laptop for -current

[Jake Hamby]

Kim Culhan wrote:
> Anyone know a laptop they think is good for FreeBSd-current?

I just bought a Fujitsu Lifebook N5010, not specifically to run FreeBSD, 
but as a desktop replacement for software development (I typically 
dual-boot between Windows and Linux or FreeBSD).  The features unique to 
Fujitsu notebooks that I appreciated the most were:

* exceptionally crisp and bright 16" display visible from all angles
* one of the few brands to still include a built-in 3.5" floppy drive
* exceptionally fast Radeon 9600 3-D chipset w/ 64MB. (1)
* convenient, big rotary volume control knob with LED volume display.
* very well-designed keyboard layout and keyboard feel
* Built-in Atheros 802.11a/b/g (not yet supported by FreeBSD-current, 
but I have ported the latest version of the Linux driver). (2)

(1) Unfortunately, the Radeon 9600 is not yet supported for 3-D 
acceleration by the free drivers in XFree86.  It is supported by the 
proprietary ATI drivers for Linux which are not yet available for FreeBSD.

(2) You can download it here: 
http://www.anobject.com/jehamby/atheros_driver.tar.bz2

Other than general instability of the current -current (random hard 
freezes during moderate to heavy system activity, which doesn't happen 
with the RELENG_5_2 kernel), the main features not currently supported 
by FreeBSD on this laptop are:

* onboard 10/100 Ethernet not being detected (seems to be an issue with 
the PCI bus enumerator not seeing the card at all)
* the laptop doesn't come back up after an ACPI suspend.

If you can live without these two features until they get fixed, and are 
willing to lug around a 7 pound laptop w/ a 2-hour battery life, I think 
this is a stylish and high-quality machine for a reasonable price.

--
Jake Hamby
GoPix, Inc.