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Top laptops to use with FreeBSD

freebsdfoundation.github.io

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Re: Top laptops to use with FreeBSD

#181

Post by opan »

marssaxman wrote: post #141
mmsc wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> You say "works perfectly". I do not think it means what you think it means. Copying some files from a different machine is not that burdensome. The point is, it works.

By that logic, every piece of software ever made can be said to work perfectly in every situation, because there is always some amount of additional work which could be done to make up for its native deficiencies.

That's quite the leap. The work is already done, they just can't/won't ship the driver in base, right? Isn't it comparable to installing Debian and needing to load in non-free drivers separately?

Re: Top laptops to use with FreeBSD

#182

Post by eth0up »

vermaden wrote: post #100

I own these and they also work great with FreeBSD: ThinkPads: - W520/W530/T520/T530/X220/X230/T420s - T480 - T14 GEN1 (Intel) - T14 GEN1 (AMD) I needed to replace MediaTek WiFi card on T14 (AMD) into some Intel WiFi one. Hope that helps. Regards, vermaden

I just went through T14 Gen 1 hell. I tried to replace a broken LCD and the system just wouldn't boot. I fussed with it so much, the flimsy case cracked and broke in several places. I gave up and decided to use it as a clamshell, but had to keep the broken screen connected to boot.

But I couldn't get it to see the external monitor. I fought this for hours. I finally reached my patience threshold and tore the fucking LCD off the case. It hurt the hands a bit but was cathartic. Amazingly, it booted and saw the monitor, magically. I was astonished. With or without the broken screen, it wouldn't boot. But going psycho on it fixed it. Proof in the wholesomeness of violence, maybe not. But...

it's not running BSD. It's now my mom's desktop, and it's running Void. Works great, and I love the Ryzen 4700, with 16gb ram and atheros wifi chip. Delicate, but capable of some extremes :)

Re: Top laptops to use with FreeBSD

#183

Post by sandreas »

Thank you for the listing. However I'd really appreciate two more columns:

  Release Year/CPU gen
  Display Options
To see what tech of a laptop I'm buying in regards of performance and if it has a > 1920x1200 Option.

What I'm missing in the list is the

  LG Gram lineup and the 
  Dell 5530
(which is a steal when buying used here in Germany)

Re: Top laptops to use with FreeBSD

#184

Post by vermaden »

nosioptar wrote: post #163
vermaden wrote: post #100

I own these and they also work great with FreeBSD: ThinkPads: - W520/W530/T520/T530/X220/X230/T420s - T480 - T14 GEN1 (Intel) - T14 GEN1 (AMD) I needed to replace MediaTek WiFi card on T14 (AMD) into some Intel WiFi one. Hope that helps. Regards, vermaden

That's quite helpful. I'm potentially switching my x220t and t530 to a BSD this year, might also get a gen 1 t14.

The good thing about T530 (and T520) is that You can put there the same Quad Core CPU that W520/W530 has :)

Re: Top laptops to use with FreeBSD

#185

Post by vermaden »

sandreas wrote: post #183

Thank you for the listing. However I'd really appreciate two more columns: Release Year/CPU gen Display Options To see what tech of a laptop I'm buying in regards of performance and if it has a > 1920x1200 Option. What I'm missing in the list is the LG Gram lineup and the Dell 5530 (which is a steal when buying used here in Germany)

Sure.

2011:

- W520/T520 (maximum resolution: 1920x1080)

- T420s (maximum resolution: 1600x900)

- X220 (maximum resolution: 1366x768)

2012:

- W530/T530 (maximum resolution: 1920x1080)

- T430s (maximum resolution: 1600x900)

- X230 (maximum resolution: 1366x768)

2018:

- T480 (maximum resolution: 1920x1080 or more)

2020:

- T14 GEN1 (Intel) (maximum resolution: 1920x1080 or more)

- T14 GEN1 (AMD) (maximum resolution: 1920x1080 or more)

Newer models also work like the light ThinkPad X1 Carbon GEN5/GEN6/GEN7/GEN8/... for example.

Re: Top laptops to use with FreeBSD

#186

Post by Gud »

PunchyHamster wrote: post #143
fullstop wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It seems like the best way to get WiFi working in FreeBSD is to run Linux in bhyve and tunnel your connections through there.

It seems the best way to get WiFi working is to run Linux and FreeBSD in a VM..

But then you’re stuck running Linux as your primary OS, which is a huge drawback.

FWIW, I’ve done both, FreeBSD with a virtualised OpenBSD for WiFi, and currently I run Arch so I can do gaming, with FreeBSD virtualised for development. I’m kind of looking to go back to my previous setup.

Re: Top laptops to use with FreeBSD

#187

Post by Gud »

robot-wrangler wrote: post #153
evanjrowley wrote: post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>But docker Maybe one day! One of the things that has changed in the past 20 years with FreeBSD is the addition of bhyve. Virtualization on FreeBSD was not great prior to bhyve. Because FreeBSD waited to implement it, they ended up with an arguably more modern hypervisor versus what Linux had at the time. Maybe history will repeat when it comes to application containers / docker images. Podman came 5 years after Dock…

Wow, searched this thread for docker hoping to realize I was behind the times and thinking surely it must work by now. It's so crazy that the BSDs have a reputation for stable, implying sysadmins and servers, then it won't support the one thing that every server needs. VMs running linux is the preferred path of least resistance then? Honestly you'd have to work hard to find a better way to alienate your target audien…

Jails is far superior to the kludge that is docker. “Every server” only needs docker if you’re asking the wrong questions

Re: Top laptops to use with FreeBSD

#188

Post by nesarkvechnep »

olivierestsage wrote: post #12

It's crazy how much negativity there is in comment threads like this. I would get it if FreeBSD was a product you paid for, or someone was evangelizing about how you're missing out if you don't get the FreeBSD laptop experience, or something. As someone who liked FreeBSD in the past and curious to check it out again, I'm glad to have this handy list.

A few years back I attended a talk by one of the Netflix developers who contributed kTLS. It was very informative as he pointed the reasons why Netflix went with FreeBSD. The first question afterwards was “why not Linux”… Didn’t you listen to the talk, man…

Re: Top laptops to use with FreeBSD

#189

Post by rfmoz »

NekkoDroid wrote: post #147
rfmoz wrote: post #142

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are modified BIOS firmware that allow any WiFi card. Good luck

I remember seeing something in that direction when I was looking but never did look deeper into it. The post made me actually take out the laptop again and maybe use it as a server or something like that in the future and for that I'd use ethernet anyway.

Search on bios-mods for a modified whitelist BIOS firmware -> https://www.bios-mods.com/forum/Forum-WiFi-WWAN-Whitelist-Re...

Re: Top laptops to use with FreeBSD

#190

Post by bluebarbet »

yjftsjthsd-h wrote: post #164
bluebarbet wrote: post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is not trivial to get FOSS Linux onto a write-protected Intel Chromebook, compared to a Windows netbook of yore. It is harder still to get it onto an ARM Chromebook or Android tablet. PostmarketOS is a bit simpler (or at least better documented) but it is not a full Linux distro. Installing a fully-fledged FOSS OS on low-end general-purpose computing hardware is getting harder. Certainly for the non-techies who ha…

I think it's better and worse in slightly different ways. On the one hand, yeah a Chromebook won't let you touch the default OS without switching to developer mode, and won't let you install a new OS without disabling the write-protect screw or firmware option. On the other hand, every ChromeOS device allows you to do exactly that, and then you can run whatever you want and you should have at least some support for u…

>By what definition is PMOS not a "full" distro?

Can it run Sway window manager? Honest question.

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