Hardware

[DetroitBaseball]

I want to see better hardware support in the upcoming versions of PC-BSD, such as newer Dell systems and such.

[marc]

Actually, most of the HW IS supported. Only exotic and cheap HW isn`t.

[Dingens]

I want to see better hardware support in the upcoming versions of PC-BSD, such as newer Dell systems and such.yes, this more prior job for the hardware producer. when they deliver drivers or open the driver code than all becomes good.

all the rest (driver reengineering) is a job that have to be pay with big respect, because it is a jpb they don't have to do.

[TerryP]

I like how OpenBSD will bully companies into opener drivers :D

[Apatewna]

I want to see better hardware support in the upcoming versions of PC-BSD, such as newer Dell systems and such.

Actually, hardware support offered by PCBSD is the same offered by its underlying operating system which is FreeBSD 6.1.
If FreeBSD supports your hardware then you're good to go :)
Check this (http://www.freebsd.org/releases/6.1R/hardware.html) out. Select your architecture and lookup your hardware among the list for specific support info.

[dario29]

full opengl and 3D for Radeons :D

[DragnLord]

One not-so-minor caveat, PC-BSD runs extremely poorly on anything less then an i686-compatible CPU. Please do not install on a P2 or P3 and expect good performance.

[Charles]

Interesting, we just discussed it on the freebsd-hardware (http://lists.freebsd.org/pipermail/freebsd-hardware/2006-July/003611.html) mailing list :roll:

[antik]

Interesting, we just discussed it on the freebsd-hardware (http://lists.freebsd.org/pipermail/freebsd-hardware/2006-July/003611.html) mailing list :roll:

I just don`t understand how lack of drivers can make system unbootable. Or all our hardware problems roots is in ACPI? I know that if FreeBSD works on particular hardware then it JUST WORKS without any problem. But if it is not supported... Reminds me SuperMicro servers where I installed FreeBSD some time ago- unbelievable piece of unsupported crap (officially they support only windows- we are unable to install any version of Windows and Linux without our voodoo master support- that means we have to hack hardware- put some floppy drive in it to load drivers WTF!), but if you manage to install FreeBSD on it, then it works forever...

That reminds me another hilarious hardware vendor- ADAPTEC SUCKS a lot.

If someone going to build REAL RAID (not "softraid") then forget adaptec piece of ***** and buy 3ware or areca or lsi- all are fully supported under FreeBSD.

[TerryP]

It's a bloody wonder what ACPI and hard drive geometry issues can chop up Antik, those are the 2 most common things I've noticed here that do not involve ether X11 or having to load a driver module.

My first laptop had so many ACPI problems with PC/Free BSD 1.1/6.1 that if I so much as plugged in a USB Stick it's kernel had a panic attack, after toshiba acpi added to the kernel it at least wouldn't crash till I removed it. Of course it went right back to the shop for one that loves PC-BSD :)

@ DragnLord I've had no problems with performance ether FreeBSD 6.1-Release or PC-BSD 1.0rc1-2 (FreeBSD 6.0) on a box using a early Pentium 3, as long as your not compiling some thing huge. 384MB RAM + 1GB of Swap when I used KDE didn't hurt ether.

[DragnLord]

... the hardware manufacturers need to release driver information. Unfortunately most driver coding is done through a lot of trial and error, or from reverse engineering drivers written for Microsoft operating systems.

If you're having hardware issues with an operating system, even one of Microsoft's, the proper thing to do is contact the hardware maker to provide better driver(s). Then again, most hardware manufacturers state that they only support Microsoft operating systems.

Instead of complaining about "poor driver support", try making more informed choices in your hardware purchases.

[dracheflieger]

Interesting, we just discussed it on the freebsd-hardware (http://lists.freebsd.org/pipermail/freebsd-hardware/2006-July/003611.html) mailing list :roll:

Oh Charles, speaking of that I saw that thread and also, in one of the reponses, someone posted a link to rambler:

http://freebsd.rambler.ru/

A nice search tool for the lists.

[Apatewna]

This may sound funny but...

http://www.eltan.com/biosopt.htm

Advanced ACPI
The Advanced ACPI (Advanced Configuration and Power Interface) provides ASL (ACPI Source Language) code for power management and device configuration capabilities as defined in the ACPI specification developed by Microsoft, Intel and Toshiba. Advanced ACPI provides support for all ACPI features enabled by the hardware and the operating system including the features required for Microsoft Windows logo certification.

Yes microsoft has helped doing this too! :evil: