Re: i give up

On Nov 29, 2008, at 4:15 PM, Beech Rintoul wrote:

On Saturday 29 November 2008 14:56:47 Garrett Cooper wrote:
On Sat, Nov 29, 2008 at 1:42 PM, Alexander Churanov

<alexanderchuranov@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Folks!

I have some ideas on that. The problem is it's sometimes hard to check
that given hardware is supported by FreeBSD, even in case you know and
want to do it. The list of supported hardware is often written in terms
of chipsets and manufacturers often produce cards using supported chips,
but named after their own trademark.

For example, at my location one of frequently sold TV card brands is
"beholder". It is not in the supported hw list. However, three years ago
I've installed ethernet cards named "compex" to PCs and they worked well
and were detected as "realtek". Given that, should one try "beholder" tv
card in the first place?

The solution is to ask someone, or, better, to pay someone for providing
that knowledge. Computer shops rarely indicate that hardware is
compatible with FreeBSD. Whom to ask/pay? All this leads to idea of
creating some organization that will sell FreeBSD compatible PCs and
hardware. I'm sure, business like that can not exist , because FreeBSD
userbase is not largest. But non-profit organization, would, probably.

Currently I have ordinary PC and several years ago it was running
Windows, now FreeBSD. Fortunately, all hardware works. Now I am thinking
of buying new PC and I would pay 10% extra for a brand PC with a sticker
"FreeBSD inside" or "Designed for FreeBSD". A shop like that would also
sell 100%-compatible photo cams, remote control units, etc.

All of these is highly hypothetical, but probably is possible. 10% is a
good donation.

Alexander Churanov

There's a hardware compatibility page, but it's probably out of date /
incorrect (I'm sure not all supported hardware is noted there --
bsdstats might have more info):
http://www.freebsd.org/releases/index.html (look under `Hardware
Notes' for your given release).

My mileage:

- nVidia sucks for use on Unix platforms. Even under Linux I ran into
a bunch of issues when building my PC last year, and I've discovered
that if you're going to run Unix, stick to Intel chipsets.
- nVidia chipsets (from my PoV -- I can be swayed) offer almost zero
real advantage over Intel chipsets other than SLi. Then again I never
have and never plan on running 2+ nVidia cards at once.

So unfortunately by purchasing nVidia hardware you're kind of
beckoning for problems, mostly because their datasheets and specs are
more closed than Intel.

I just built a box and used an 8500 GT nVidia clone it's a medium range card
and is fully supported by FreeBSD.

Beech

I was referring more to complete nVidia chipsets (the north +southbridge variety), not video cards. Video cards have no real issue.
-Garrett
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