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IBM ThinkPad T41
15 June 2004
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This article describes how I installed FreeBSD 5.x on an IBM ThinkPad T41 so
it dual-booted with the existing Windows XP Pro installation. Also described
is:
- my dhclient.conf settings
- my Postfix configuration
- installing KDE from packages
- set up of xplanet
- installing the Project Evil work to use a Windows driver to get my
wireless network card running
The intial work was done in June 2004 with FreeBSD 5.2.1. Further work was
done in December 2004 with FreeBSD 5.3. Both installations were successful.
I will highlight any differences between the two installations.
I bought a slightly used IBM ThinkPad T41 on Friday. I have installed
FreeBSD 5.2.1 and KDE 3.2.3 on it. It is also running XFree86 Server
4.3.99.15_2 (the snapshot version as found in x11-servers/XFree86-4-Server-snap). I went with the snapshot version
because I was getting screen corruptions (see photograph at left).
As it turns out, this wasn't the cause of the problem, but that
will be left for later in this story.
In December, I installed 5.3 on the laptop. With this came xorg 6.7.0. I am particularly
pleased with xorg. It installed without any manual configuration. I am most impressed. Similarly,
I am now using KDE 3.3.2.
If you are a regular reader of this website, then you'll know that I recently
had my laptop stolen. That was pretty sickening. Even more disappointing
is the fact that I think it was used on MSN, but MSN are refusing to help
unless we get a court order. All I really want from them is a Yes or a No
as to whether or not my MSN account was accessed from an IP address other than
my home location at a particular time on a specific date. If the answer is no,
then I know my computer was not used. If the answer is yes, then I'll get a court
order and proceed form there.
But this isn't about MSN and my attempts to catch the thief.
On to the laptop detail...
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The T41
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This is the second laptop I have purchased from The Trailing Edge.
They deal primarily in used equipment. Phil Fourier was able to get me an
almost-new IBM ThinkPad T41 (model 2378 DMU). This laptop was manufactured in April 2004
(that's less than 2 months ago).
The previous laptop was a ThinkPad T22. I quickly became fond of it as I was freed from my desk and able to work in
other locations. The office I have is quite good, but being able to work elsewhere in the house, have
computing power when on the road, and being able to give presentations using your own machine is a great
time saver. I quickly became acustomed to being able to work in the living room, or take the laptop with
me if I had spare time between appointments but not enough time to return home.
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Making space - dual boot
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The ThinkPad comes with Windowx XP Pro pre-installed. The first step to
installing FreeBSD to dual-boot is to make room on the disk. This is done
by shrinking the existing partition, creating a new partition, and then
installing FreeBSD there. To do this partition magic, I obtained
BootIt Next Generation (BootIt NG) (BING) from
TeraByte Unlimited.
BootIt NG is a "partition and multi boot manager with a powerful and simple to
use set of tools for partitioning, imaging, and multi-booting your computer".
I created a CD from their ISO and followed the instructions in bootitng.pdf.
I shrunk the existing partition to give me a 17GB partition for FreeBSD.
For what it's worth, here are the FreeBSD slice sizes after the install:
Filesystem 1K-blocks Used Avail Capacity Mounted on
/dev/ad0s2a 738318 36388 642866 5% /
devfs 1 1 0 100% /dev
/dev/ad0s2e 738318 20 679234 0% /tmp
/dev/ad0s2f 15491038 2863864 11387892 20% /usr
/dev/ad0s2d 738318 20368 658886 3% /var
For the install, I did my usual minimal install of FreeBSD. I prefer
to install the minimal installation. I installed 5.2.1-RELEASE. More
recent versions of -CURRENT did not work, but that is not unusual.
NOTE: After installing 5.2.1, I moved to 4.10-stable and ran with that.
After 5.3 was released, I added another partition to my machine, and I'm
now triple-booting my machine.
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Various notes on post-installation configuration
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This is a list of the various tweaks and settings I made after the install.
Perhaps they might be useful to you.
- This entry in
/boot/loader.conf allows the
em network interface card to work (this was needed for 5.2.1 and was not
needed for 5.3):
hw.pci.allow_unsupported_io_range="1"
- I added this entry to
/etc/dhclient.conf
so the DHCP server knew who I was and gave me the right details
in return:
send dhcp-client-identifier "laptop.example.org";
- In
/etc/rc.conf, I added these entries:
moused_enable="YES"
sshd_enable="YES"
hostname="laptop.unixathome.org"
ifconfig_em0="dhcp"
- I added these packages right away:
pkg_add -r bash
pkg_add -r cvsup-without-gui
- I disabled the Touch Pad in the BIOS. By default, both the Touch Pad
and the TrackPoint are enabled. However, if you brush against the Touch Pad
in error, your cursor jumps to the other side of the screen. I don't like
that. Disabling Touch Pad also allows all three mouse buttons to work under
XFree84.
One other thing I did was configure xntpd.
I have already documented that in this article.
After all that, it was time to get XFree86
installed (with 5.3, I used xorg).
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Installing KDE from packages
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I wanted to install KDE, my window manager
of choice. Fortunately, I did not have to compile from source. If you have a
look at the KDE on FreeBSD website,
you will find the FreeBSD KDE Packages.
Please read that URL carefully and choose the correct packages. There
are three streams:
- i386 4-STABLE
- 5-CURRENT (NOT FOR 5.x-RELEASE !!!)
- 5.2/5.2.1-RELEASE
Please choose the correct stream, or you will regret the wasted time.
Here is how I installed KDE on my FreeBSD 5.2.1-RELEASE box:
export PACKAGESITE=http://people.fruitsalad.org/lofi/packages/5.2.1-RELEASE/Latest/
pkg_add -r kde
Because I want KDE, I added the following to my X configuration file
~/.xinitrc so X knows to run KDE:
startkde
But that's not enough to get KDE running. I also need the XFree86 server.
And the clients. That is next.
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Installing the latest XFree86
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I wanted to install the latest XFree86. I installed
x11-servers/XFree86-4-Server.
Also needed is x11/XFree86-4-clients.
These are installed like this:
cd /usr/ports/x11-servers/XFree86-4-Server
make install clean
cd /usr/ports/x11/XFree86-4-clients
make install clean
I also installed x11/wrapper:
cd /usr/ports/x11/wrapper
make install clean
And I also installed x11-fonts/XFree86-4-fontDefaultBitmaps
cd /usr/ports/x11-fonts/XFree86-4-fontDefaultBitmaps
make install clean
If you encounter the following error, I suggest installing the above port:
Fatal server error:
could not open default font 'fixed'
That's it. Go for it.
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Configuring XFree86-4
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There is a wonderful utility for configuring XFree86:
/usr/X11R6/bin/xf86config. However you do need
to know some details about your computer before using. Specifically, you
need to know what video adaptor is used, how many RAM it contains, and the
horizontal and vertical refresh rates.
NOTE: I didn't have to do any of this with xorg.
The Video Adaptor
I found out my video adaptor using this command. I have put the video
section in bold to make it easier to locate.
# pciconf -lv
agp0@pci0:0:0: class=0x060000 card=0x05291014 chip=0x33408086 rev=0x03 hdr=0x00
vendor = 'Intel Corporation'
device = '82855PM Odem Host-Hub Interface Bridge'
class = bridge
subclass = HOST-PCI
pcib1@pci0:1:0: class=0x060400 card=0x00000000 chip=0x33418086 rev=0x03 hdr=0x01
vendor = 'Intel Corporation'
device = '82855PM Odem AGP Bridge'
class = bridge
subclass = PCI-PCI
uhci0@pci0:29:0: class=0x0c0300 card=0x052d1014 chip=0x24c28086 rev=0x01 hdr=0x00
vendor = 'Intel Corporation'
device = '82801DB/DBM (ICH4/M) USB UHCI Controller #1'
class = serial bus
subclass = USB
uhci1@pci0:29:1: class=0x0c0300 card=0x052d1014 chip=0x24c48086 rev=0x01 hdr=0x00
vendor = 'Intel Corporation'
device = '82801DB/DBM (ICH4/M) USB UHCI Controller #2'
class = serial bus
subclass = USB
uhci2@pci0:29:2: class=0x0c0300 card=0x052d1014 chip=0x24c78086 rev=0x01 hdr=0x00
vendor = 'Intel Corporation'
device = '82801DB/DBM (ICH4/M) USB UHCI Controller #3'
class = serial bus
subclass = USB
none0@pci0:29:7: class=0x0c0320 card=0x052e1014 chip=0x24cd8086 rev=0x01 hdr=0x00
vendor = 'Intel Corporation'
device = '82801DB/DBM (ICH4/M) USB EHCI Controller'
class = serial bus
subclass = USB
pcib2@pci0:30:0: class=0x060400 card=0x00000000 chip=0x24488086 rev=0x81 hdr=0x01
vendor = 'Intel Corporation'
device = '82801BAM/CAM/DBM (ICH2-M/3-M/4-M) Hub Interface to PCI Bridge'
class = bridge
subclass = PCI-PCI
isab0@pci0:31:0: class=0x060100 card=0x00000000 chip=0x24cc8086 rev=0x01 hdr=0x00
vendor = 'Intel Corporation'
device = '82801DBM (ICH4-M) LPC Interface Bridge'
class = bridge
subclass = PCI-ISA
atapci0@pci0:31:1: class=0x01018a card=0x052d1014 chip=0x24ca8086 rev=0x01 hdr=0x00
vendor = 'Intel Corporation'
device = '82801DBM (ICH4-M) UltraATA/100 EIDE Controller'
class = mass storage
subclass = ATA
none1@pci0:31:3: class=0x0c0500 card=0x052d1014 chip=0x24c38086 rev=0x01 hdr=0x00
vendor = 'Intel Corporation'
device = '82801DB/DBM (ICH4/M) SMBus Controller'
class = serial bus
subclass = SMBus
none2@pci0:31:5: class=0x040100 card=0x05371014 chip=0x24c58086 rev=0x01 hdr=0x00
vendor = 'Intel Corporation'
device = '82801DB/DBM (ICH4/M) AC'97 Audio Controller'
class = multimedia
subclass = audio
none3@pci0:31:6: class=0x070300 card=0x05241014 chip=0x24c68086 rev=0x01 hdr=0x00
vendor = 'Intel Corporation'
device = '82801DB/DBM (ICH4/M) AC'97 Modem Controller'
class = simple comms
none4@pci1:0:0: class=0x030000 card=0x05301014 chip=0x4c571002 rev=0x00 hdr=0x00
vendor = 'ATI Technologies'
device = 'Radeon Mobility M7 LW'
class = display
subclass = VGA
cbb0@pci2:0:0: class=0x060700 card=0x05521014 chip=0xac46104c rev=0x01 hdr=0x02
vendor = 'Texas Instruments (TI)'
device = 'PCI4520 PC card CardBus Controller'
class = bridge
subclass = PCI-CardBus
cbb1@pci2:0:1: class=0x060700 card=0x05521014 chip=0xac46104c rev=0x01 hdr=0x02
vendor = 'Texas Instruments (TI)'
device = 'PCI4520 PC card CardBus Controller'
class = bridge
subclass = PCI-CardBus
em0@pci2:1:0: class=0x020000 card=0x05491014 chip=0x101e8086 rev=0x03 hdr=0x00
vendor = 'Intel Corporation'
device = '82540EP Gigabit Ethernet Controller (Mobile)'
class = network
subclass = ethernet
none5@pci2:2:0: class=0x028000 card=0x25518086 chip=0x10438086 rev=0x04 hdr=0x00
vendor = 'Intel Corporation'
device = 'PRO/Wireless LAN 2100 3B Mini PCI Adapter'
class = network
As you can see above, my laptop contains an ATI Technologies
video card, namely a Radeon Mobility M7 LW. I wasn't able to find any direct
information on that card, but I did find help at some
The FreeBSD Laptop Compatibility List.
The entry I found most useful was this one.
Using the HorizSync and VertRefresh values from that file, I was only missing
the RAM.
I found the RAM details on the IBM website.
I also discovered this is actually an ATI Mobility RADEON 7500, with
32MB on board. Great. I used the above information to create this
XF86Config (it normally resides
at /etc/X11/XF86Config.
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Running X
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The command used to start XFree86 is startx. If
you get "command not found", you probably didn't install the XFree86
clients.
X started up for me. So did KDE for that matter. Then I installed and
configured xplanet.
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Getting in Postfix
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I prefer Postfix as a mail server, so
I installed it.
cd /usr/ports/mail/postfix/
make install clean
More information on how installing and configuring Postfix is available
here.
For what it's worth, I add these values to the end of
/usr/local/etc/postfix/main.cf. Why the end?
I put my local settings there so it is easier to maintain.
mynetworks_style = host
relayhost = bast.example.org
alias_maps = hash:/etc/mail/aliases
The mynetworks_style directive ensures that only
this host is trusted for relaying mail.
The relayhost directive tells this machine to not
attempt delivery of outgoing email. Instead, relay the mail to the host
indicated.
The alias_maps directive ensure that the standard
aliases database is used.
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Other mail options
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In my ~/.forward file, I added this entry so that
mail would be forwarded to my mail account, which is not necessariy on this
laptop:
dan@langille.org
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Getting sound running
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To get sound working under 5.2.1, I added this to my kernel configuration file:
device pcm
device sbc
Then I recompiled my kernel. For what it's worth, here is the diff of
my kernel configuration file versus GENERIC:
--- GENERIC Thu Jul 15 12:01:08 2004
+++ LAPTOP Thu Jul 15 13:28:06 2004
@@ -19,10 +19,8 @@
# $FreeBSD: src/sys/i386/conf/GENERIC,v 1.394.2.3 2004/01/26 19:42:11 nectar Exp $
machine i386
-cpu I486_CPU
-cpu I586_CPU
cpu I686_CPU
-ident GENERIC
+ident LAPTOP
#To statically compile in device wiring instead of /boot/device.hints
#hints "GENERIC.hints" #Default places to look for devices.
@@ -67,7 +65,7 @@
#options WITNESS_SKIPSPIN #Don't run witness on spinlocks for speed
# To make an SMP kernel, the next two are needed
-options SMP # Symmetric MultiProcessor Kernel
+#options SMP # Symmetric MultiProcessor Kernel
device apic # I/O APIC
device isa
@@ -271,3 +269,6 @@
device firewire # FireWire bus code
device sbp # SCSI over FireWire (Requires scbus and da)
device fwe # Ethernet over FireWire (non-standard!)
+
+device pcm
+device sbc
That might prove useful to me, should I need it again. In the worst case,
it should help you get started.
Under 5.3, I did this:
# kldload snd_driver
Be patient when issuing this command. It loads all of the sound drivers. Your
system may become sluggish during this time. It takes about 30 seconds. Here
is what was loaded on my system after issuing that command:
# kldstat
Id Refs Address Size Name
1 58 0xc0400000 624db4 kernel
3 1 0xc0a2b000 9c1c if_ipw.ko
4 14 0xc0a35000 537f0 acpi.ko
5 1 0xc1e31000 2000 snd_driver.ko
6 1 0xc1f07000 4000 snd_ad1816.ko
7 1 0xc1f0b000 4000 snd_als4000.ko
8 1 0xc1f0f000 4000 snd_cmi.ko
9 1 0xc1f2f000 4000 snd_cs4281.ko
10 2 0xc2115000 6000 snd_csa.ko
11 1 0xc21dd000 b000 snd_ds1.ko
12 1 0xc2121000 6000 snd_emu10k1.ko
13 1 0xc2100000 5000 snd_es137x.ko
14 2 0xc2134000 4000 snd_ess.ko
15 4 0xc21e8000 4000 snd_sbc.ko
16 1 0xc21ec000 4000 snd_fm801.ko
17 2 0xc21f0000 9000 snd_mss.ko
18 1 0xc21f9000 5000 snd_ich.ko
19 1 0xc2206000 6000 snd_maestro.ko
20 1 0xc220c000 7000 snd_maestro3.ko
21 1 0xc2214000 10000 snd_neomagic.ko
22 1 0xc2224000 4000 snd_sb8.ko
23 1 0xc2228000 4000 snd_sb16.ko
24 1 0xc222c000 4000 snd_solo.ko
25 1 0xc2230000 4000 snd_t4dwave.ko
26 1 0xc2234000 4000 snd_via8233.ko
27 1 0xc2238000 4000 snd_via82c686.ko
28 1 0xc223c000 4000 snd_vibes.ko
OK, so what use is this? Well, look at the output of this command:
# cat /dev/sndstat
FreeBSD Audio Driver (newpcm)
Installed devices:
pcm0: at io 0x1c00, 0x18c0 irq 11 bufsz 16384 kld snd_ich (1p/1r/0v channels duplex default)
#
See that snd_ich? That's the key. I then added the following to
/boot/loader.conf
snd_ich_load="YES"
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Suspend/Resume
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One of the big things about laptops is the ability to suspend and resume
where you left off. This is sometimes difficult to get right. Note:
I have not played with suspend/resume under 5.3.
The laptop came with Version: 1RETC6WW (3.05a). I obtained that information
by installing and running the dmidecode port.
The full output of that is pretty impressive. It shows more information than
you will ever need. I upgraded my BIOS shorting after getting it back from
repaires. This was an effort to get -CURRENT running. It failed. The BIOS
upgrade worked. I'm now on 3.06f. But -CURRENT still can't install.
If your laptop powers off, or goes to sleep when you close the lid, and you
do not want that, try adding this entry to
/etc/sysctl.conf:
# do not sleep when the lid is closed
hw.acpi.lid_switch_state=S0
Remember to press enter at the end of the line.
/etc/sysctl.conf is similar to
/etc/crontab in that the last line will be ignored
if it you do not press ENTER at the end of the line.
The FreeBSD handbook
contains a section on ACPI.
I recommend reading the section on Suspend/Resume to learn how to suspend.
If you see this message when you close the lid:
laptop kernel: acpi0: Sleep state S1 not supported by BIOS
then it means that your BIOS does not support the sleep state which FreeBSD
is trying to invoke. To view the supported sleep states, issue this command:
$ sysctl -a | grep sleep
hw.acpi.supported_sleep_state: S3 S4 S5
hw.acpi.sleep_button_state: S1
hw.acpi.sleep_delay: 5
As you can see, only states 3, 4, and 5 are supported. To avoid the message,
you can issue add same entry to /etc/sysctl.conf
as described at the top of this section.
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Suspend/Resume - the testing
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When I tried acpiconf -s S3 and closed the lid,
my laptop did power itself down. When I opened it back up, it did resume.
The only problem was the mouse was not active, and the network connection was
dead and each virtual console contained a solid blinking cursor in the top
left corner.
The mouse can be restored with these commands:
kill -TERM `cat /var/run/moused.pid`
/usr/sbin/moused -p /dev/psm0 -t auto
NOTE: I've found that this is sufficient:
kill -hup `cat /var/run/moused.pid`
To get the mouse resuming properly [under 5.3], I did
added this to the end of /etc/rc.resume,
just before the exit 0 statement:
/etc/rc.d/moused restart
My thanks to Simon L. Nielsen for sharing his R40 experiences,
which worked just fine for my T41.
I wasn't able to get em0 running again. However, I have had previous
correspondence on this topic. See this archive email
for details. In short, I was trying things such as this:
kill -TERM `cat /var/run/dhclient.pid`
ifconfig em0 0.0.0.0
ifconfig em0 down
route -n flush
ifconfig em0 up
dhclient em0
Eventually, the laptop froze up and I
had to power it off.
Here are some other things I tried:
- acpiconf -s4 : had to power it back on. It did not resume.
- acpiconf -s5 : does a shutdown -p now
I also notice this from a acpiconf -s 3:
Jun 13 18:48:34 laptop sudo: dan : TTY=ttyp1 ; PWD=/usr/home/dan ; USER=root ; COMMAND=/usr/sbin/acpiconf -s S3
Jun 13 18:48:43 laptop kernel: pcib0: slot 29 INTA is routed to irq 11
Jun 13 18:48:43 laptop kernel: pcib0: slot 29 INTB is routed to irq 11
Jun 13 18:48:43 laptop kernel: pcib0: slot 29 INTC is routed to irq 11
Jun 13 18:48:43 laptop kernel: pcib0: slot 29 INTD is routed to irq 11
Jun 13 18:48:44 laptop kernel: pcib0: slot 31 INTB is routed to irq 11
Jun 13 18:48:44 laptop last message repeated 2 times
Jun 13 18:48:44 laptop kernel: pcib1: slot 0 INTA is routed to irq 11
Jun 13 18:48:44 laptop kernel: usb0: cannot start
Jun 13 18:48:44 laptop kernel: usb1: cannot start
Jun 13 18:48:44 laptop kernel: usb2: cannot start
Jun 13 18:48:44 laptop kernel: pcib2: slot 0 INTA is routed to irq 11
Jun 13 18:48:44 laptop kernel: pcib2: slot 0 INTB is routed to irq 11
Jun 13 18:48:44 laptop kernel: pcib2: slot 1 INTA is routed to irq 11
Jun 13 18:48:44 laptop kernel: pcib2: slot 2 INTA is routed to irq 11
Jun 13 18:48:44 laptop kernel: wakeup from sleeping state (slept 00:00:08)
Jun 13 18:48:44 laptop kernel: uhub0: illegal enable change, port 1
Jun 13 18:48:44 laptop kernel: uhub1: illegal enable change, port 1
Jun 13 18:48:44 laptop kernel: uhub2: illegal enable change, port 1
Jun 13 18:48:45 laptop kernel: uhub0: port 1 reset failed
Jun 13 18:48:45 laptop kernel: uhub0: illegal enable change, port 2
Jun 13 18:48:45 laptop kernel: uhub1: port 1 reset failed
Jun 13 18:48:45 laptop kernel: uhub1: illegal enable change, port 2
Jun 13 18:48:45 laptop kernel: uhub2: port 1 reset failed
Jun 13 18:48:45 laptop kernel: uhub2: illegal enable change, port 2
Jun 13 18:48:46 laptop kernel: uhub0: port 2 reset failed
Jun 13 18:48:46 laptop kernel: uhub0: illegal enable change, port 1
repeat....
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Project Evil - the wireless card
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Project Evil has the goal of providing support for otherwise unsupported
ethernet drivers. This is accomplished by using Windows drivers.
Project Evil is what I will use to get my built-in wireless card
running. It is by no means limited to just wireless cards.
See also this blurb.
To do this under 5.2.1-RELEASE, I manually obtained the following bits of
code from 5.2-CURRENT and compiled then under 5.2.1. What can I say... it
worked. The Project Evil source is included with 5.3. If you are using
5.3, please skip the following steps and proceed to the
configuration.
- src/sys/compat/ndis
- src/sys/modules/ndis
- src/sys/dev/if_ndis
- src/usr.sbin/ndiscvt
- src/sys/modules/if_ndis
To checkout:
cd /usr
rm -rf src/sys/compat/ndis src/sys/modules/ndis src/sys/dev/if_ndis src/usr.sbin/ndiscvt src/sys/modules/if_ndis
cvs co -D "Jun 7 01:22:48 2004 UTC" src/sys/compat/ndis src/sys/modules/ndis src/sys/dev/if_ndis src/usr.sbin/ndiscvt src/sys/modules/if_ndis
To build:
cd /usr/src/sys/modules/ndis
make clean
make
make install
cd /usr/src/usr.sbin/ndiscvt
make clean
make
make install
Configuration:
cd /usr/src/sys/modules/if_ndis
make clean
#
# be sure to copy your drivers here at some point!
# I had mine on CD, so I used these steps.
#
mount /cdrom
cp /cdrom/W* .
umount /cdrom
/usr/sbin/ndiscvt -i W70N51.INF -s W70N51.SYS -o ndis_driver_data.h
make
make install
I'm not sure where I got the W70N51 values.
I think I ran XP on my box and found out that way.
I did encounter one issue under 5.2.1, which may have been fixed by now:
[root@laptop:/sys/modules/if_ndis] # make
Warning: Object directory not changed from original /usr/src/sys/modules/if_ndis
make: don't know how to make pccarddevs.h. Stop
The solution is to remove references to
pccarddevs.h from
/usr/src/sys/modules/if_ndis/Makefile.
After compiling, you need to load the modules:
kldload ndis
kldload if_ndis
NOTE: I found that under 6.0-STABLE, I didn't have to issue the second
kldload command. The first command loaded the if_ndis
module.
Then you can view any associated stations with this command:
wicontrol -i ndis0 -l
To load those kernel modules at boot time, add these entries to
/boot/loader.conf:
ndis_load="YES"
if_ndis_load="YES"
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Oh yes, those garbled screens!
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At the top of this article, there is a photograph of what my laptop screen
would look like after leaving XFree86 and going to another virtual console.
It was very annoying. It would come and go. Then I discovered what caused
the problem. The console on the IBM ThinkPad T41 has two modes: full screen
or compressed (these are my expressions, I made them up). If you
have the same problem, try pressing FN-F8 to toggle between the two modes.
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The failure
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As mentioned at the start of this article, my T41 suffered a major failure.
This was after about a week. I had just finished documenting all the above
information and had the laptop up and running just the way I like it. Then,
one morning, the system failed to boot. I was left with just a cursor in the
top left corner. I called IBM. At first, we thought it was the drive. It turned out to be the main board.
IBM have replaced it under warranty. Here's to hoping that the next few
days are better than the first few days.
On the bright side, it took me less than 24 hours elapsed time to get the
laptop back to the same condition it was in before the failure. I attribute
that to having these notes, although in rough form.
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Build times
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For what it's worth, here's how long it takes to build world:
| Step | Time |
| Build kernel | 11 minutes |
| Install kernel | 12 seconds |
| Build world | 52 minutes |
| Install world | 4 minutes |
Your times may vary.
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The packages
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Here is a list of the packages I have installed.
$ pkg_info
WordNet-2.0 Dictionaries and thesauri with devel. libraries (C, TCL) an
XFree86-Server-4.3.99.15_2 XFree86-4 X server and related programs
XFree86-clients-4.3.0_8 XFree86-4 client programs and related files
XFree86-font100dpi-4.3.0 XFree86-4 bitmap 100 dpi fonts
XFree86-font75dpi-4.3.0 XFree86-4 bitmap 75 dpi fonts
XFree86-fontDefaultBitmaps-4.3.0 XFree86-4 default bitmap fonts
XFree86-fontEncodings-4.3.0 XFree86-4 font encoding files
XFree86-fontScalable-4.3.0 XFree86-4 scalable fonts
XFree86-libraries-4.3.0_7 XFree86-4 libraries and headers
aalib-1.4.r5_1 An ascii art library
arts-1.2.3,1 Audio system for the KDE integrated X11 desktop
artswrapper-1.2.1 Setuid wrapper for arts
aspell-0.50.5_2 Spelling checker with better suggestion logic than ispell
atk-1.6.1 A GNOME accessibility toolkit (ATK)
autoconf-2.57_1 Automatically configure source code on many Un*x platforms
automake-1.7.9_1 GNU Standards-compliant Makefile generator (version 1.7)
bash-2.05b.007 The GNU Bourne Again Shell
cdparanoia-3.9.8_7 A CDDA extraction tool (also known as ripper)
compat4x-i386-5.2.1 A convenience package to install the compat4x libraries
cups-base-1.1.20.0 The Common UNIX Printing System: headers, libs, & daemons
cups-pstoraster-7.07_1 GNU Postscript interpreter for CUPS printing to non-PS prin
cvsup-without-gui-16.1h General network file distribution system optimized for CVS
db4-4.0.14_1,1 The Berkeley DB package, revision 4
dmidecode-2.4 A tool for dumping DMI (SMBIOS) contents in human-readable
dri-4.3.0,1 OpenGL hardware acceleration drivers for XFree86
expat-1.95.7 XML 1.0 parser written in C
fam-2.6.9_4 A file alteration monitor
flac-1.1.0_3 Free lossless audio codec
fontconfig-2.2.2,1 An XML-based font configuration API for X Windows
freetype2-2.1.7_3 A free and portable TrueType font rendering engine
fribidi-0.10.4_1 A Free Implementation of the Unicode Bidirectional Algorith
gettext-0.13.1_1 GNU gettext package
ghostscript-gnu-7.07_6 GNU Postscript interpreter
gimp-2.0.2,1 A GNU Image Manipulation Program
gimp-print-4.2.6_2 GIMP Print Printer Driver
glib-2.4.2 Some useful routines of C programming (current stable versi
gmake-3.80_2 GNU version of 'make' utility
gnupg-1.2.4_1 The GNU Privacy Guard
gtk-2.4.4 Gimp Toolkit for X11 GUI (current stable version)
gtk-engines2-2.2.0_3 Theme engine for the gtk+-2.0 toolkit
hicolor-icon-theme-0.5 A high-color icon theme shell from the FreeDesktop project
id3lib-3.8.3_1 Library for manipulating ID3v1/v1.1 and ID3v2 tags
imake-4.3.0_2 Imake and other utilities from XFree86
intltool-0.31 Xml internationalization support for GNOME, and others
jasper-1.701.0 An implementation of the codec specified in the JPEG-2000 s
jbigkit-1.6 Lossless compression for bi-level images such as scanned pa
joe-2.8_5 Joe's own editor
jpeg-6b_3 IJG's jpeg compression utilities
kde-3.2.3 The "meta-port" for KDE
kdeaccessibility-3.2.3 Accessibility applications for KDE
kdeadmin-3.2.3 KDE applications related to system administration
kdeartwork-3.2.3 Additional themes, sounds, wallpapers and window styles for
kdebase-3.2.3 Basic applications for the KDE system
kdeedu-3.2.3 Collection of entertaining, educational programs for KDE
kdegames-3.2.3 Games for the KDE integrated X11 desktop
kdegraphics-3.2.3 Graphics utilities for the KDE3 integrated X11 desktop
kdelibs-3.2.3 Base set of libraries needed by KDE programs
kdemultimedia-3.2.3 Multimedia utilities for the KDE integrated X11 desktop
kdenetwork-3.2.3 Network-related programs and modules for KDE
kdepim-3.2.3 Personal Information Management tools for KDE
kdesdk-3.2.3 KDE Software Development Kit
kdetoys-3.2.3 Small applications for KDE
kdeutils-3.2.3 Utilities for the KDE integrated X11 desktop
kdevelop-3.0.4 Powerful IDE for developing KDE/Qt-based apps
koffice-1.3.1,1 Office Suite for KDE3
lcms-1.12,1 Light Color Management System -- a color management library
libXft-2.1.6 A client-sided font API for X applications
libart_lgpl2-2.3.16 Library for high-performance 2D graphics
libaudiofile-0.2.6 A sound library for SGI audio file
libcroco-0.5.1 CSS2 parsing library
libexif-0.5.12_2 Library to read digital camera file meta-data
libglut-6.0.1 A graphics library similar to SGI's OpenGL
libgsf-1.10.0 An extensible i/o abstraction for dealing with structured f
libiconv-1.9.1_3 A character set conversion library
libidn-0.4.6 Internationalized Domain Names command line tool
libijs-0.35 C library that supports plugin printer driver for Ghostscri
libmad-0.15.0b Libmad library (part of MAD project)
libmng-1.0.7 Multiple-image Network Graphics (MNG) reference library
libmusicbrainz-2.1.1 2nd generation incarnation of the CD Index - audio metadata
libogg-1.1,3 Ogg bitstream library
libpaper-1.1.14 A library providing routines for paper size management
librsvg2-2.6.5_1 Library for parsing and rendering SVG vector-graphic files
libtool-1.3.5_2 Generic shared library support script (version 1.3)
libtool-1.5.6_1 Generic shared library support script (version 1.5)
libungif-4.1.3 Tools and library routines for working with GIF images
libvorbis-1.0.1,3 Audio compression codec library
libwmf-0.2.8.3 Tools and library for converting Microsoft WMF (windows met
libxml2-2.6.9 Xml parser library for GNOME
libxslt-1.1.6 The XSLT C library for GNOME
m4-1.4_1 GNU m4
nas-1.6 Network Audio System
net-snmp-5.1.1_4 An extendable SNMP implementation
netpbm-10.21_1 A toolkit for conversion of images between different format
open-motif-2.2.2_2 Motif X11 Toolkit (industry standard GUI (IEEE 1295))
openldap-client-2.1.30 Open source LDAP client implementation
openslp-1.0.11 Open-source implementation of the Service Location Protocol
openssl-0.9.7d SSL and crypto library
opera-7.52.20040706 A blazingly fast, full-featured, standards-compliant browse
p5-Authen-SASL-2.08 Perl5 module for SASL authentication
p5-Digest-1.08 Modules that calculate message digests
p5-Digest-MD5-2.33 Perl5 interface to the MD5 algorithm
p5-HTML-Parser-3.36 Perl5 module for parse HTML tag
p5-HTML-Tagset-3.03 Some useful data table in parsing HTML
p5-MIME-Base64-3.01 Perl5 module for Base64 and Quoted-Printable encodings
p5-Net-1.19,1 Perl5 modules to access and use network protocols
p5-ParallelUA-2.57 Perl5 Parallel LWP User Agent for WWW access
p5-URI-1.31 Perl5 interface to Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) refere
p5-XML-Parser-2.34_1 Perl extension interface to James Clark's XML parser, expat
p5-libwww-5.79 Perl5 library for WWW access
pango-1.4.0_1 An open-source framework for the layout and rendering of i1
pcre-4.5 Perl Compatible Regular Expressions library
perl-5.6.1_15 Practical Extraction and Report Language
pkgconfig-0.15.0_1 A utility used to retrieve information about installed libr
png-1.2.5_5 Library for manipulating PNG images
popt-1.7 A getopt(3) like library with a number of enhancements, fro
portupgrade-20040701_3 FreeBSD ports/packages administration and management tool s
postfix-2.0.20,1 A secure alternative to widely-used Sendmail (old version)
python-2.3.4 An interpreted object-oriented programming language
qt-3.3.2_2 Multiplatform C++ application framework
quanta-3.2.3,2 Comprehensive html/website development environment
ruby-1.8.1.2004.05.02_1 An object-oriented interpreted scripting language
ruby18-bdb1-0.2.2 Ruby interface to Berkeley DB revision 1.8x with full featu
samba-libsmbclient-3.0.4_1 The shared lib from the samba packages
shared-mime-info-0.14_3 A MIME type database from the FreeDesktop project
t1lib-5.0.1,1 A Type 1 Rasterizer Library for UNIX/X11
taglib-1.0_1 Library for manipulating ID3v1 and ID3v2 tags in MP3 and OG
tcl-8.4.6,1 Tool Command Language
tiff-3.6.1_1 Tools and library routines for working with TIFF images
tk-8.4.6,1 Graphical toolkit for TCL
trm-0.2.1_6 TRM generator to generate acoustic fingerprints
wrapper-1.0_3 Wrapper for XFree86-4 server
wv2-0.2.1_3 A library providing routines to access Microsoft Word files
xpdf-3.00_1 Display PDF files, and convert them to other formats
xplanet-1.0.4 Draw pictures of the earth textured by an image
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