e2a44ccb23
Google has an impressive 4,000 of hits for "PCIBIOS" (mostly manpage links) but an overwhelming 27,000 for the two word version.
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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PCI BIOS 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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