Notebook / Laptop compatibility list

FreeBSD 11.2-RELEASE-P5
Thinkpad W520
Intel Quad Core i7-2760QM (2.40GHz, 6MB L3, 1600MHz FSB, 45W)
8 GB RAM PC3-10600
HITACHI HTS727550A9E364 500GB HDD @7200 RPM
Nvidia Quadro 1000M with 2GB DDR3 and 96 CUDA cores with Optimus Technology
15.6" TFT display with 1920x1080 (FHD) resolution with LED backlight
Razer DeathAdder USB mouse

Optimus uses the x11/nvidia-driver-304. and needs the BIOS Display Option set to Discreet Graphics before further configuration. It was a breeze to set up with none of the scrambled screens of yore.
 
LAPTOP DELL LATITUDE E5340


SSD / 8Go RAM

CPU: Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-3230M CPU @ 2.60GHz (2591.65-MHz K8-class CPU)
pciconf -lv | grep -B3 network
iwn0@pci0:2:0:0: class=0x028000 card=0x13218086 chip=0x00828086 rev=0x34 hdr=0x00
vendor = 'Intel Corporation'
device = 'Centrino Advanced-N 6205 [Taylor Peak]'
class = network
--
bge0@pci0:12:0:0: class=0x020000 card=0x053c1028 chip=0x168114e4 rev=0x10 hdr=0x00
vendor = 'Broadcom Inc. and subsidiaries'
device = 'NetXtreme BCM5761 Gigabit Ethernet PCIe'
class = network
vgapci0@pci0:0:2:0: class=0x030000 card=0x053c1028 chip=0x01668086 rev=0x09 hdr=0x00
vendor = 'Intel Corporation'
device = '3rd Gen Core processor Graphics Controller'
class = display
subclass = VGA


Works fine. Not problem to install freeBSD 12 (with XFCE)
All works fine.
Only the FN keys brightness Up and Down don't work but an alternative is to use xbindkeys and intel-backlight

Suspend and resume OK

The post-it of the install here : https://cbiot.fr/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=installfreebsd
 
Installation not possible at this time!

HP EliteBook 8460p, Intel Core i5-2520M, 4GB, AMD Radeon HD 6470M with 1GB, 160GB Micro SSD.

Issues while attempting to install FreeBSD 12:
  • A bootable USB image does not boot on this laptop no matter what you do to/or set the BIOS (it works just fine elsewhere).
  • Managed to burn a bootable DVD and surprisingly, it worked! But after the installation is done, it wont boot to the SSD! (surprise again!)
  • Used the same DVD to install FreeBSD on a mechanical drive, again same issue!
This laptop has no issues with Linux, at least I'm not stuck using Windows! I got this machine used for super cheap and that's the only reason I did. I do not like or recommend HP especially this is the 5th time I had run into sever issues with their products. For anyone reading this and looking for a decent laptop, save your cash and get a Thinkpad T-series or W-series for more horsepower.

Good luck!
 
youngunix said:
Installation not possible at this time!

HP EliteBook 8460p, Intel Core i5-2520M, 4GB, AMD Radeon HD 6470M with 1GB, 160GB Micro SSD.

Issues while attempting to install FreeBSD 12:
  • A bootable USB image does not boot on this laptop no matter what you do to/or set the BIOS (it works just fine elsewhere).
  • Managed to burn a bootable DVD and surprisingly, it worked! But after the installation is done, it wont boot to the SSD! (surprise again!)
  • Used the same DVD to install FreeBSD on a mechanical drive, again same issue!
This laptop has no issues with Linux, at least I'm not stuck using Windows! I got this machine used for super cheap and that's the only reason I did. I do not like or recommend HP especially this is the 5th time I had run into sever issues with their products. For anyone reading this and looking for a decent laptop, save your cash and get a Thinkpad T-series or W-series for more horsepower.

Good luck!
Click to expand...

Yeah, also not a fan of HP these days.

For me, that's two HP machines, one a desktop and one a laptop, on which I have had trouble getting newer FreeBSD versions to work. Given the forum topic, I'll only mention the laptop: HP 2000 series. Bought it for my wife about seven years ago, and it came with Windows 8. After maybe a few years later it became almost unusable due to typical Windows sluggishness so I ran FreeBSD 10 on it for a while. It was either one of the last FreeBSD 10 releases or FreeBSD 11 that would not run on this laptop. Now, if I boot the laptop using a FreeBSD 12 USB installer, the boot messages are illegible. I am guessing the display driver changed. Unsurprisingly, I see the same issue with the latest DragonflyBSD release. Boo.
 
Lenovo Ideapad y510p
  • 2 x NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M (SLI) 2 GB
  • Intel Core i5 4th Gen 4200M (2.50 GHz)
  • 6 GB Memory 1 TB HDD 8GB Hybrid SSHD SSD
  • 15.6" 1920 x 1080 LED backlight, 220 nits, 16:9 aspect ratio
  • 15.2" x 10.2" x 1.4" 6.4 lbs.
  • 1 x VGA 1 x HDMI
  • 2 x USB 3.0 1 x USB 2.0
-No suspend or resume
-Some fn keys don't work (backlight and sound)
-Backlight works with xbacklight
-2x GT 750M in SLI works
-Sound card works but is quiter than in Windows and requires an edit to /boot/device.hints to get the speakers to cut out when you connect headphones:
Code: 
hint.hdaa.1.nid20.config="as=1 seq=0"
hint.hdaa.1.nid33.config="as=1 seq=15 misc=0"
 
Lenovo Z51-70
CPU: Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-5200U CPU @ 2.20GHz (2194.96-MHz K8-class CPU)
real memory = 16384 MB

FreeBSD 12.0-RELEASE-p9 UEFI ZFS Geli

Previously used 11.2 and never got everything working, but in 12 makes a very nice portable workstation.

X: Intel HD Graphics 5500 using scfb driver and AMD Venus XTX Radeon HD 8890M using modesetting. So far, not got radeon driver working.
Xfce looks really nice.

Wireless: iwm

Virtualization: Bhyve works well and can gets a demostrable windows 10.

Webcam: cuse4bsd

Sleep/resume: Don't know, the machine is either on or off.

ACPI: acpi_ibm_load and acpi_video_load, don't seem to do anything, so I cannot change the screen brightness.

Pretty much everything else works and it is quite pleasant to use.
 
Don't know if I'm being helpful here but I'm running FreeBSD 12.0-RELEASE on a Dell Inspiron 1720.

It's running nginx, wordpress and just about anything I've thrown at it but I haven't put any desktop software on it.
 
drhowarddrfine said:
Don't know if I'm being helpful here but I'm running FreeBSD 12.0-RELEASE on a Dell Inspiron 1720.

It's running nginx, wordpress and just about anything I've thrown at it but I haven't put any desktop software on it.
Click to expand...
Most of us are desktop users so try if a full desktop system is possible.
 
It seems nobody has mentioned Sony VAIO VPCEB390X here yet!

I got this laptop from a friend (that is not using it anymore). It was originally bought in USA.

It has pretty much the default configuration for such model...

Intel Pentium P6100 @ 2.00GHz
Hard Disk 500GB
RAM 4GB (2x2048MB DDR3)
Integrated audio and video
(... can add more info later[?])

Pretty much everything (audio, video, wireless, touchpad...) WORKS out of the box with FreeBSD 12.1-RELEASE. For video, in my case (Ironlake), seems to be a good idea to install the intel driver later, though.

EDIT: although the touchpad WORKS, it is NOT recognized as such by any Desktop Environment (DE) I've tried (and I tried at least 6 of the most known/used ones) - i.e. I could NOT change settings for the touchpad (some even say NO TOUCHPAD WAS FOUND). In KDE5/Plasma, it seems I got the faster touchpad I wanted by playing with mouse settings (what did NOT happend the same way in other DEs).

EDIT: closing the lid WORKS, i.e. when you open it again, the Desktop lock/login screen will show up and work, BUT last night (I'm editing in March 10, 2020) I closed the lid and this morning... The computer was turned OFF. Somehow it was... DRAINING THE BATTERY (read the last paragraph of this reply and understand why it's more surprising than it would be in a normal situation, hehe).

EDIT (MAY, 2020): Ethernet works like a charm, as well as the microphone and the webcam.

When I posted, I couldn't test Ethernet (Marvell Yukon 88E8059 Gigabit Ethernet) yet, but I mentioned FreeBSD is officially said to support it through msk(4) driver (sure it is). I did not test any of the card readers, as well as external VGA and HDMI displays (STILL PENDING). I will edit my reply when I have the chance to test it.

The only thing that IS *REALLY* NOT WORKING SO FAR (AND IS REALLY ANNOYING), at least for me and with this model, is BATTERY. FreeBSD seems to totally ignore the baterry (model VGP-BPS22) presence ("State: not present" when I do a acpiconf -i 0), although it recognizes its last full capacity and several info. Since Linux recognizes it and I can rely on batt power there, I assume it's not a battery or BIOS problem itself, AFAK. My notebook is relying ONLY on AC adapter when I'm using FreeBSD - if the energy goes down in my home (or anywhere else I am), or I remove the AC, I WILL SEE THIS COMPUTER SHUTTING DOWN in a matter of very few seconds. Will create a post here about this issue, and sure I will edit this whole reply when I have time (and I wish, with a fix for this only - but critical - problem).

Best regards,
Tojil
 
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FreeBSD-12.1-RELEASE
ThinkPad P71
CPU - Intel Xeon E3-1505M v6
GPU - Intel HD P630
GPU - Nvidia Quadro P5000 Mobile
RAM - 16GB ECC
Screen: 17.3 inch 16:9, 3840 x 2160 UHD IPS
--------------------------------
TouchPad disabled in bios ( never used touchpad on ThinkPad`s)
TrackPad with libinput but needed to write an extra line for third button scrolling and adjusted speed ( on Arch Linux no need of doing it )
Added i915 to the config file.
Nvidia - have not tried yet but drivers were installed.
wifi - works out of the box
soundcard - working fine
Color Calibrator - not tested
SIM WWAN - not tested
USB C - not tested
HDD - Samsung 860 EVO SSD (the second slot from nvme is sort of broken or other issues and I'm dual booting with Linux )
ZFS system - it is memory hungry fs. screenfetch showing 8-9gb of memory used ( running i3wm and few terminals open )
 
FreeBSD 12.1 release
Dell latitude E7270 (if you want more specific hardware info look up the specs yourself online)
Intel Core i5-6300U @ 2.40GHz
16GB RAM 2x8 2133MHz PC4
128 GB SSD
Wifi - iwm driver- works out of the box
bluetooth seems to be working but I have not fully tried it out yet I had to install /usr/ports/comms/iwmbt-firmware as iwmbtfw did not work out of the box during hardware probing and booting.
X works but I installed the i915 ,and loaded it, from rc.conf from drm-kmod /usr/ports/x11-drivers/drm-kmod
Soundcard works fine out of the box
Suspend/resume in general works with the laptop lid open/close functionality too I had to set a sysctl setting and I think it would not resume to X fully without the i915kms.ko kernel module though but not sure.
USB ports work
I have not tested the ethernet jack as I don't really use that on my laptop just wifi. I assume it probably works because ifconfig recognizes it as 'em0' and the kernel/dmesg recognizes it and it has a mac address etc..
I don't have a docking station for this thing and that is not tested.
I have not tested the SD card slot
I have not tested HDMI port
Webam does not seem to work tried it with pwcview and and the GTK app cheese
etc...
Geli encrypted ZFS disk on LITEON 128 GB SSD (I installed the LITEON SDD myself it it did not come with it)

I just installed FreeBSD on this laptop so not all things are tested AND I generally don't use the things not tested anyway as basically everything I need to work on FreeBSD works for me fine.

I am using the CWM window manager from the OpenBSD project and with 16GB of ram and running the bloated firefox 12G of RAM memory totally free.

Overall it works well enough for me to move away from Linux.
 
FreeBSD 12.1-RELEASE here
MacBook Pro 13in mid-2012
Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-3520M CPU @ 2.90GHz
8GB DDR3L RAM @ 1600Mhz (2* 4GB modules)
1TB Crucial SSD (ACS-3 ATA SATA 3.x device)
Internal optical BD/DVD writer (MATSHITA BD-MLT UJ267 1.00> Removable CD-ROM SCSI device)
Intel HD4000 video card (integrated GPU with shared memory)

Booting with an usb key from 12.1-RELEASE's memstick, installation went flawlessly with a simple partition scheme on UFS. After installed, the Mac boots itself directley from the EFI with not external (U)EFI bootloaders such as refit or refind. To immediately boot FreeBSD, a blessing of the ESP from a Mac OS X disk is mandatory, otherwise it boots in 30sec (thanks to NapoleonWils0n's thread.)

All pci devices are detected and apart the wireless card (a Broadcom BCM4331) and things I haven't yet check in details (webcam, microphone and sound) all is working so far. Fan speed, keyboard backlight and screen brightness works with the help of asmc(4) and coretemp(4) drivers (a bit of tweaking regarding fan(s) speed has to be done as Apple SMC's defaults are surprisingly dumb; fan(s) kick in when any of HDD/OD/CPU sensors go above 72c).
Controls of backlights (screen and keyboard) can be adjusted with sysutils/asmctl and ambient light sensors work.

Touchpad is kinda erratic (tried synaptics, libinput, mutouch with no luck) and works with atp(4) driver (scrolling inertia is fuzzy).

X11 works without any custom settings with default i915.ko or graphics/drm-kmod i915kms.ko drivers.

Power management is done with powerd(8) and suspend/resume works as it should with sysctl hw.acpi.lid_switch_state=S3 both in console and any DE I've tried so far (Mate/xfce).
Best power savings to have about 3h30 are achieved with these /boot/loader.conf settings:
Code: 
acpi_video_load="YES"

# Intel DRM power saving with graphics/drm-kmod port below:

# Try to skip unnecessary mode sets at boot time
compat.linuxkpi.i915_fastboot=1

# Enable power-saving display C-states
# (-1=auto [default]; 0=disable; 1=up to DC5; 2=up to DC6)
compat.linuxkpi.i915_enable_dc=2

# Enable frame buffer compression for power savings
# (default: -1 (use per-chip default))
compat.linuxkpi.i915_enable_fbc=1

and these /etc/rc.conf settings:
Code: 
powerd_flags="-n min -a adaptive -b min"
performance_cx_lowest="Cmax"
economy_cx_lowest="Cmax"

If aynone knows how to update the wiki, I'll be more than happy to help updating it (information in it are way outdated).
 
lme@ said:
If you use FreeBSD on your notebook or want to use it, please take a look at

http://laptop.bsdgroup.de

It has a extensive list of Notebooks / Laptops / Netbooks and can tell you if FreeBSD is compatible with it or not.

Please add your device to this list to help other people making a decision what Notebook to buy or describe what you needed to do to get your device up and running.

Thank you in advance!
Click to expand...
That is OP post. The cited domain has been lost.
 
Machiaveli said:
[...] Fan speed, keyboard backlight and screen brightness works with the help of asmc(4) and coretemp(4) drivers (a bit of tweaking regarding fan(s) speed has to be done as Apple SMC's defaults are surprisingly dumb; fan(s) kick in when any of HDD/OD/CPU sensors go above 72c).
Click to expand...
That's good, isn't it? You're challenging accelerated ageing of your hardware by tweaking the default settings. Don't do it, you're asking for trouble. If you feel the fan kicks in too often, too quick or generally runs too fast, that means the cooling is insufficient. Please consult your laptop's maintenance manual for how to open it and carefully clean the fan and the fresh air channels & vents. Neither blow or suck air to the fan, nor suck air from outside the ventilation slots or directly at the fan with a hoover! When the fan is forcefully rotated, it produces electric current, and might burn out. Instead use a brush to wipe dust & dirt off the fan's blades, and block the fan from rotating to carefully blow the dust away (with your mouth). Your laptop is of 2012, 8 years old. The thermal paste between the CPU and the heatsink might be worn out (aged) and dissipate less heat. You can invest 10 bucks and renew it: scrap the old paste off the surfaces with a razor blade or carpet knife. Do not use metal paste, because that's conductive and ages quickly, likewise does silicon-based thermal paste. You don't want conductive paste, because if it bleeds onto the mainboard, ... I can recommend e.g. Arctic MX-4, which has a good price/performance ratio. Any other thermal compound of reasonable quality will do as well.
Machiaveli said:
Touchpad is kinda erratic (tried synaptics, libinput, mutouch with no luck) and works with atp(4) driver (scrolling inertia is fuzzy).
Click to expand...
Did you sysrc moused_flags+=" -l 2" and service enable moused?
Machiaveli said:
# Intel DRM power saving with graphics/drm-kmod port below: [...]
# Enable power-saving display C-states
# (-1=auto [default]; 0=disable; 1=up to DC5; 2=up to DC6)
compat.linuxkpi.i915_enable_dc=2
# Enable frame buffer compression for power savings
# (default: -1 (use per-chip default))
compat.linuxkpi.i915_enable_fbc=1
Click to expand...
IIRC these are now updated to be written w/o the "i915_" (except compat.linuxkpi.i915_fastboot?)
Machiaveli said:
If aynone knows how to update the wiki, I'll be more than happy to help updating it (information in it are way outdated).
Click to expand...
You have to write an e-mail to the wiki maintainers or ask on IRC. Have a look at AboutWiki. I guess if you don't want to participate regularly, just e-mail your additions to the contributors of the respective page, or one of them. They are listed in the info page of that wiki page.
 
mjollnir said:
That's good, isn't it? You're challenging accelerated ageing of your hardware by tweaking the default settings. Don't do it, you're asking for trouble.
Click to expand...
60°c is almost the same idle temprature I've met with Mac OS X and fan kicks in above 63°c which is imho the right thing (above 68°c the laptop is really hot (yes fan and the internal of the laptop are cleaned every 2 months)).

mjollnir said:
Did you sysrc moused_flags+=" -l 2" and service enable moused?
Click to expand...
Yep, unfortunetaly no dices. This doesn't annoy me a lot as most of the time the laptop is on my desk with a mouse plugged in but while on road, this get on my nerves.

mjollnir said:
IIRC these are now updated to be written w/o the "i915_" (except compat.linuxkpi.i915_fastboot?)
Click to expand...
Yes both are still working but at the time I've set up the i915_ prefix has to be explicit. As for compat.linuxkpi.i915_fastboot the prefix still needs to be there.

mjollnir said:
You have to write an e-mail to the wiki maintainers or ask on IRC. Have a look at AboutWiki. I guess if you don't want to participate regularly, just e-mail your additions to the contributors of the respective page, or one of them. They are listed in the info page of that wiki page.
Click to expand...
Will do as I suspect more users will need to move on from Mac OS X with such laptops.
 
I edited my previous post. New: 1. clean inside (fan, heatsink, air ways) & vents, 2. Renew thermal paste. The vendor of that thermal paste mentioned above writes: "... has a durability of at least 8 years". They write that for a reason. Thermal paste dissipates less heat when it gets old.
 
mjollnir said:
I edited my previous post. New: 1. clean inside (fan, heatsink, air ways) & vents, 2. Renew thermal paste. The vendor of that thermal paste mentioned above writes: "... has a durability of at least 8 years". They write that for a reason. Thermal paste dissipates less heat when it gets old.
Click to expand...
Thanks for all the advices, but I already do all of that on my laptops ;)
 

HP 17-by3065st 17.3" Notebook​


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJ_DcdpnMIs


Needs secureboot turned off and you need the scfb video driver for X11 to work, the mouse pad also needs a driver which I haven't gotten to try any of them yet but will edit this post with the one that works. 1TB of storage. Big laptop.

Edit:

After much attempts, haven't got the touchpad working on it. Tried synaptics driver, also the generic libinput one. neither worked with additional configuring. doing xinput --list will give question marks on the input devices instead of real detailed information. Running linux on the same laptop revealed with the same command the touchpad is made by ElanTech. But if xinput can recognize it on linux, but not on FreeBSD, i doubt FreeBSD supports it even with the appropriate drivers with this particular hardware. If you are ok with needing a mouse and appropriate surface for the mouse to rest on, I recommend this laptop.
 
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