FreeBSD support for ATI graphics cards

[Warren Block]

On Thu, 10 Mar 2011, Andrew Hinton wrote:

> Hello, I am looking to buy a laptop (AMD/ATI) and run FreeBSD on it and possibly run some games under Wine. I have looked through both the mailing list and the supported hardware list however neither mentioned ATI graphics cards. The laptop that I have been looking at has the "Radeon HD 6650M" graphics card (http://shop.amd.com/US/_layouts/shop/ProductDetails.aspx?productID=LX.RCH02.004).
>
> Questions:
>
> * Does FreeBSD have drivers for the Radeon HD 6***M series?

No.  The xf86-video-ati driver has support for them, but FreeBSD does 
not, at present, have kernel modesetting (KMS) that they require.

> * Which models of ATI graphics cards does FreeBSD have drivers for?

2D and 3D acceleration is available from the very old 9000-series, to 
the newer X300/600/1600/1900, 2000-, 3000-, and 4000-series.

> * Would anyone suggest a specific laptop (even if it is not AMD/ATI)?

For games under Wine?  Sorry, no experience there on my part, but it's 
worth looking at The FreeBSD Laptop Compatibility List:
http://laptop.bsdgroup.de/freebsd/index.html