Can you e-mail me the minimal requirements for FreeBSD?

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

Douglas Blancahrd wrote:

>Yes, I need a list of minimal requirements for FreeMSD, 
>  
>

Do you mean FreeBSD? ;-)

>including amount of video card memory or whatever it's called, 
>

Well, video card memory is video card memory.  It sounds
as if you're expecting a Windows-like "recommended minimum
hardware configuration" list; you won't find one, because
FreeBSD is extremely flexible; there is not a "standard
application model" necessarily.  If you want a headless
firewall box, for example, you don't need hardware that is
anywhere near as "hefty" as you would for, say, working
as an animator at Pixar ---- just as an example.

The short answer---"depends on what you want to see". 
You can probably run a base system on hardware from 1988 if you
want to.  If you want to see graphics and pretty colors or pictures,
something more modern is needed.  Video card memory isn't usually
as important as the type of video card; I've run FreeBSD+XFree86+
GNOME on SiS, Savage, Trident, Nvidia GeForce, and a few
other types of hardware.

>hard disk space, etc., 
>

Again, it depends on what you want to do; AAMOF, you
can run FreeBSD without a Hard disk (assuming you have
a second machine to read from via the network....)

You could get by with as little as a few hundred megabytes
if you just wanted a little system; if you intend to make it
your desktop machine, you'll want as much as you can
reasonably afford, if you're much like the rest of us.  The
machine I'm using ATM has a 40 GB HDD, and I'm constantly
guarding against getting it too full; it serves as a desktop
computer, LAN web/mail server, LAN gateway/DNS/firewall,
RSync backup server, web development environment, LAN
mp3 storage, etc., etc., etc... needless to say I'm always on
the lookout for storage bargains....

>and also will it support SoundMAX integrated sound cards?
>  
>

Does it use the AC '97 protocol?  If so, I'd say yes.  Check
the organization's web site for a "Hardware Compatibility
List", which might list your device.  In general, I've found the
pcm driver to be rather flexible.  Hardware from the "windoze
world" that gives more trouble are usually things like internal
modems and certain USB devices, along with the odd archaic
peripheral that just never got a driver written for it...

Kevin Kinsey
DaleCo, S.P.

P.S.  You may or may not have noticed; in the context of
replying to you, I caused your lines to be broken into smaller
lines (around 72-80 characters is best).  As FreeBSD users
run the gamut from a graphics guy working with a dual 21 inch
display at some goshawful resolution to someone reading from
a 80-column serial console, it's good practice to hit "enter"
whenever your lines get about as long as these; that way we
can be "nice" to the 80-column guys....