Re: Best Laptop to buy for Freebsd Without OS?

2011-02-20 Thread Brian Callahan


>
> After deciding I could not really buy a computer locally, I ordered my latest 
> machine from "Freedom Included, Inc" from in the US.
> http://freedomincluded.com/product/lemote-yeeloong/
>
> It is a MIPS-based subnotebook shipping with gNewSense (Linux distro). I 
> don't think it is what the OP was looking for since it won't even run Windows 
> without qemu (3hour+ compile for all targets). It is also a relatively small 
> machine (netbook size). I am also not sure if the wireless would be supported 
> in freeBSD.
> freedomincluded@freedomincluded:~$ lsusb
> Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
> Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
> Bus 004 Device 003: ID 0bda:8189 Realtek Semiconductor Corp. RTL8187B 
> Wireless 802.11g 54Mbps Network Adapter
> Bus 004 Device 002: ID 0bda:0158 Realtek Semiconductor Corp. USB 2.0 
> multicard reader
> Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
> Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
> (Camera not listed)
>
> Regards,
>
> James Phillips

I highly doubt the OP wants a Yeeloong. I have two (and cannot
recommend Dan enough, he's a very cool guy) and I love them, both
running OpenBSD. They don't run FreeBSD, kfreebsd-yeeloong
notwithstanding (it was a GSoC project), however the wireless would
work just fine, it's a urtw(4), which has been supported since 8.0.
Actually, everything on the computer *would* work if FreeBSD was
ported to it, but this is a non-trivial task and simply isn't going to
happen until there are people willing to make it happen.
With that said, the Yeeloong is not a good recommendation for anyone,
with the exception of someone who wants to buy a nascent, possibly
(hopefully) emerging architecture, to play with or to port software.
Or someone who cares that much about free software and doesn't care
about the limitations of the architecture. This isn't what the OP
wants.

~Brian
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Re: Best Laptop to buy for Freebsd Without OS?

2011-02-19 Thread Polytropon
On Thu, 17 Feb 2011 18:32:59 -0500, Brian Callahan  wrote:
> IANAL, but I have been informed by several lawyers that you cannot do
> this. The Windows 7 EULA, when preinstalled on a machine, states that
> the agreement is between you and the company selling you the computer,
> and "By using the Software, you accept these terms. If you do not
> accept them, do not use the software. Instead, contact the
> manufacturer or installer to determine its return policy. You must
> comply with that policy, which might limit your rights or require you
> to return the entire system on which the software is installed."
> 
> The major OEMs will say "OK, then you must return the computer," and
> you have no option but to comply. This is true for the USA.

Erm... and this is NOT a joke? Don't get me wrong, I had a
good laugh about this... agreement... but nothing is too
absurd to be true.

In this specific context, does booting a FreeBSD and removing
the "Windows" from the disk is equivalent to "using the soft-
ware"? If I understand it correctly, "using" relates to the
software, not the hardware.

(Yes, I already understood the strange concept that by
purchasing a "Windows", either by a shiny package or as
preinstalled part of a bundle with PC hardware, you do
not own it, you're not allow to do with it as you please,
instead you rent a limited right to just "use" it under
certain circumstances and terms.)


-- 
Polytropon
Magdeburg, Germany
Happy FreeBSD user since 4.0
Andra moi ennepe, Mousa, ...
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Re: Best Laptop to buy for Freebsd Without OS?

2011-02-19 Thread Polytropon
On Sat, 19 Feb 2011 12:57:02 -0800, David Brodbeck  wrote:
> Sometimes there can be activation issues with OEM versions of Windows
> XP.  They're usually keyed to the manufacturer's BIOS.

Not a problem anymore - after 2014. :-)



-- 
Polytropon
Magdeburg, Germany
Happy FreeBSD user since 4.0
Andra moi ennepe, Mousa, ...
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Re: Best Laptop to buy for Freebsd Without OS?

2011-02-19 Thread David Brodbeck
On Fri, Feb 18, 2011 at 6:36 PM, Julian H. Stacey  wrote:
> Reality:
>  XP purchased with a Toshiba laptop runs native, but fails on
>  virtualbox, on the same laptop.  I believe XP is crippled to only
>  run on Toshiba, & vbox presents too clean/generic an environment ;-)

Sometimes there can be activation issues with OEM versions of Windows
XP.  They're usually keyed to the manufacturer's BIOS.
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Re: Best Laptop to buy for Freebsd Without OS?

2011-02-19 Thread Christopher J. Ruwe
I am typing on a Lenovo Thinkpad R500 running 8-stable, after (a very
high quality) instruction installation by Yamagi Burmeister
(http://www.bsdforen.de/showthread.php?s=e2db5256b283497ca371738ad34b7572&t=24823).

I am very happy with both FreeBSD and my notebook since I switched
(unnerved) from Gentoo Linux to FreeBSD last year.
-- 
Christopher J. Ruwe
TZ GMT + 1


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Re: Best Laptop to buy for Freebsd Without OS?

2011-02-19 Thread Maciej Milewski
On Saturday 19 of February 2011 06:12:52, Craig Butler wrote:
 > Lenovo destroyed thinkpad in the t410i range;
> * stupid flimsy/flexi keyboard with massive delete and escape keys
> (why ???)
I don't liked it either so I stayed with R400.
> * gobi 2000 3g connectivity, cant get it working on anything none M$
Have you tried gobi_loader and
http://old.nabble.com/-dev-ttyU0---block-at-open-td29876841.html
?

As for the subject - my R400 is working fine and I have no problems with it. 
Opposite to when I had Lenovo 3000 series(poor performance,hot palm rest 
place, poor technical design: plastic cover too thin and too plastic. It made 
my lcd with background artefact of the 5cm circle in the centre of the screen)
I think this line was transformed into the IdeaPad line
Earlier I had Acer's Travelmate 3012 where it has issues with acpi and overall 
performance not to mention surprisingly hot keyboard.

-
Maciej
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Re: Best Laptop to buy for Freebsd Without OS?

2011-02-18 Thread Craig Butler
On Sat, 2011-02-19 at 04:28 +, John Levine wrote:
> > At one point, Thinkpads - particularly the T4x series - were
> >_the_ recommended used laptop.  While it's been a while since i
> >looked into this formally, my grapevine says the quality went
> >downhill quickly after Lenovo bought IBM's pc hardware division.
> 
> I'm typing this on my Lenovo X200 running 8.1. For the most part it
> works quite well and the quality seems similar to my previous IBM X40.
> 
> The worst annoyance is that the sound volume is quite low, and I
> haven't yet figured out what to tweak to fix that.  It has bluetooth
> and a fingerprint reader, neither of which I've set up, mostly out of
> lack of interest.
> 
> R's,
> John
> 
Lenovo destroyed thinkpad in the t410i range;
* stupid flimsy/flexi keyboard with massive delete and escape keys
(why ???)
* gobi 2000 3g connectivity, cant get it working on anything none M$
* cut the number of leds, power led no longer turns orange or flashes,
no caps/scroll/num leds (again why ???)
* stupid windows 7 stickers.

Overall not impressed...

/Craig B



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Re: Best Laptop to buy for Freebsd Without OS?

2011-02-18 Thread Chad Perrin
On Sat, Feb 19, 2011 at 04:28:24AM +, John Levine wrote:
> 
> I'm typing this on my Lenovo X200 running 8.1. For the most part it
> works quite well and the quality seems similar to my previous IBM X40.
> 
> The worst annoyance is that the sound volume is quite low, and I
> haven't yet figured out what to tweak to fix that.  It has bluetooth
> and a fingerprint reader, neither of which I've set up, mostly out of
> lack of interest.

Oh, yeah, I'd forgotten about sound.

T/X 400+ ThinkPads seem to have relatively quiet sound.  I don't know
what's up with that -- and I'm not aware of any way to fix it short of
replacing the physical speakers.

-- 
Chad Perrin [ original content licensed OWL: http://owl.apotheon.org ]


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Re: Best Laptop to buy for Freebsd Without OS?

2011-02-18 Thread Chad Perrin
On Fri, Feb 18, 2011 at 11:08:09PM -0500, Robert Huff wrote:
> 
> Chad Perrin writes:
> >
> >  In my experience, ThinkPads are among the highest quality laptops
> >  on the market.
> 
>   At one point, Thinkpads - particularly the T4x series - were
> _the_ recommended used laptop.  While it's been a while since i
> looked into this formally, my grapevine says the quality went
> downhill quickly after Lenovo bought IBM's pc hardware division.

I think that's a gross exaggeration.  I had my fears/doubts about how
well the ThinkPad line would hold its quality after the purchase, but I
kept using it as long as I did not see any reason to stop.

I have not seen a reason to stop.

That is not to say that there were not some hitches.  There was some talk
of a lower-quality keyboard (too much flex in it) than in previous models
on one model; I think it was the T500.  Lenovo moved quickly to solve the
problem, though, and gave people free replacement keyboards.  If there
has been a technical degradation in quality for ThinkPads under Lenovo's
direction, it has been so minute as to not bring it down to the level of
the run of relatively high-end laptops from other major manufacturers, so
I don't see *too* much room to complain.

In the twentyish ThinkPads that I have had, the hardware problems I have
had include:

1. a screen that went out on a twelve year old ThinkPad (I don't recall
the model number)

2. a screen that went out on a T60 this year -- but it was acquired from
a sketchy refurbisher, and refurbished with parts from that refurbisher

3. a P3 600E that a friend of mine managed to fry (she killed electronics
by touching them on a regular basis)

4. a T42p that spontaneously combusted (sorta: I smelled burning plastic
and turned it off, rescued the hard drive, and -- because it was actually
my employer's laptop -- got it replaced under warranty)

5. two batteries died after years of use

That's all the hardware failures I've seen, and in most cases they lasted
longer than any desktop system I've had.  The rest of them -- those that
did not suffer hardware failures -- just got handed down to others, one
way or another, when I replaced them.  Notice that exactly one of those
was a Lenovo-built laptop.  There are currently five Lenovo-built
ThinkPads in my home -- an R52 (just post-transition from IBM to Lenovo),
a T60, an X60 Tablet, a T500, and a T510.  Of them, the only one with a
hardware problem is the T60 with a dead screen, which is currently
serving as a desktop system until I get around to setting up the T510 to
cover what the T60 does for me.  I'm not in a *huge* hurry, since I can
ssh to the T60 and connect to a tmux session.  That's one Lenovo-built
laptop with which I've had any hardware failures, and it's the one that
passed through the hands of a very shady refurbisher on its way to me.

That's not to say there have not been problems since the Lenovo
acquisition, but those problems are related to service rather than
manufacture.  For instance, their ordering process is a bit less
sophisticated behind the scenes (they actually use a spreadsheet to track
orders, apparently), and part of their technical service chain of
operations has been outsourced.

On the other hand, IdeaPads are something entirely of Lenovo invention,
as far as I can tell.  They're kinda like how ThinkPads might be if they
were made by Dell -- superficially similar in some ways, but with
crappier manufacture quality, fit and finish, reliability, keyboard feel,
et cetera.

In short, if there has been a substantive drop in manufacturing and
hardware quality, I have not seen it.  I suppose your mileage may vary.

-- 
Chad Perrin [ original content licensed OWL: http://owl.apotheon.org ]


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Re: Best Laptop to buy for Freebsd Without OS?

2011-02-18 Thread John Levine
>   At one point, Thinkpads - particularly the T4x series - were
>_the_ recommended used laptop.  While it's been a while since i
>looked into this formally, my grapevine says the quality went
>downhill quickly after Lenovo bought IBM's pc hardware division.

I'm typing this on my Lenovo X200 running 8.1. For the most part it
works quite well and the quality seems similar to my previous IBM X40.

The worst annoyance is that the sound volume is quite low, and I
haven't yet figured out what to tweak to fix that.  It has bluetooth
and a fingerprint reader, neither of which I've set up, mostly out of
lack of interest.

R's,
John

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Re: Best Laptop to buy for Freebsd Without OS?

2011-02-18 Thread Robert Huff

Chad Perrin writes:

>  In my experience, ThinkPads are among the highest quality laptops
>  on the market.

At one point, Thinkpads - particularly the T4x series - were
_the_ recommended used laptop.  While it's been a while since i
looked into this formally, my grapevine says the quality went
downhill quickly after Lenovo bought IBM's pc hardware division.


Robert Huff

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Re: Best Laptop to buy for Freebsd Without OS?

2011-02-18 Thread Julian H. Stacey
> The major OEMs will say "OK, then you must return the computer," and
> you have no option but to comply. This is true for the USA.

192 sovereign countries exist with differing laws.
  Licenses I've seen from usually USA companies in Europe over
  decades have often seemed to contravene local law.  USA allows
  more restrictions I believe: reverse engineering & unbundling of
  soft+hardware bundles etc is OK in Europe I think.  A British
  appeals court test case in '80s ruled against NCP: Conditions
  available after purchase are void.

  One would need an M$ licence to run M$, but if it held clauses
  that eg forbade running under emulation, or on replacement hardware,
  those could contravene some local law & if so be void.  M$ was
  heavily fined by European court a while back (Search with "Microsoft
  convicted monopolist") I woudn't expect happy compliance.
  
Reality:
  XP purchased with a Toshiba laptop runs native, but fails on
  virtualbox, on the same laptop.  I believe XP is crippled to only
  run on Toshiba, & vbox presents too clean/generic an environment ;-)

Cheers,
Julian
-- 
Julian Stacey, BSD Unix Linux C Sys Eng Consultants Munich http://berklix.com
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Re: Best Laptop to buy for Freebsd Without OS?

2011-02-18 Thread Chad Perrin
On Fri, Feb 18, 2011 at 08:41:09AM -0600, Jorge Biquez wrote:
> 
> I guess my best bet is top have a used one. Is not that it "has" to 
> be new but I wanted to invest in something new that last some years, 
> my last lap has 7 years but it is short on memory and won't accept more.
> I will use ebay I guess for used equipment and ask my friend to bring 
> it if possible. If you have good suggestions for places to buy used 
> equipment please let me know (on ebay I has bought in the past 
> equipment that was dead already or that has problems immediately 
> later). Of course sometimes I have bought very good equipment also.

In my experience, ThinkPads are among the highest quality laptops on the
market.  I keep an eye out for notable drops in quality, in case things
change, but so far they are still easily the best new laptops for general
use, where their configurations are suitable to one's needs (as opposed
to cases where a Toughbook might be more appropriate, for instance).
They have some of the best keyboards for touch-typing on the market, too,
even including high-quality keyboard peripherals for desktop systems.

You could try getting in touch with someone at Lenovo about ordering a
laptop with no MS Windows license.  I seem to recall hearing that's an
option, or at least was an option at one time, but I have not really
investigated it.  You can also check Lenovo's "outlet" for prebuilt
ThinkPads that suit your needs, put together for someone else's order
that got canceled; they discount these laptops, even though they have
never even been shipped to a customer.  They also have laptops that were
shipped and returned unopened, returned opened, and refurbished, for
varying levels of discount and newness.  Of course, the "outlet"
ThinkPads come with MS Windows, but you at least get a discount greater
than the markup for the Windows license that way.  Be aware that the
"outlet" sales are more prone to errors, though, as my girlfriend
discovered when she bought an unshipped, prebuilt ThinkPad a couple years
ago that had a license sticker and an installed MS Windows version that
did not match.  She just wanted to run something Unix-like on it, so it
was not a big problem, but we found the mistake somewhat interesting.

. . . and, of course, be aware that if you get a laptop with Intel HD
Graphics, you'll be stuck with the vesa driver at 1024x768 on FreeBSD at
least until Konstantin's work fixes the problem with the Intel drivers.
Be careful about the hardware in your laptop, whatever brand you get, so
you'll be sure to get the best FreeBSD user experience reasonably
possible.

-- 
Chad Perrin [ original content licensed OWL: http://owl.apotheon.org ]


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Re: Best Laptop to buy for Freebsd Without OS?

2011-02-18 Thread Warren Block

On Fri, 18 Feb 2011, Henrik Hudson wrote:


Any of the i3 / i5 systems will be using Optimus, even if they
don't state as much, and this is not supported under FreeBSD or
Linux, neither proprietary or FOSS drivers. Some of the higher-end laptops 
(Lenovo) you can switch off
optimus either in BIOS or a hardware switch, but a lot of those
details are hidden behind marketing. It doesn't matter if it's ATI
or Nvidia, they still route through the Intel HD stack. Some of the
i7 machines don't do this, but they're also space heaters for the
most part.


There are about 90 notebooks listed on Newegg with ATI/AMD video that 
should be supported by the 6.13.2 or 6.14.0 xf86-video-ati drivers: 
X1000-series, HD3000-series, and HD4000-series.


72 of them have the Radeon HD4250.  All of those machines have AMD 
processors.  Don't know what is comparable to an i3 or i5, what type of 
wireless chipset may be included, or how good the ACPI support is on any 
of them.  I'd look at Acer, Lenovo, then Dell and HP, maybe Toshiba if 
there was nothing else available.


http://laptop.bsdgroup.de/freebsd/index.html is relevant more to used 
machines, but always worth checking.  In fact, if you have tried FreeBSD 
on a notebook that isn't on there, please create an entry for it.

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Re: Best Laptop to buy for Freebsd Without OS?

2011-02-18 Thread Henrik Hudson
On Thu, 17 Feb 2011, Jorge Biquez wrote:

> Hello all.
> 
> I am evaluating to buy a new laptop for using it only with Freebsd.
> I know in the website mention some options. Thing is that here the
> most powerful ones (I3, I5 I7) are sold ONLY with Windows installed
> and that increase the value of the equipment. I want the best option
> at a nice price (could be Intel or AMD) the ide is to have it as my
> main machine and when I need Linux or Windows have them there
> running under VirtualBox. The use will be mainly for web
> development.

Any of the i3 / i5 systems will be using Optimus, even if they
don't state as much, and this is not supported under FreeBSD or
Linux, neither proprietary or FOSS drivers. Some of the higher-end laptops 
(Lenovo) you can switch off
optimus either in BIOS or a hardware switch, but a lot of those
details are hidden behind marketing. It doesn't matter if it's ATI
or Nvidia, they still route through the Intel HD stack. Some of the
i7 machines don't do this, but they're also space heaters for the
most part.

Basically, the current state of laptop support for non-Windows is
fubarred for probably 6 month to a year or more on the Intel side
and finding AMD laptops that have working graphics drivers under
FreeBSD is hard as well.

Henrik
-- 
Henrik Hudson
li...@rhavenn.net
-
"God, root, what is difference?" Pitr; UF 

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Re: Best Laptop to buy for Freebsd Without OS?

2011-02-18 Thread Jorge Biquez

At 11:06 p.m. 17/02/2011, Chad Perrin wrote:

On Thu, Feb 17, 2011 at 07:23:57PM -0800, Charlie Kester wrote:
>
> Does it have to be new?
>
> The best deal might be to get a used laptop.  Then it doesn't matter
> what it originally shipped with, all you care about is whether it's on
> the FreeBSD hardware compatibility list.
>
> Along these lines, I've seen many people recommending used ThinkPads.
> Might not be powerful enough for the latest Windows, but more than
> capable for running a BSD.

Be very careful buying used laptops.  There are a lot of refurbishers who
are very shady, and a lot of private sellers online that are trying to
make a fast buck off broken hardware.

In fact, I wrote some code for a shady refurbisher last year to clean
infections of their laptops -- infections that had worked its way into
the images they used to clone drives for refurbished computers.  I think
thousands of their systems probably went out infected before they had me
automate the virus-cleaning process for them.

The short version is simply that I've seen how shady refurbishers work,
up close and personal.  Let the buyer beware.

--
Chad Perrin [ original content licensed OWL: http://owl.apotheon.org ]



Hello all.

Thanks a lot for your comments. Just doing a little more research, 
you can not find powerful equipment, at least here, with other OS but 
Windows 7, and of course cost more. Here it does not matter if you 
say that  I won't use Windows 7, you pay for it and no refund. All 
the powerful ones come with Windows 7 HP or Windows 7 Pro, No starter 
versions, so you pay for it if you want it or not. Last chance is to 
try Dell, will see later.
I guess my best bet is top have a used one. Is not that it "has" to 
be new but I wanted to invest in something new that last some years, 
my last lap has 7 years but it is short on memory and won't accept more.
I will use ebay I guess for used equipment and ask my friend to bring 
it if possible. If you have good suggestions for places to buy used 
equipment please let me know (on ebay I has bought in the past 
equipment that was dead already or that has problems immediately 
later). Of course sometimes I have bought very good equipment also.


Thanks to all for the comments and your time.
Jorge Biquez

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Re: Best Laptop to buy for Freebsd Without OS?

2011-02-17 Thread Chad Perrin
On Thu, Feb 17, 2011 at 07:23:57PM -0800, Charlie Kester wrote:
> 
> Does it have to be new?  
> 
> The best deal might be to get a used laptop.  Then it doesn't matter
> what it originally shipped with, all you care about is whether it's on
> the FreeBSD hardware compatibility list.
> 
> Along these lines, I've seen many people recommending used ThinkPads.
> Might not be powerful enough for the latest Windows, but more than
> capable for running a BSD.

Be very careful buying used laptops.  There are a lot of refurbishers who
are very shady, and a lot of private sellers online that are trying to
make a fast buck off broken hardware.

In fact, I wrote some code for a shady refurbisher last year to clean
infections of their laptops -- infections that had worked its way into
the images they used to clone drives for refurbished computers.  I think
thousands of their systems probably went out infected before they had me
automate the virus-cleaning process for them.

The short version is simply that I've seen how shady refurbishers work,
up close and personal.  Let the buyer beware.

-- 
Chad Perrin [ original content licensed OWL: http://owl.apotheon.org ]


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Re: Best Laptop to buy for Freebsd Without OS?

2011-02-17 Thread Charlie Kester

On Thu 17 Feb 2011 at 10:43:24 PST Jorge Biquez wrote:

Hello all.

I am evaluating to buy a new laptop for using it only with Freebsd. I 
know in the website mention some options. Thing is that here the most 
powerful ones (I3, I5 I7) are sold ONLY with Windows installed and 
that increase the value of the equipment. I want the best option at a 
nice price (could be Intel or AMD) the ide is to have it as my main 
machine and when I need Linux or Windows have them there running 
under VirtualBox. The use will be mainly for web development.


My idea is to buy it with FreeDos or Linux installed or without 
operating system but here there is not an option for powerful 
equuipment unless you want one with Atom processor. The powerful one 
came ONLY with Windows installed.
I am thinking to ask a friend that travels frequently to USA to buy one for 
me.


Any suggestion of where and what equipment to buy, without OS (Windows)
preinstalled? Of course at a good price and the most powerful one.


Does it have to be new?  


The best deal might be to get a used laptop.  Then it doesn't matter
what it originally shipped with, all you care about is whether it's on
the FreeBSD hardware compatibility list.

Along these lines, I've seen many people recommending used ThinkPads.
Might not be powerful enough for the latest Windows, but more than
capable for running a BSD.
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Re: Best Laptop to buy for Freebsd Without OS?

2011-02-17 Thread Brian Callahan
> Those links both sport some pretty expensive prices.  My comparable ASUS
> cost about half that, and came with Windows 7 installed (which I simply
> erased).  Are those prices for real?
>
> --
> Sterling (Chip) Camden | sterl...@camdensoftware.com | 2048D/3A978E4F
> http://chipsquips.com  | http://camdensoftware.com   | http://chipstips.com
>

Oh, I have no doubt they're for real. That's the problem with smaller
OEMs. You can't live on razor thin profit margins.

ZaReason www.zareason.com also has no-OS options (they're a Linux
vendor). Again, prices aren't the cheapest.

I personally buy my laptops by going to Staples, Circuit City, Best
Buy, etc. with the latest OpenBSD-current to check its dmesg (and I
highly recommend this) and blasting Windows off the HD as soon as I
get home, but the OP asked for no-OS laptops.

~Brian
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Re: Best Laptop to buy for Freebsd Without OS?

2011-02-17 Thread Chip Camden
Quoth Brian Callahan on Thursday, 17 February 2011:
> > 3) Buy a machine with the base Win 7 Home installed, decline the license, 
> > and request a refund.
> >   Be prepared to waste significant time on this, but it can be done.
> >
> 
> IANAL, but I have been informed by several lawyers that you cannot do
> this. The Windows 7 EULA, when preinstalled on a machine, states that
> the agreement is between you and the company selling you the computer,
> and "By using the Software, you accept these terms. If you do not
> accept them, do not use the software. Instead, contact the
> manufacturer or installer to determine its return policy. You must
> comply with that policy, which might limit your rights or require you
> to return the entire system on which the software is installed."
> 
> The major OEMs will say "OK, then you must return the computer," and
> you have no option but to comply. This is true for the USA.
> 
> If you want no-OS laptops, try Puget Systems www.pugetsystems.com or
> PCs for Everyone www.pcsforeveryone.com
> 
> HTH
> 
> ~Brian
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Those links both sport some pretty expensive prices.  My comparable ASUS
cost about half that, and came with Windows 7 installed (which I simply
erased).  Are those prices for real?

-- 
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Re: Best Laptop to buy for Freebsd Without OS?

2011-02-17 Thread Brian Callahan
> 3) Buy a machine with the base Win 7 Home installed, decline the license, and 
> request a refund.
>   Be prepared to waste significant time on this, but it can be done.
>

IANAL, but I have been informed by several lawyers that you cannot do
this. The Windows 7 EULA, when preinstalled on a machine, states that
the agreement is between you and the company selling you the computer,
and "By using the Software, you accept these terms. If you do not
accept them, do not use the software. Instead, contact the
manufacturer or installer to determine its return policy. You must
comply with that policy, which might limit your rights or require you
to return the entire system on which the software is installed."

The major OEMs will say "OK, then you must return the computer," and
you have no option but to comply. This is true for the USA.

If you want no-OS laptops, try Puget Systems www.pugetsystems.com or
PCs for Everyone www.pcsforeveryone.com

HTH

~Brian
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Re: Best Laptop to buy for Freebsd Without OS?

2011-02-17 Thread David Brodbeck
On Thu, Feb 17, 2011 at 10:43 AM, Jorge Biquez  wrote:
> I am evaluating to buy a new laptop for using it only with Freebsd. I know
> in the website mention some options. Thing is that here the most powerful
> ones (I3, I5 I7) are sold ONLY with Windows installed and that increase the
> value of the equipment. I want the best option at a nice price (could be
> Intel or AMD) the ide is to have it as my main machine and when I need Linux
> or Windows have them there running under VirtualBox. The use will be mainly
> for web development.

Just to play devil's advocate:

If you plan to run Windows under VirtualBox, you probably *do* want to
order the laptop with Windows pre-installed.  The reason is to legally
run Windows in VirtualBox, you will need a Windows license, and it's
far cheaper to get one bundled with the machine than to buy it later.
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Re: Best Laptop to buy for Freebsd Without OS?

2011-02-17 Thread Chip Camden
Quoth Chuck Swiger on Thursday, 17 February 2011:
> Hola, Jorge--
> 
> On Feb 17, 2011, at 10:43 AM, Jorge Biquez wrote:
> > I am evaluating to buy a new laptop for using it only with Freebsd. I know 
> > in the website mention some options. Thing is that here the most powerful 
> > ones (I3, I5 I7) are sold ONLY with Windows installed and that increase the 
> > value of the equipment. I want the best option at a nice price (could be 
> > Intel or AMD) the ide is to have it as my main machine and when I need 
> > Linux or Windows have them there running under VirtualBox. The use will be 
> > mainly for web development.
> 
> 
> You have some choices:
> 
> 1) Find a vendor offering to sell a machine with Linux preinstalled.
>At times in the past, IIRC, both HP and Dell used to do this.
> 
> 2) Call up a sales guy from your preferred vendor and ask to purchase a bare 
> machine without OS.
>If they refuse to sell you one, choose another vendor.
> 
> 3) Buy a machine with the base Win 7 Home installed, decline the license, and 
> request a refund.
>Be prepared to waste significant time on this, but it can be done.
> 
> Regards,
> -- 
> -Chuck
> 
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Until Konstantin gets his work on GEM finished, don't buy anything that
uses the Intel Ironlake graphics chip (usually called simply "Intel
Integrated HD Graphics").  The Intel driver for Xorg won't work, and
you'll be limited to vesa at 1024x768.  Others on this list may perhaps
be able to recommend their favorite graphics option.

-- 
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Re: Best Laptop to buy for Freebsd Without OS?

2011-02-17 Thread ill...@gmail.com
On 17 February 2011 13:43, Jorge Biquez  wrote:
> Hello all.
>
> I am evaluating to buy a new laptop for using it only with Freebsd. I know
> in the website mention some options. Thing is that here the most powerful
> ones (I3, I5 I7) are sold ONLY with Windows installed and that increase the
> value of the equipment. I want the best option at a nice price (could be
> Intel or AMD) the ide is to have it as my main machine and when I need Linux
> or Windows have them there running under VirtualBox. The use will be mainly
> for web development.
>
> My idea is to buy it with FreeDos or Linux installed or without operating
> system but here there is not an option for powerful equuipment unless you
> want one with Atom processor. The powerful one came ONLY with Windows
> installed.
> I am thinking to ask a friend that travels frequently to USA to buy one for
> me.
>
> Any suggestion of where and what equipment to buy, without OS (Windows)
> preinstalled? Of course at a good price and the most powerful one.
>

ixsystems.com sells a FreeBSD laptop (probably not
inexpensively).

system76.com is ubunutu-based, so you might have
to look closely at the wireless chip.

That one e-online-dot-com internet web store named after
a certain large, South-American river has a few of such
for sale, as well.

I'd buy one with Microsoft® Windows® Starter® Edition®
and amuse myself by applying to the seller for a Microsoft®
Windows® Starter® Edition® Refund® (& depending on where
you live might provide _months_ of entertainment).

Actually, new is too expensive for me: let someone else take
the first price hit.

-- 
--
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Re: Best Laptop to buy for Freebsd Without OS?

2011-02-17 Thread Chuck Swiger
Hola, Jorge--

On Feb 17, 2011, at 10:43 AM, Jorge Biquez wrote:
> I am evaluating to buy a new laptop for using it only with Freebsd. I know in 
> the website mention some options. Thing is that here the most powerful ones 
> (I3, I5 I7) are sold ONLY with Windows installed and that increase the value 
> of the equipment. I want the best option at a nice price (could be Intel or 
> AMD) the ide is to have it as my main machine and when I need Linux or 
> Windows have them there running under VirtualBox. The use will be mainly for 
> web development.


You have some choices:

1) Find a vendor offering to sell a machine with Linux preinstalled.
   At times in the past, IIRC, both HP and Dell used to do this.

2) Call up a sales guy from your preferred vendor and ask to purchase a bare 
machine without OS.
   If they refuse to sell you one, choose another vendor.

3) Buy a machine with the base Win 7 Home installed, decline the license, and 
request a refund.
   Be prepared to waste significant time on this, but it can be done.

Regards,
-- 
-Chuck

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