advice for buying a laptop

[Valeri Galtsev]

On Thu, June 9, 2016 9:06 am, Christian Baer wrote:
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> On 06/08/16 23:43, Valeri Galtsev wrote:
>
>> With Intel WiFi adapters I would suggest to stay away from latest
>> ones, specifically 7xxx and 6xxx (like 6205, 7260, etc). They will
>> not work (did not work for me). They need some modifications to
>> wireless stack, after which their drivers written for Linux could
>> be adopted/modified for FreeBSD (as far as I understood the
>> developer who can do/does that from his post). If I'm wrong here, I
>> really would like to see reference to what I can do to make one of
>> these WiFi adapters work...
>
> I am not really up to date on these WiFi chips, but in this case I am
> wondering if you mean "latest" in relative terms. Were they the latest
> chips when the T520 was current or are they the latest chips now? In
> the latter case, the T520 won't have them, so this is not an issue. :-)
>

Sorry, I was not clear enough.

Intel WiFi adapters with model numbers 6xxx and 7xxx require some
additions/modifications to wireless stack on FreeBSD. These adapters will
not work under FreeBSD

Intel adapters with model numbers 5xxx 4xxx and smaller should work under
FreeBSD (were reported to work under FreeBSD) - current FreeBSD stack has
all necessary for these, you may need to fiddle a bit with installing
latest firmware.

This is as far as I know. You may want to check which WiFi adapter the
laptop of your choice has. Relying just on the fact that some laptop is
certified for Linux (they usually will like Ubuntu for it) does not
guarantee that WiFi on that laptop will work under FreeBSD. Namely, all
Intel adapters with model numbers 7xxx and 6xxx will work under Linux, but
will not under FreeBSD. As far as I know, that is; somebody, correct me if
I'm wrong (with the reference to how I can make Intel 7xxx or 6xxx work
under FreeBSD).

I hope, this helps.

Valeri

> Best,
> Chris
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++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Valeri Galtsev
Sr System Administrator
Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics
Kavli Institute for Cosmological Physics
University of Chicago
Phone: 773-702-4247
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