Recommended Hardware

[Alex Zbyslaw]

Wayne wrote:

> If I was going to build or spec' a system, what subset of the 
> supported hardware is best?  I've heard cons, like manufacturer's 
> apathy or negativity towards FreeBSD.  I guess Pros would include 
> stable, actively developed drivers, consistency and long term 
> availability of products (unlike manufacturers who release 3 totally 
> different boards in a year with the same model number!), etc...

Pick something you think you like the look of and type in all the 
various critical components as searches to Google, along with freebsd, 
or just start by searching the mailing lists  You'll discover some 
reasonable absolutes like sil3112 controllers are rubbish, but otherwise 
you'll get a variety of opinions.  There are no absolutes as everything 
depends to some extent on the bottom line - how much are you prepared to 
pay?

Also worth checking out sites like tomshardware.com for mainboard 
reviews etc (if you can face the adverts) and just general googles - 
usually the detritus rises to the top :-(

That strategy will work for building/buying yourself one or two 
machines.  If you're buying a shedload for a machine room somewhere then 
pick some manufactures like Dell, HP etc, pick the model numbers that 
interest you and type those in to Google along with freebsd.

Those have worked for me so far, and yes, it is labour intensive.

--Alex