FreeBSD Laptops
If you're here, you want to know about running FreeBSD on
laptops! Good news - there is plenty of information out
there.
I have successfully run and installed FreeBSD 7.0 on two
HP laptops - the Pavilion dv9700t
and the Compaq nx6110. The links
will take you to pages with a lot more information on
how to do it!
In most cases, running the most recent version of FreeBSD
is the right thing to do if you're looking for maximum laptop
compatibility. This is because only the latest FreeBSD
releases add support for Intel HDA audio, some of the more
advanced ACPI CPU features like frequency scaling/throttling,
some of the newer wireless network cards, and a host of
other hardware.
In general, FreeBSD hardware support for laptops lags
behind Linux support. This is mainly because FreeBSD's
core competency is server performance, not desktop support.
However, FreeBSD on the desktop is extremely usable, and the
most popular desktop environments are all fully supported
and work extremely well. GNOME
and KDE both have dedicated
FreeBSD dev teams. You can also run any other ported
windowing environment of your choice - like XFCE. There
are many in the FreeBSD Ports Collection - do a search in
the x11,
x11-wm, and x11-themes categories.
More Information
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