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Path: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au!newshost.carno.net.au!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!munnari.OZ.AU!news.ecn.uoknor.edu!feed1.news.erols.com!howland.erols.net!worldnet.att.net!news.alt.net!newspost1.alt.net!usenet From: Wyatt@Dis.Org (Wyatt Earp) Newsgroups: comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc Subject: Re: Gonna buy a laptop, PCMCIA modems and questions Date: Fri, 20 Dec 1996 08:07:15 GMT Organization: Altopia Corp. - Affordable Usenet Access - http://www.alt.net Lines: 72 Message-ID: <32ba48c2.14850644@news.alt.net> References: <59ehf1$er8@tofu.alt.net> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Newsreader: Forte Agent .99g/32.339 Xref: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc:32956 At 03:21 PM 12/20/96 -0500, you wrote: > >You should check out the FreeBSD PCMCIA page. I can't >remember the URL off-hand, but it is on my bookmarks >page about 2/3ds of the way down - search for "PAO". > > http://hea-www.harvard.edu/~oly/bookmarks.html This page has lots of helpful info. Thanks! >There are plenty of PCMCIA modems that are known to >work with FreeBSD. Note that FreeBSD normally does not >support PCMCIA *during* the install. If you need to >have PCMCIA support to install (i.e. over a PCMCIA >ethernet card), you'll want a new install floppy from >the PAO web page. The unit I plan to buy has a built in cdrom, I plan to install from that. I never stopped to think if the cdrom was compatible, but it will probably be ide or something compatible.... I hope! >Linux has better support for laptops in some ways - >for example, Red Hat Linux will install via a PCMCIA >card without having to d/l a special floppy from >elsewhere. Also, some special devices, like Panasonic >KXL-740 (?) are supported by Linux and not FreeBSD. >I'm trying to add support for that particular device. I must run BSD due to peer pressure... I have an Apex 28.8 mobile plus PCMCIA modem I hope to use, it is not listed in the web page but the Apex ethernet+modem card is so I can hope my apex will work. I also have a 14.4 motorola card that was not listed but I will try it too. I do not yet have a pcmcia network card, so I will buy one on the list when the need comes up. >The ps/2 pointer on the Toshiba is not a problem, I >think. You'll want to d/l the PCMCIA package from the >PAO web page and install it. Then you follow the >instructions to build a new "kernel". This will give >you the support for the ps/2 pointer. Then you can >try out X Window - you may have luck with "xf86config" > - a program to configure X Windows for you. > >You definitely want to check out whether your laptop's >video chipset is supported by X - see the XFree86 >project at > > http://www.xfree86.org I never thought of that, I need to check and see what chipset the laptop is running. All I know is it is a 600x800 dual-scan (way cheaper but not as nice as Thin Film) >Note that I was basically an idiot when I started running >Linux on my laptop. It isn't "easy", but if you persevere >you should get everything working the way you want (FreeBSD >is not much different in this regard). Ya, I consider my self a bsd idiot, (sort of...) that is why I am doing this. Pain and perseverance leads to non-idiocy > >-- > >-Oly > >P.S.: There are many on-line copies of the config file for >X as appropriate for various laptops. If you have trouble >getting X to run, that may be good to know. Yes, they seem like a real time saver! :)