with latest FreeBSD 8.0 on it and take it to store(s) to test notebooks. :)
 
Thank you. Unfortunately, I can't go and test them out because of where I live and not being able to find the stores that sells these specific laptops.

I been interested in thinkpad, that was actually the laptop I wanted to buy even before I had interest in BSD.

I'll probably just purchase the Lenovo ThinkPad W700 and pray it works for both FreeBSD and OpenBSD.
 
Gateway NV53 series?

Hello,

I've looked at the Laptop compatibility list, but there's rarely anything that's a) recent and b) not too expensive, so I figured I'd ask here.

There's a deal at Bestbuy for a Gateway NV5332u with mostly ATI/AMD hardware, and as usual, finding chipset details for wired/wireless without going to the store and doing some detective work is neigh impossible. So, before I go on to the next step of finding out the details, I was wondering if anyone had opinions/experience with the following:

  • Recent Gateway ACPI Implementations. Will I probably have to do a ton of DSDT editing or should it 'just work'? Getting Sleep functional would be swell, and this could be a dealbreaker.
  • Radeon 4200HD vs Intel 4500M[HD]. Are there any major advantages to either? I've noticed that Intel chipsets have been quirky with X.org with the 2.70/2.80 drivers, and while I'm willing to go through with the "fun" of getting things working, if it affects stability that will be a problem. The systems I've worked with don't have the oomph to be able to do Flash so I've never bothered, but if I'm getting something new I'd like to be able to use that.
  • Ethernet/Wireless Chipsets. Replacing onboard Ethernet is a dealbreaker (and probably not possible). Replacing MiniPCI Wireless isn't that big of a deal, and of course I'd rather not unless I had to get it working...what would I likely find in that system? I know booting a CD/memstick and looking at dmesg is the only way to be sure but if someone knows what Gateway normally uses these days it would be appreciated.

Aside from that, recommendations would be appreciated for something that's less than $600 US, not a netbook (1024x600 is a dealbreaker), and has most of the necessary hardware already installed.

Thanks!
 
OMGSnarf said:
  • Radeon 4200HD vs Intel 4500M[HD]. Are there any major advantages to either? I've noticed that Intel chipsets have been quirky with X.org with the 2.70/2.80 drivers, and while I'm willing to go through with the "fun" of getting things working, if it affects stability that will be a problem. The systems I've worked with don't have the oomph to be able to do Flash so I've never bothered, but if I'm getting something new I'd like to be able to use that.
  • Ethernet/Wireless Chipsets. Replacing onboard Ethernet is a dealbreaker (and probably not possible). Replacing MiniPCI Wireless isn't that big of a deal, and of course I'd rather not unless I had to get it working...what would I likely find in that system? I know booting a CD/memstick and looking at dmesg is the only way to be sure but if someone knows what Gateway normally uses these days it would be appreciated.
Click to expand...

Whats regarding 2D and video playback Intel GPUs/drivers worked fine for me (am typing from a laptop with intel).

I havent seen any Ethernet/WiFi chips that have not worked for me on FreeBSD (and I have tried many over the years). At worst cases I had to use windows drivers over NDIS service.
 
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