Very Computer

Hello,

I just bought a Laptop and want to put Unix on it.

I heard some people say that Linux has better support for Laptop
specific things (what support exactly is needed? PCMCIA? Power saving
mode?)

Is this really true? I would really prefer FreeBSD but wonder what
problems/deficiencies I might encounter.

Thanks in advance,

--
Peter Mutsaers  |  Abcoude (Utrecht), |  Trust is a good quality

--
Peter Mutsaers  |  Abcoude (Utrecht), |  Trust is a good quality

Some laptops (IBM thinkpads in particular) don't work with the default
keyboard driver in freebsd, Linux runs great. Heard problem in freebsd
will be fixed next release...
--
Tom Evans

Disclaimer: My views are my own, your mileage might vary, taxes are extra, etc

: Some laptops (IBM thinkpads in particular) don't work with the default
: keyboard driver in freebsd, Linux runs great. Heard problem in freebsd
: will be fixed next release...

Interesting .. I've been running FreeBSD on my 560 since June without any
"adjustments" of this nature,

        michael

In any case, as soon as UserConfig gets working again it'll no longer be
a problem with FreeBSD.  It should work out of the box with all
ThinkPad's with a simple change in UserConfig to let the console driver
know that the machine is a ThinkPad.

Nate

--


work #: (406) 449-7662 | Montana (all the crazies are now in jail 'cept us
home #: (406) 443-7063 | natives). - Fly fishing fanatic!

: Hello,

: I just bought a Laptop and want to put Unix on it.

: I heard some people say that Linux has better support for Laptop
: specific things (what support exactly is needed? PCMCIA? Power saving
: mode?)

: Is this really true? I would really prefer FreeBSD but wonder what
: problems/deficiencies I might encounter.

Let me add in my $0.02 here because I'm wonderin the same thing.

I have a IBM ThinkPad 486/DX 50mhz, 8M RAM, 170M hard disk, and an Active
Matrix monitor. Yes, I realize the HD is small, but I was thinking of a
minimum installation.

Does this sound possible? Also, it would be nice to have the base
development tools and the X package, but I really think i might be pushing
the limits there. Any thoughts?

--
AJ Musgrove

----------------------------------------------------------------
My opinions do not necessarily reflect those of my employer, or
anyone else for that matter. O-
----------------------------------------------------------------

Quote:> > Does this sound possible? Also, it would be nice to have the base
> > development tools and the X package, but I really think i might be pushing
> > the limits there. Any thoughts?

> A quick check of my system shows me using 125M with base, X, and the
> kernel source tree. If you plan on running X, you'll do some swapping
> with only 8M. I only added emacs and a few other small apps...
> however it quickly grows...

: I have a IBM ThinkPad 486/DX 50mhz, 8M RAM, 170M hard disk, and an Active
: Matrix monitor. Yes, I realize the HD is small, but I was thinking of a
: minimum installation.
:
: Does this sound possible? Also, it would be nice to have the base
: development tools and the X package, but I really think i might be pushing
: the limits there. Any thoughts?

It should be fairly easy to put the base system (includes compiler), X and
the X libs/includes in 170Mb.  I really would recommend at least 16Mb of
memory when running X.  It ran for me on my laptop, but doing memory
intensive things killed the machine.

If you are stuck with 8Mb, I wouldn't bother loading the likes of emacs
and xv.  You may also be better off running rxvt instead of xterm.

--

      <http://www.awfulhak.demon.co.uk/>
Don't _EVER_ lose your sense of humour....
.

--


+1 408 249 9630, log in as 'guest' |
URL: http://www.kfu.com/~nsayer/   |

BTW, I changed development enviroment machine for PAO from Digital
Hinote Ultra 2 to Toshiba Libretto 30.  This new machine is very cute
(please see the picture on PAO web page).  Sorry, this model is not
sold in Japan only, but the size of keyboard doesn't match to the size
of hands of most American :-).  The size of body is 210 x 115 x 34 mm
(8.2 x 4.5 x 1.3 in) and the weight is only 840 g (1.85 lb).  It has
Am5x86 100MHz CPU, 6.1 inch TFT LCD, 20MB RAM and 500MB HDD (1/3 inch
height).

FreeBSD 2.2-ALPHA with PAO-961202 runs very fine on this machine. I'm
posting this article from this machine.  XFree86 3.2 also runs fine on
it.  My first "Palmtop FreeBSD machine".

--
HOSOKAWA, Tatsumi

Oops!

Quote:>> sold in Japan only, but the size of keyboard doesn't match to the size
>> of hands of most American :-).  The size of body is 210 x 115 x 34 mm
>> (8.2 x 4.5 x 1.3 in) and the weight is only 840 g (1.85 lb).  It has
>> Am5x86 100MHz CPU, 6.1 inch TFT LCD, 20MB RAM and 500MB HDD (1/3 inch
>> height).

--
HOSOKAWA, Tatsumi

Quote:> New version (961202) of PAO is released yesterday.  Please download it
> from PAO web page (http://www.mt.cs.keio.ac.jp/person/hosokawa/PAO) or
> anonymous ftp server
> (ftp://ryukyu.mt.cs.keio.ac.jp/pub/FreeBSD/PAO/PAO-961202.tar.gz)

For example,

        card "IBM Corp\." "Ethernet"
                config  default "ed0" any
                ether   0xff0 08:00:5a 00:04:ac

to,

        card "IBM Corp\." "Ethernet"
                config  default "ed0" any 0x10
                ether   0xff0 08:00:5a 00:04:ac

--
HOSOKAWA, Tatsumi