IBM T60 laptop?

[Jurjen Middendorp]

On Wed, Feb 14, 2007 at 09:40:37PM +1100, fbsd wrote:
> Hi All,
> 
> I am looking for a good laptop to put FreeBSD (PCBSD) on. The general consensus
> seems to be that IBM make good units and that the T60 is a good choice. But
> when I look at the three components  that seem to cause most trouble in
> laptops 1. Graphics cards, 2. high definition audio and 3. wireless cards,
> the T60 doesn't look so good.

The T60 is being made by lenovo i believe.

> Ok, I know that some people are having success with a driver for the Intel
> 3945abg wireless, but it is still in development and not yet in the base
> system yet. In the short term, a wireless card can be used so this area can
> be overcome.

I'm not sure if my laptop also has the intel 3945abg card (i got it through
university and they were a bit fuzzy about what was what :) but i can use
mine with the atheros driver... Maybe you can contact lenovo/ your laptop
dealer to change the default wireless card?

> I don't know what is happening on the high definition audio front. I think
> a driver is being worked on but there is no work around until it becomes
> available. So for the moment there is no sound.

Yes there is :) Just make a search with keywords like: hdac freebsd thinkpad,
and you'll find it! if you can't find it i can send what i have, it works
for what i have (device   = '82801G (ICH7 Family) High Definition Audio').

> All the T60 models have either Intel or ATI graphic cards which don't have
> good support in FreeBSD (so I hear). In fact, a lot of people say always go
> for nVidia cards. This does not seem likely to change.

True, but vesa mode for X works fine, which is probably enough to display your
desktop and stuff. There's also a driver out there (fglrx or something) that
supports ATI cards (only 2d stuff) but i couldn't get that to work so maybe
that's just a big scam! :)

> So the T60 seems to strike out in all three areas. In fact most modern laptops
> have the same problems.
> 
> So is my assessment correct? Or is there hope yet for the T60.

In my opinion the T60 is a really great laptop (it's also the only laptop i
ever used, so... , but i like it). It's fast, most things work, and the keys
aren't annoyingly small to type with which i expected, it being a laptop and
all. It also looks very nice and feels sturdy. So if you can change the
wireless card and don't want to use your graphics card for stuff like playing
games i can really recommend it!