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Re: Laptop Recommendations for NetBSD?



On 19/06/2019 21:59, Chris Humphries wrote:
> I'm shopping for a new laptop and would like to have a laptop with
> very good NetBSD support (ethernet and wireless networking works,
> graphics works using the graphics card in a non-generic way,
> suspend/resume works, trackpad).

Does "new" mean "new" or "another"?

I don't have a recommendation now but I might in the future.
Nevertheless I'd like to share my experience so far, which might give
you a clue for another thing to watch out for.

> https://wiki.netbsd.org/laptops/ exists - but like many wiki pages,
> how current it is is questionable and may be rotten. Also, most of the
> laptops are very old.

Thanks for the link anyway.  I didn't know about it and it is
interesting to me.

> What is your laptop recommendation for running NetBSD bare-metal? 

I have a small stockpile of Lenovo ThinkPads.  I have decided to use an
X230 exclusively for NetBSD, that is, to install the OS on the bare metal.

I haven't had much luck yet because I _think_ the NetBSD installer is
getting confused and thinks it is being booted by a UEFI boot loader
instead of the "legacy" BIOS, which is what I have the machine set to in
its configurable boot firmware.

Also, I _think_ the BIOS/UEFI dual boot loader is not implemented well.
 Apparently this was common around the time when UEFI started to be
shipped in more and more machines.  For example, I have a very similar
problem when trying to install Debian onto an HP t620 Plus and I still
haven't figured it out.

If I am successful with this X230, and I don't have to use the
semi-manual or manual installation method for "UEFI" computers, I will
write up my experiences and post a report.  I will also add it to the
wiki.  Hopefully we can start using it more regularly.

Andrew
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