About FreeBSD hardware compatibility?

[Da Rock]

On Sun, 2009-01-18 at 23:53 -0700, Tim Judd wrote:
> aaron lewis wrote:
> > Hi,
> >     I'm  a freebsd lovers , i wonna install fbsd7.1 to my laptop (IBM
> > Thinkpad R400 a18).
> >   There's no available informations on laptop compatibility lists. So do you
> > have any solutions to make a quick check if everything will work?
> > I know Solaris has a Install_check tool which will give a list  whether a
> > hardware has solaris drivers ,third-part driver or not supported.
> > Does Fbsd has something likely?
> > Thk in advance!
> >
> >   
> The most reliable way to check, is by booting the livefs cd and checking 
> pciconf -lvvv for any none* devices.  the none* devices may be given a 
> driver if you load a module, but what's in GENERIC on the livefs, is 
> what's in GENERIC when you first boot it from the hard disk.
> 
> This is an invaluable tool when I am just curious.  It's also the 
> invaluable tool for disaster recovery.  Try the CD, and post to 
> -questions when you get stuck with a device that should be recognized.
> 
> --Tim

Failing that look for the unknown devices (may show like 'multimedia
device', etc) when the cd boots up prior to sysinstall. Just keep your
eyes peeled as the text scrolls past; its not normally too fast that you
can't read it. This may not be 100% (or maybe it is...) but if it shows
up those tell tale signs here you can be sure its not supported.