i give up

[Beech Rintoul]

On Saturday 29 November 2008 17:31:56 Garrett Cooper wrote:
> On Nov 29, 2008, at 4:15 PM, Beech Rintoul wrote:
> > On Saturday 29 November 2008 14:56:47 Garrett Cooper wrote:
> >> On Sat, Nov 29, 2008 at 1:42 PM, Alexander Churanov
> >>
> >> <alexanderchuranov at gmail.com> wrote:
> >>> Folks!
> >>>
> >>> I have some ideas on that. The problem is it's sometimes hard to
> >>> check
> >>> that given hardware is supported by FreeBSD, even in case you know
> >>> and
> >>> want to do it. The list of supported hardware is often written in
> >>> terms
> >>> of chipsets and manufacturers often produce cards using supported
> >>> chips,
> >>> but named after their own trademark.
> >>>
> >>> For example, at my location one of frequently sold TV card brands is
> >>> "beholder". It is not in the supported hw list. However, three
> >>> years ago
> >>> I've installed ethernet cards named "compex" to PCs and they
> >>> worked well
> >>> and were detected as "realtek". Given that, should one try
> >>> "beholder" tv
> >>> card in the first place?
> >>>
> >>> The solution is to ask someone, or, better, to pay someone for
> >>> providing
> >>> that knowledge. Computer shops rarely indicate that hardware is
> >>> compatible with FreeBSD. Whom to ask/pay? All this leads to idea of
> >>> creating some organization that will sell FreeBSD compatible PCs and
> >>> hardware. I'm sure, business like that can not exist , because
> >>> FreeBSD
> >>> userbase is not largest. But non-profit organization, would,
> >>> probably.
> >>>
> >>> Currently I have ordinary PC and several years ago it was running
> >>> Windows, now FreeBSD. Fortunately, all hardware works. Now I am
> >>> thinking
> >>> of buying new PC and I would pay 10% extra for a brand PC with a
> >>> sticker
> >>> "FreeBSD inside" or "Designed for FreeBSD". A shop like that would
> >>> also
> >>> sell 100%-compatible photo cams, remote control units, etc.
> >>>
> >>> All of these is highly hypothetical, but probably is possible. 10%
> >>> is a
> >>> good donation.
> >>>
> >>> Alexander Churanov
> >>
> >> There's a hardware compatibility page, but it's probably out of
> >> date /
> >> incorrect (I'm sure not all supported hardware is noted there --
> >> bsdstats might have more info):
> >> http://www.freebsd.org/releases/index.html (look under `Hardware
> >> Notes' for your given release).
> >>
> >> My mileage:
> >>
> >> - nVidia sucks for use on Unix platforms. Even under Linux I ran into
> >> a bunch of issues when building my PC last year, and I've discovered
> >> that if you're going to run Unix, stick to Intel chipsets.
> >> - nVidia chipsets (from my PoV -- I can be swayed) offer almost zero
> >> real advantage over Intel chipsets other than SLi. Then again I never
> >> have and never plan on running 2+ nVidia cards at once.
> >>
> >> So unfortunately by purchasing nVidia hardware you're kind of
> >> beckoning for problems, mostly because their datasheets and specs are
> >> more closed than Intel.
> >
> > I just built a box and used an 8500 GT nVidia clone it's a medium
> > range card
> > and is fully supported by FreeBSD.
> >
> > Beech
>
> I was referring more to complete nVidia chipsets (the north
> +southbridge variety), not video cards. Video cards have no real issue.
> -Garrett

I agree that's a completely different animal. I now tend towards MSI 
motherboards. I had a couple of bad experiences with ASUS and every MSI box 
I've built the MB is fully supported in FreeBSD. But you can never go wrong 
with Intel.

Beech
-- 
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Beech Rintoul - FreeBSD Developer - beech at FreeBSD.org
/"\   ASCII Ribbon Campaign  | FreeBSD Since 4.x
\ / - NO HTML/RTF in e-mail   | http://people.freebsd.org/~beech
 X  - NO Word docs in e-mail | Skype: akbeech
/ \  - http://www.FreeBSD.org/releases/7.0R/announce.html
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------