On Fri, 10 Oct 2003, Frank van der Linden wrote:

> On Fri, Oct 10, 2003 at 11:19:37AM +0100, abs@mono.org wrote:
> > 	I'm looking for a replacement for a Compaq EVO N800w (P4 2.2Ghz,
> > 	1600x1200, ran quite well under NetBSD, but a little unreliable
> > 	and not a very good keyboard - its back with the supplier for
> > 	the fourth time this year and I they've given me a refund :)
> >
> > 	Screen res (>=1400x1050), battery, and keyboard are important,
> > 	touhpoint much preferred over pad.
> >
> > 	Always liked thinkpads, and the Centrino based T41 looks quite
> > 	nice. Expensive for the spec... but that is Thinkpads.
>
> Things that you must remember when buying Centrino laptops:
>
> 	* They might have an Intel MiniPCI wireless builtin, that
> 	  isn't supported by NetBSD (nor by any other open source
> 	  OS, I think.. they're not giving out the specs)
> 	* If it has an intel i8xx graphics chipset, then you might
> 	  bump into the problem where the VESA BIOS on it does
> 	  not know the native resolution of the laptop screen.
>
> 	  The XFree86 i810 driver needs the BIOS to set modes.
> 	  So your screen may be 1400x1050, but the BIOS doesn't
> 	  list that, leaving you with 1280x1024 which, not being
> 	  the screen's native resolution, doesn't look so great.
>
> 	  A driver for Windows that pokes the hardware directly will be
> 	  packaged with the laptop, so Windows won't have the
> 	  problem.

	The T41 has a 32MN ATI Mobility RADEON 9000, which I think should
	be pretty well supported - the N800w had a 64MB version of the
	same and xf86cfg worked out of the box...

-- 
		David/absolute          -- www.netbsd.org: No hype required --