Re: Setting up X

[Waitman Gobble <uzimac%da3m0n8t3r.com@localhost>]

On Sat, 29 Jun 2013 16:38:42 +0700, Robert Elz <kre%munnari.OZ.AU@localhost> 
wrote: 
>
>    Date:        Sat, 29 Jun 2013 01:29:25 -0700 (PDT)
>    From:        Waitman Gobble <uzimac%da3m0n8t3r.com@localhost>
>    Message-ID:  <20130629082925.D913C36F4B1F%dx.burplex.com@localhost>
>
>
>  | The 304.88 BSD Nvidia driver supports the 560M.
>
>And the 660M ?

660M- That would be the 310.44 which is the latest driver available in ports.
I'm using that driver with a GT 640, haven't noticed issues. I have been able
to write and execute some OpenGL programs.

>
>  | I would recommend running BSD on your machine over Linux.
>
>You mean FreeBSD, right?   I have (months ago now, perhaps almost a year,
>back when I was looking for anything better than wintrash) booted it from
the
>CD (or DVD) image, and not everything was supported, but I can certainly
>try again.
>
>  | Running NetBSD within qemu is totally a piece of cake,
>  | and you may not experience the issues you have with VirtualBox on
>  | Ubuntu.
>
>I'll give that a try sometime.  I'd really prefer native NetBSD though...
>
>When I tried it FreeBSD also didn't support the wireless card - it is an
>ath or some vintage (AR9485) (read on the web that it is a close relation
of
>another chip that is supported - a cheaper version - and yes, I know that
>usually means the driver needs to do more work to compensate).  That's less
>of a problem than the X driver support, as I have a USB wireless that
>NetBSD (and I assume probably FreeBSD) supports, and from a quick glance at
>the linux driver source it did not appear as if it will be that hard to add

>support once I have a real need for it.
>

The AR9485 is listed as supported. There has been much better Atheros support
in the past twelve months. The USB driver for Atheros may work now, I'd have
to check. (last time i looked, which was several months ago, it had not yet
been ported to FreeBSD)

For wireless, it's usually best to try Atheros or Realtek chipset. just about
anything you can find on ebay should work. a wireless chip will run 8 to 20
dollars, and takes 5 to 15 minutes to swap out. Basically it's one to three
screws. Some of the notebooks have an 'allowed list' burnt into bios, for
example HP notebooks. So you cannot easily swap out the wireless chip with
something that isn't on the list. (there are ways around this but they are all
messy). There should be at least one Atheros chip that works in an HP, -  I
don't think Asus does this nonsense. ( I can't remember now which laptop we
were talking about, maybe it was Asus )

>  | I have not noticed the issues mentioned running NetBSD on VirtualBox
>  | with a FreeBSD host.
>
>They're not that serious - it's just that if I leave the system for a
>while, I need to switch to linux and then come back to NetBSD to get the
>mouse back (just clicking makes it work, but linux steals it again within
>a minute - but once linux actually gives the mouse to virtalbox it stays
>there until the system goes idle again).    And I need to reboot more
>frequently than once a week - not usually a problem as the linux people
>don't seem to have suspend to disc working, or I don't know how to enable
>it, if I put the laptop in its bag to carry it (supposedly suspended) it
>quickly gets quite hot.   I should also say that (at least when I first
>installed it this way) the virtualbox image was actually intended for the
>previous linux (ubuntu 12) rather than the ubuntu 13 I'm running, which
>might also contribute to the oddities.
>
>But thanks for the suggestion, I really hadn't considered using FreeBSD as
>a host, and I should have.
>

I have an OpenSUSE 12.3 machine that goes to sleep, then I have to click the
mouse to get it work again. just moving it doesn't do the trick. I think maybe
that's a "Feature" ? Not sure.



>kre
>
>

--
Waitman Gobble
San Jose California USA
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