Re. http://mail-index.netbsd.org/port-i386/2002/12/15/0003.html

I only have first-hand experience with one VIA chipset machine.  I can't
remember any problems that can be blamed on the chipset.  (The only
problem I've had is a slow disk drive (which is fixed by replacing the
disk, so it appears to either be a power supply or hard drive problem, not
chipset).)  However, this was with a tower system, not a laptop.  (^&

I've installed NetBSD on two Gateway 2000 laptops (one only briefly since
it wasn't mine; the other is happily running NetBSD now).  Not a VIA
chipset, though, and rather older hardware.  Until NetBSD 1.6, I couldn't
use the laptop's USB ports; otherwise it was a breeze to set up and use.
The one problem is that if you close and reopen the lid (at least under
X), the display gets shifted a short distance (16 pixels? 32?); running
xvidtune and cliking "Apply" (or whatever---don't actually need to alter
any settings) restores the X server.

Oh, and the boot messages get SPAMMED nastily with a bunch of verbose
codes.  (Which reminds me of something that I wanted to investigate.)


One thing that might be nice to have is a bootable NetBSD CD that *is* an
installed version of the OS (say with an mfs-mounted /tmp and /var).  I
think that that should be possible (maybe even easy?) to set up.  That
might be nice if you can get physical access to the machien before you buy
it---you won't have to actually install the OS first, but can peruse dmesg
easily.  (The normal install disk seems to lack the means to do this,
since it packs only the bare minimum into the installation filesystem.)

I recently picked up an old (refurbished) IBM workstation.  It was sold
with the OS wiped off of it, so the place didn't mind if I *installed* an
OS on it (as long as doing so and leaving it on there wouldn't violate any
copyrights).  But if it were a new system, they might have objected if I'd
wiped the factory-installed OS.  (^&  Might be easier to just boot from a
"diagnostic CD" to see if the hardware is compatible before you buy.

(For that matter, now that I think of it, I have other uses for such a
diagnostic tool...)


Sorry for rambling off onto a tangent.  (^&


  ``I probably don't know what I'm talking about.'' --rauch@math.rice.edu