T60 and FBSD 6.1

[Kevin Oberman]

> Date: Wed, 28 Jun 2006 17:32:31 -0400
> From: DW <dwinner-lists at att.net>
> Sender: owner-freebsd-mobile at freebsd.org
> 
> Hello all,
> 
> Here we go again -- dealing the pain and pleasures of new laptops. 
> Sticking with the tried-and-true Thinkpad series, knowing full well that 
> new hardware will cause issues with FreeBSD. Two big sticking points so 
> far evaluating one (T60 1951-43U). I am trying FreeBSD 6.2
> 
> 1. Sound: cannot get FreeBSD to recognize sound. First tried what I 
> always used successfully in the past on T41's and T30's (and maybe T23's 
> and T21's, I don't remember):
> 
> # kldload snd_ich   ....... nothing
> 
> so I tried
> 
> # kldload snd_driver to load them all, and still get nothing (other than 
> a bunch of probes of parallel ports and serial irqs that yield nothing)

A co-worker has one of these.

It has a new High Def sound card and there is no support in FreeBSD at
this time. Check the archives for a patch that might get you going. I
would guess the patch was posted early this month.

> 2. Wireless: thought I would need the if_ipw dirver, so I installed that 
> port, and loaded it (like I did with success last year on the T41), but 
> here's the bizarre thing: when I "kldload if_ipw", it registers my 
> gigabit ethernet card, em0 !!!!  WTF?
> 
> Oddly enough, the real em0 doesn't even come up if there is no network 
> cable plugged in. Shouldn't I at least see em0 but "no carrier".
> 
> I've tried ath in case that's the chipset, but no luck there either.

I believe that the standard is the Intel PRO/Wireless 3945ABG. There is
currently no driver. ndis might work. The optional 11a/b/g wireless card
IS an atheros, but you have to ask for it. (No price difference.)

> Also, for whatever it's worth to those reading these lists, I tried 
> FreeBSD 5.4 first (even though I plan on going w/ 6.2 if I can get it 
> working), and during the install, it couldn't even see the hard disk!!!!!!

I can think of few reasons to even try 5.4. With the exception of a few
very hardware specific issues, 6.1 is vastly better. (6.2 would be tough
as it won't exist for a few months.)

> One other thing: Xorg works great w/ the Intel Graphics Accelerator card 
> 950. Didn't have to screw with anything, looks great. The only weird 
> thing is that everytime I start a new X session, there is a ghost 
> flicker image of the last session. No big deal, but kind of weird.
> 
> Don't even ask me about ACPI yet. But I'm sure I'll be banging my head 
> into that once I can get through these Sound and Wireless issues.

Except for suspend/resume issues, ACPI seems to be OK. I suspect that
the right sysctls can get that working, too. I did get it working for my
T43.

Good luck.
-- 
R. Kevin Oberman, Network Engineer
Energy Sciences Network (ESnet)
Ernest O. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab)
E-mail: oberman at es.net			Phone: +1 510 486-8634