netbooks for freebsd?

[Warren Block]

On Wed, 19 Aug 2009, Manolis Kiagias wrote:
>
> Aspire One (the original one) also works nicely with FreeBSD.  If buying
> a newer model it is best to check it at a shop display or stg, since the
> hardware has changed and some models may be incompatible (esp. check
> video card and wireless chipset. The original one is equipped with Intel
> 950 and an Atheros wireless. Avoid models with the Z520 - Z530 atom cpu.
> Go for an N270-280 model).
> The biggest problems with running FreeBSD on such a device (at least in
> my opinion) are:
>
> - Suspend and resume not working.  Using powerd though, battery time is
> quite good
> - CPU is underpowered so forget compiling ports on it (the occasional
> small port is OK, larger stuff is a no go). Kernel compilation takes 55
> minutes on the One.

There are a lot of variations of the One.  I just installed 8.0 on an 
AOA150.  This is the version with the 160G hard drive instead of an SSD, 
and it's really not bad for building ports.  ccache helps with building 
kernel and world.

Neither of the two card readers seems to be supported, unfortunately.

One way around hardware problems for the original purpose would be to 
run FreeBSD in a VM on Windows.

-Warren Block * Rapid City, South Dakota USA