[oi-dev] New OI hipster ISOs

[Jim Klimov]

On 2013-10-24 10:58, WarGrey Gyoudmon Ju wrote:
> I want to buy a new laptop for Openindiana.
> What's the official suggestions?
> Are those in the list with blank 'notes' okay?
> http://wiki.openindiana.org/oi/Laptops+and+Netbooks

 From my general experience (though mostly "burnt fingers") and vague
knowledge from list-reading, I think the currently suggested rigs
should involve:
1) Ability to test in-shop or return due to incompatibility with your
    software. Many sales points don't allow that - are not required to,
    but some do. Risk of incompatibility is high, so you might want to
    take precautions or even overpay a bit for that (i.e. two weeks for
    the returns no-questions-asked).
2) KVM virtualization - IIRC it is officially done for Intel CPUs with
    VT-D, and an experimental branch is worked on for equivalent AMDs.
    So if interested in KVM, you'd prefer intel now :) VirtualBox should
    be fine on both (my AMD E2 works ok).
3) WiFi - some NICs are supported better than others (i.e. have native
    illumos drivers, have sleep/wakeup for hibernation, support WEP/WPA),
    so you might lean towards Intel ones which are mostly supported well,
    though there are half a dozen drivers in the tree for various models.
4) Somewhat likewise for Ethernet NICs, though the Free NIC Drivers
    project can help here: http://homepage2.nifty.com/mrym3/taiyodo/eng/‎
5) Don't expect USB3 out of the box right now, might not work even to
    power up a mouse or cell phone. Maybe some drivers will be made and
    published soon, but for now - make sure at least some USB2 ports are
    available on the laptop.
6) Audio may work, may be quiet, and there may be a mixup between for
    example a MoBo audio chip and a videocard's HDMI audio support.
    In my case both were driven by "audiohd" driver, and I needed to
    rename some device files in order to have the physical audio be
    the default output.
7) Video support - AFAIK certain NVidia chips have binary drivers for
    Solaris which work in illumos. Maybe also Intel. My AMD E2 Radeon
    (built-in to the CPU, er, "APU") works only as a VESA adapter and
    does not support hibernation in OI, for example.
8) CDROM is not strictly required, but in my case lack of one caused
    me to install the system using the HDD in legacy IDE mode.
    When I boot off an USB LiveMedia, my "SCSI" (SATA/USB) devices have
    different naming/ordering than when I boot off the SATA-mode HDD,
    so my SATA rpool can not be imported.
9) Some advanced laptops include an ability to drive 2 or 3 storage
    devices, such as 2 HDDs and an mSATA SSD. For performance work and
    safe storage, you might want that (i.e. OS and cache on SSD, and
    mirrored HDDs for bulk data). RAM depends on you usage, 8Gb suffices
    for me including 1-2 VMs for some tests; though perhaps more complex
    "labs" of VMs and zones might need more. Some laptops allow 32Gb...
10) And as usual with the laptops, make sure the KBD and screen are
    convenient for you. You don't want to save money on health :)
    Probably you'd want a 15"+ laptop with proper full-sized keyboard
    and preferably good resolution (at least 1920*1080).
    In particular, my Lenovo TP E335 lacks the "numeric keyboard" and
    its associated arrow keys completely, which is sometimes important,
    as well as any kbd LEDs and some advanced keys like Pause/Break -
    this is not always convenient for coding/debugging ;)

HTH,
//Jim Klimov