Weird question

I

iamnotageek

Hi all,

I'm new here. Let me start off by saying that I have a huge amount of respect for everyone struggling with or using FreeBSD.

This is the netbook I have: http://www.engadget.com/products/acer/aspire/one/zg5/specs/.

My goal:

To learn FreeBSD. I tinkered around a bit with it, but very basic stuff. I want to learn shell commands. I don't want to just click on GUI icons like Windows. I want to use this PC for work e-mails. Learning FreeBSD (breaking it, fixing it, re-installing countless times etc.). Web surfing. This WILL NOT be used for Twitter, Facebook or any social media whatsoever. Basically it will just be a workstation to learn FreeBSD.

My question:

Is this netbook adequate? I'm concerned the screen will be a bit too small to "learn on". Basically what I want to know is: is this netbook okay? Will I get used to the smaller keyboard and screen? Should I be more concerned about LEARNING FreeBSD as opposed to something trivial like the screen size or netbook size?

I know this is a weird question, but I would appreciate any input.

Thank you for your time gentlemen.
 
The information posted on that website is incomplete. They are not listing LAN controllers and WiFi. I have a bad feeling that you might have a problem with both. Those inexpensive notebooks usually use some cheap Broadcom crap which doesn't work. I would test it with a live CD to make sure I have wired Internet working before committing to it. WiFi of course can be always fixed with some external USB device. Other than that you should not have any problems.
 
Yup, I'm having problems with the network card not picking up. But surely that should be a challenge for me to get it working? Hence the LEARNING part?
 
I have that very model. Ethernet worked fine, but I don't recall which chipset was used. Wireless, I don't recall clearly, but I think I replaced the included wireless card with an Atheros. That model is difficult to upgrade, requiring a nearly complete disassembly to change things.

The screen size is not great at 1024x600. However, it does have a VGA port, so an external monitor can be used, and external USB keyboards are easier to type on.

Yes, it is adequate for learning to use FreeBSD. The slow Atom processor is the biggest limitation, followed by the RAM. Compiling ports or the operating system is not quick, but it can be done. Binary packages should be ideal for it.
 
It might be a little late into the game, but here's another suggestion: watch the (CPU) temperature when (if) doing heavy things like compiling. Some netbooks immediately shut off when the temperature gets too high. No clean shutdown, just an instantaneous "poof" and it's off. There should be a thread somewhere on these forums about monitoring temperatures and throttling the CPU so it doesn't run too hot.
 
Learning FreeBSD is mostly not about compiling major pieces. It is, however, neither about hunting down problems on some weird devices.

My advice is to first install a VM with FreeBSD on your main workstation, to set it to trouble-free devices (like Intel Gigabit Ethernet) and to play around with it. Hint: If you use a VM with the same architecture your netbook uses (probably i386) you can later compile on the VM and install it on the netbook.

Once you get the hang of it and feel secure enough, you can adventure to install it on the netbook and to solve funny driver problems.

The good news I have for you is that, based on experience with some quite funny boxes, I can tell you that FreeBSD isn't slow at all if you keep it reasonable (like not installing KDE or GNOME but, say, openbox or lxde).
 
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