1ed550f6ce
Move parenthesized fullstop where it belongs. Add a few <quote>, <command> and <filename> tags.
184 lines
8.3 KiB
Text
184 lines
8.3 KiB
Text
<!DOCTYPE article PUBLIC "-//FreeBSD//DTD DocBook V4.1-Based Extension//EN" [
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<!ENTITY % man PUBLIC "-//FreeBSD//ENTITIES DocBook Manual Page Entities//EN">
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%man;
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<!ENTITY % freebsd PUBLIC "-//FreeBSD//ENTITIES DocBook Miscellaneous FreeBSD Entities//EN">
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%freebsd;
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<!ENTITY % authors PUBLIC "-//FreeBSD//ENTITIES DocBook Author Entities//EN">
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%authors;
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<!ENTITY % mailing-lists PUBLIC "-//FreeBSD//ENTITIES DocBook Mailing List Entities//EN">
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%mailing-lists;
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]>
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<article>
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<articleinfo>
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<title>FreeBSD on Laptops</title>
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<pubdate>$FreeBSD$</pubdate>
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<abstract>
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<para>FreeBSD works fine on most laptops, with a few caveats.
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Some issues specific to running FreeBSD on laptops, relating
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to different hardware requirements from desktops, are
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discussed below.</para>
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</abstract>
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</articleinfo>
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<para>FreeBSD is often thought of as a server operating system, but
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it works just fine on the desktop, and if you want to use it on
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your laptop you can enjoy all the usual benefits: systematic
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layout, easy administration and upgrading, the ports/packages
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system for adding software, and so on. (Its other benefits,
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such as stability, network performance, and performance under
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a heavy load, may not be obvious on a laptop, of course.)
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However, installing it on laptops often involves problems which
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are not encountered on desktop machines and are not commonly
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discussed (laptops, even more than desktops, are fine-tuned for
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Microsoft Windows). This article aims to discuss some of these
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issues.</para>
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<sect1>
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<title>XFree86</title>
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<para>Recent versions of XFree86 work with most display adapters
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available on laptops these days. Acceleration may not be
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supported, but a generic SVGA configuration should work.</para>
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<para>Check your laptop documentation for which card you have,
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and check in the XFree86 documentation (or setup program)
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to see whether it is specifically supported. If it is not, use
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a generic device (do not go for a name which just looks
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similar). In XFree86 version 4, you can try your luck
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with the command <userinput>XFree86 -configure</userinput>
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which auto-detects a lot of configurations.</para>
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<para>The problem often is configuring the monitor. Common
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resources for XFree86 focus on CRT monitors; getting a
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suitable modeline for an LCD display may be tricky. You may
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be lucky and not need to specify a modeline, or just need to
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specify suitable HorizSync and VertRefresh ranges. If that
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does not work, the best option is to check web resources
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devoted to configuring X on laptops (these are often
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linux-oriented sites but it does not matter because both systems
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use XFree86) and copy a modeline posted by someone for similar
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hardware.</para>
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<para>Most laptops come with two buttons on their pointing
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devices, which is rather problematic in X (since the middle
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button is commonly used to paste text); you can map a
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simultaneous left-right click in your X configuration to
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a middle button click with the line</para>
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<programlisting>
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Option "Emulate3Buttons"
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</programlisting>
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<para>in the XF86Config file in the <literal>InputDevice</literal>
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section (for XFree86 version 4; for version 3, put just the line
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<literal>Emulate3Buttons</literal>, without the quotes, in the
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<literal>Pointer</literal> section.)</para>
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</sect1>
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<sect1>
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<title>Modems</title>
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<para>
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Laptops usually come with internal (on-board) modems.
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Unfortunately, this almost always means they are
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<quote>winmodems</quote> whose
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functionality is implemented in software, for which only windows
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drivers are normally available (though a few drivers are beginning
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to show up for other operating systems). If that is the case, you
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need to buy an external modem: the most compact option is
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probably a PC Card (PCMCIA) modem, discussed below, but
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serial or USB modems may be cheaper. Generally, regular
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modems (non-winmodems) should work fine.
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</para>
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</sect1>
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<sect1>
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<title>PCMCIA (PC Card) devices</title>
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<para> Most laptops come with PCMCIA (also called PC Card)
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slots; these are supported fine under FreeBSD. Look through
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your boot-up messages (using <command>dmesg</command>) and see whether these were
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detected correctly (they should appear as
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<devicename>pccard0</devicename>,
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<devicename>pccard1</devicename> etc on devices like
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<devicename>pcic0</devicename>).</para>
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<para>FreeBSD currently supports 16-bit PCMCIA cards, but not
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32-bit (<quote>CardBus</quote>) cards. A database of supported
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cards is in the file <filename>/etc/defaults/pccard.conf</filename>.
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Look through it, and preferably buy cards listed there. Cards not
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listed may also work as <quote>generic</quote> devices: in
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particular most modems (16-bit) should work fine, provided they
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are not winmodems (these do exist even as PC Cards, so watch out).
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If your card is recognised as a generic modem, note that the
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default <filename>pccard.conf</filename> file specifies a delay time of 10 seconds
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(to avoid freezes on certain modems); this may well be
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over-cautious for your modem, so you may want to play with it,
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reducing it or removing it totally.</para>
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<para>Some parts of <filename>pccard.conf</filename> may need
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editing. Check the irq line, and be sure to remove any number
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already being used: in particular, if you have an on board sound
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card, remove irq 5 (otherwise you may experience hangs when you
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insert a card). Check also the available memory slots; if your
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card is not being detected, try changing it to one of the other
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allowed values (listed in the manual page &man.pccardc.8;).
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</para>
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<para>If it is not running already, start the <command>pccardd</command> daemon.
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(To enable it at boot time, add
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<programlisting>pccard_enable="YES"</programlisting> to
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<filename>/etc/rc.conf</filename>.) Now your cards should be
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detected when you insert and remove them, and you should get
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log messages about new devices being enabled.</para>
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<para>There have been major changes to the pccard code
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(including ISA routing of interrupts, for machines whose
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PCIBIOS FreeBSD can not seem to use) before the FreeBSD 4.4
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release. If you have problems, try upgrading your system.</para>
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</sect1>
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<sect1>
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<title>Power management</title>
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<para>Unfortunately, this is not very reliably supported under
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FreeBSD. If you are lucky, some functions may work reliably;
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or they may not work at all.</para>
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<para>To enable this, you may need to compile a kernel with
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power management support (<literal>device apm0</literal>) or
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add the option <literal>enable apm0</literal> to
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<filename>/boot/loader.conf</filename>, and
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also enable the apm daemon at boot time (line
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<literal>apm_enable="YES"</literal> in
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<filename>/etc/rc.conf</filename>). The apm commands are
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listed in the &man.apm.8; manpage. For instance,
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<command>apm -b</command> gives you battery status (or 255 if
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not supported), <command>apm -Z</command> puts the laptop on
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standby, <command>apm -z</command> (or zzz) suspends it. To
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shutdown and power off the machine, use <command>shutdown -p</command>.
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Again, some or all of these functions may not work very well
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or at all. You may find that laptop suspension/standby works
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in console mode but not under X (that is, the screen does not
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come on again; in that case, switch to a virtual console
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(using Ctrl-Alt-F1 or another function key) and then execute
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the apm command.
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</para>
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<para>The X window system (XFree86) also includes display power
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management (look at the &man.xset.1; manual page, and search for
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<quote>dpms</quote> there). You may want to investigate this. However, this,
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too, works inconsistently on laptops: it
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often turns off the display but does not turn off the
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backlight.</para>
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</sect1>
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</article>
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