About FreeBSD

[Kevin D. Kinsey, DaleCo, S.P.]

CGrmvll at aol.com wrote:

>Hello how are you doing I have been thinking about buying a copy of FreeBSD 
>PowerPak and I would like to know what kind of Modem, Sound Card, Display Card 
>I would have to have for my computer the type of computer that I have is a 
>Hewlett Packard Pavilion 4453. and could you please tell me a couple of brands of 
>Modems Sound Cards and Display Card that I would need to go and by and also 
>could you please tell me the brand name and the model of the hardware that I 
>need to buy to be able to run the FreeBSD Powerpack thank you for you time and 
>have a nice day.
>  
>
A list of supported hardware exists at www.freebsd.org.  A link should
appear on the "home" page to get you to this resource.  While there, you
should grab a copy of the FreeBSD "Handbook" in order to learn what
to do when something does something unexpected --- not that the OS
will necessarily do anything unusual, but many people don't think
"FreeBSD"-ishLY <?>, and will inevitably have questions during or after
installation.  (Good news, you have contacted the right place to ask
them....)

Almost any display cards will work in textmode; to see a list of supported
cards for graphics mode, visit www.xfree86.org.  Personally, I have used
Nvidia "GE Force" cards, SiS cards, and Trident cards.  It occasionally 
takes
a little time to develop new drivers, so the "latest & greatest" cards may
not yet be supported; or, they may work but need "tweaking" or use a Linux
compatible driver instead of native support, etc.

Most sound cards, including on-chip (built in) sound, will work.

For modems, the rule used to be "no winmodems".  This basically meant
"buy an external modem".  I have a USR v.92 external (serial) modem on one
machine; this was about $70.00 last year.  There is 3rd party software 
support
for "winmodems" that use a Lucent chipset, I think.  I may be wrong, but 
that's
about it for modems.

Kevin Kinsey