Wanting to buy a laptop w/ FreeBSD, AND...

Tue Dec 1 09:00:20 UTC 2009

On Mon, 30 Nov 2009 23:35:35 -0500, compcent at mail.com wrote:
> Hello - I found the?"freebsd - hardware" ?list.? Where is the
> freebsd-software list??

Check out FreeBSD's ports collection. From the project's main
page, choose the shortcut "ports" on the right.

	http://www.freebsd.org/ports/index.html

You can have a look at the many programs for FreeBSD either
by logical or by alphabetical list. More than 20,000 ports
are available.

> I would like to buy a new or dependable used laptop.??

You should check the laptop's specifications with FreeBSD
hardware list, just to make sure everything is supported
properly.

> Initially, most of my questions are concerning?software.??

I think you#re primarily refering to application software,
not OS software in particular.

> For hardware, I would like a HP laptop, as?HP is my personal favorite.? 

I'm not a big fan of HP, but I'm sure they offer laptops that
are compatible.

> I prefer WP5.1 as a word processor.?

There has been a WordPerfect port for FreeBSD, but sadly...

	Port:   editors/wordperfect
	Moved:
	Date:   2003-09-29
	Reason: obsolete, sources pulled from the internet

No chance you could use OpenOffice, which is quite the
de-facto standard today? (By the way, I'm doing most writing
stuff, i. e. letters, books, documentation and many more,
with LaTeX.)

> I like to work on websites
> and to post to internet forums.??

Install a web browser that fits your needs. The most common
choice would surely be Firefox, but there is Opera as well
(my preferred browser), and many other good browsers for
FreeBSD, such as Konqueror, or Epiphany.

> I want to be 
> ?able to work with graphics, music, and videos, and to be
> able to watch movies (and TV).

For graphics, there are various tools, such as Gimp (and Gimpshop),
Krita, XFig or InkScape. For music, there's Amarok, XMMS, mplayer
and mencoder (gmplayer and gmencoder respectively). You can
access TV through the web, or by a TV tuner card (e. g. via
the bktr driver) and the appropriate programs.

I think using KDE or Gnome could be a good solution for you.

Finally, I may suggest that you have a look at the PC-BSD
project, which offers a preconfigured KDE environment and
some additional stuff, and it is based on FreeBSD. Maybe
that is what you're looking for?

> 1.)? Hewlett-Packard laptop????? 

Possibly.

2.)? FreeBSD as a OS????? 

Sure.

3.)? No MS?software or programs??

No need for that.

> ?4).? WordPerfect 5.1????? 

Could be a problem to run it natively.

5.)? DOS partition????? 

You can access DOS partitions via the mount_msdosfs command.

6.)? ? SBIE /FreeBSD ?live CD ???????

The FreeSBIE live CD is very useful for diagnostics and
checking hardware compatibility. But I don't know if this
project is still maintained, and if they offer a FreeSBIE
based on FreeBSD 8.0, the current production release.

Alternatively, you can always use FreeBSD's live system
CD, allthough it is not that "comfortable" as FreeSBIE.
But it will be fine for diagnostics.

7.)? Computer Shops ? 

Complete question? :-)

> What are my options concerning WordPerfect 5.1...?? Would WP 5.1
> run on FreeBSD??

You should check that. FreeBSD offers different means of
emulating or supporting other operating systems. DOSBOX
and DOSCMD, I think, are such tools. You could even try
to run WP under wine ("Windows" emulator, allthough it
is no emulator). Finally, there's the option of emulating
a whole PC, installing DOS on it, and then running WP
in this virtual PC.

> Or, 
> would I need to run WP5.1 on a DOS partition??

That could be possible, but there's no need to create a
DOS partition just to hold WP's files.

> If WP5.1 was on a DOS partition, could I readily 
> move the WP text files to the internet browser, to easily
> post them onto internet websites and forums?? 

Assume you run WP under X in wine - it doesn't need to be
on an own DOS partition, as I said -, you should be able
to copy & paste information from one window to another,
e. g. from WP's program window into a browser window.

> Or, would I have to buy a new version of WordPerfect??
> There was one of the newer versions that a person could 
> run in a WP5.1 mode.???

I'm not even sure WP is sold anymore... if you can, switch
to OpenOffice. Its standardized file format makes sure that
you can access your information in the future.

> 7.)? Computer Shops 
> ?
> My first contact is with a computer tech in Placerville,
> CA (El Dorado County) 
> MACKENDRICK COMPUTERS = http://www.rmack3.com/main.htm
> ?
> He is very experienced w/ Linux, but not with FreeBSD.? 

This makes me believe that he should at least have some
useful UNIX background knowledge.

-- 
Polytropon
Magdeburg, Germany
Happy FreeBSD user since 4.0
Andra moi ennepe, Mousa, ...