Re: ASUS Eee compatibility

[Bill Hacker <wbh@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Sepherosa Ziehau wrote:
> On Fri, Mar 20, 2009 at 6:00 AM, John Leimon <jleimon@gmail.com> wrote:
> > Hello,
> >
> > Has anybody tested the lasted version of dragonfly with an ASUS Eee netbook?
> > I would like to know if there are any hardware compatibility issues.
>
> Old eee seemed to have msk(4), which is reported to work.
>
> Newer eee has ale(4), which does not work reliably:
> 1) One user reported, it does not work properly if cable is unplugged
> when/before bringing up the interface
> 2) From another user's report, the ale_stop() in ale_init() may cause
> later ale_reset() fail, and PHY will no longer work after that.
>
> I currently suspect the mii_phy_reset() in ale_mediachange() may be
> the cause of the problem (Linux's driver seems to comment that PHY
> reset must set autonegotiation bit to workaround certain PHY bug).
> Well, I do not have any of these hardware though.
>
> Best Regards,
> sephe

Not entirely germane - but DragonFlyBSD 2.1, 2.2, 2.3 worked *very 
smoothly* on at least the CPU family and (predecessor?) support chips of 
the VIA-CPU based el-cheapo MB.

To wit: C3 & C7 with VIA Rhine NICs, VIA/S3 Unichrome VGA, VIA onboard 
and add-in [P|S]ATA SiI OR VIA chipsets.

Nary a whimper, 'core' functionality OR ACPI.

Dunno about sound. I use Marantz for that...


OTOH, applied to a Lenovo G400 - 3000 with Core2 Solo Intel mobile 
whatsis, ACPI had to be disabled ELSE tolerate a chronic kvetching about 
being unable to talk to the battery, temperature, etc sensors.

Not reported 'coz the sub-model Lenovo I have was replaced very early in 
its production life, and the specs alone indicate the newer one is quite 
different. No point in chasing orphans...

OTOH, a brand-new-if-'remaindered' laptop with decent screen and 
keyboard, 2 GB RAM, 120GB HDD and Intel hyperthreading that actually 
*works* as 2 processers was too good to pass up for a mere US$ 340...... 
'orphan' or not...

About US$ 40 cheaper than an EE at the time (Hong Kong market...)

Bill