On 02/22/12 01:44, Polytropon wrote:
On Tue, 21 Feb 2012 10:45:05 +1000, Da Rock wrote:
To the OP, check the pages Polytropon has linked here, but the chances
of getting exactly that are nil to impossible. I've run about 6 or more
laptops now without too much trouble. The biggest problems were
wireless, but that was the bad old days... most support is there now
thanks to Adrianns work.
Today's problems seem to be suspend/resume/hibernate (all
the variations of "it's not switched on, but also not
switched off entirely") and some specific sorts of wireless
devices.
I've never used, so I hadn't thought of it. That doesn't work for
desktop either does it?
One thing I have tested is the backlight turns off when you close the
lid and the power button will do a proper shutdown. I haven't heard of
the others working - at the very least you need to script it for your
own needs.
Having a live disk is not likely to help for several reasons:
1. there aren't really the tools to see if something will actually work
in a production environment (unless pc-bsd have a disc I don't know
about). For instance, wifi maybe recognised but not actually work and
error like crazy only once you start to use it.
The main idea of using such a system is to most precisely
determine the _present_ hardware to allow further investigations
(e. g. web searches and mailing list questions). The OS from
disc or stick can help to identify the hardware. If you're
running a live file system from a USB stick, you can do
things like:
# dmesg
# pciconf -lv
# usbconfig
# sysctl -a
If you start the system by "boot -v" (verbose logging), dmesg
will contain some more lines than usual. If you have a USB
stick, you can easily save the output of those commands to
persistent files.
If you have X in the mix, you can also check the support for
the display and obtain other information that might be important
later on (especially GPU info):
# glxinfo
# xvinfo
Log files worth saving are in /var/log, as well as Xorg.0.log
for X-related things.
If you prepare some programs, you can also do some testing,
e. g. multimedia, gaming, 3D support, networking and so on.
Fair comment. I had in mind mostly a CD, but I admit a USB will be far
better. I also had in mind the livefs system produced by the releases,
which doesn't give much at all. X would be very helpful and implies a
full system on the disk - this _will_ do most tests for a production
environment, like test whether components actually work or are just
recognised.
2. The BIOS will get in your way - see recent thread regarding samsung
laptop not installing. I don't think the salespeople will let you play
with that either.
Depends. If you're interested in buying one of the more
expensive ones, they will offer you a "test ride" which
includes that you have a look at the CMOS setup (which is
something very typical for you as an IT professional).
You can say: "The BIOS is defective, it doesn't allow me
to boot a standard OS. Let's see... for 100$ less, I would
still do you a favour and buy it." :-)
<chuckle> You are a devious one Polytropon :)
That would depend on the sales enviornment and country your in. Here
they have the systems running with a lease on and a screenlock, and try
to show you as little as possible to buy the thing... or you buy online.
I'd love to try that trick of yours though....
If you do this *and* get it to boot, you want to get a copy of pciconf
-lv which will give you the best idea on whats what. You may be able to
use a linux live disk (if you can get it to boot) to accomplish this better.
USB sticks seem to be the best solution as they can allow
you to store files (as the results of your investigation).
Definitely agreed. But you'd need a full on system to do this,
preferably with X - watch the Vid cards. That said you can always use
vesa anyway.
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