i386 Laptop Status

This is a list of laptops known to be working with OpenBSD.

If your laptop isn't listed below doesn't mean that it won't work, and you will most likely find a similar model that is listed below. Most laptops work very well, however some will still have minor issues.

Of those that have problems,

• Some exhibit problems with APM support. Note that apm -S fails to suspend some laptops.
• Some lack sound support
• A few have subtle bugs with their PCMCIA and CardBus support
• There is currently neither Firewire nor ACPI support in OpenBSD
• XFree86/X.org does not support some displays properly. Sometimes switching between both of them helps.
• Some other built-in device doesn't work.
• Some have problems with pcmcia card eject interrupts.
• Almost all modern laptops with on-board modems have "winmodems", which are not currently and are unlikely to ever be supported. Use a PCCard modem if you need one that works. You can assume any modem on the machines below does NOT work unless indicated.
• IBM Thinkpads (and perhaps other notebooks, too) with Phoenix-style BIOSes offer a so-called "hibernation mode", where memory is written to disk. You can use this feature with OpenBSD. Generate the partition for hibernation using the /usr/ports/sysutils/tphdisk utility from the ports collection.
• IBM Thinkpads with mini-PCI slots will check PCI IDs against a built-in list of "allowed" devices, and thus will not work with third-party cards. This behavior can be changed by using the /usr/ports/misc/tpwireless utility from ports BEFORE inserting the third-party card. This utility sets a "magic bit" in the BIOS to disable this check.

Laptop	Notes
Acer Aspire 1360	OpenBSD 3.7 works. It comes with AMD Sempron 2800+. Everything works fine (mini-PCI slot, VIA S3 Unichrome PRO, VIA RhineII-2). Contact Maxim Bourmistrov. dmesg ¦ xorg.conf
Clevo D410V	Works with OpenBSD 3.7-current (2005 May) CPU: 2.8Ghz with HyperThreading. I use it with GENERIC kernel. Graphics: ATI 9600. It's working fine with Xorg loaded glx. DRI not working. Resolution 1400x1050 works fine. Ethernet: 100/1000 Realtek 8169. Working with re(4) fine. PCMCIA: Working with NetGear WG511T WiFi Card. ath(4) USB: Working. I tried with Lexar JumpDrive. Sound: auich(4) working ( AC97 ) apm(8) is not working properly. Cannot apm -S: apm0: APM set power state: unable to enter requested state (96) apm -z freezes. SD Card reader probably works, although I haven't tested yet. Infra is not working. CD/DVD - QSI, CDRW/DVD SBW-242, UX02 SCSI0 5/cdrom removable I can write cd, and view dvd. Contact Adam Papai dmesg ¦ xorg.conf
Dell Inspiron 4100	OpenBSD 3.7 works. apmd(8) is fully functional. Integrated xl(4) works fine. Integrated auich(4) works fine. USB works fine with my mouse. Both PCMCIA slots work. The Modem does not work. Contact Robert Nagy. dmesg ¦ xorg.conf
Dell Latitude c610	OpenBSD 3.7-current (May 24, 2005) works. Audio, video (1400x1024) and sound work just fine. Contact Steve Tornio. dmesg ¦ xorg.conf
Fujitsu Siemens Amilo D 7820	OpenBSD 3.6 works. APM is not working (boot with boot -c and then disable apm). Sound works fine. Everything else on the machine works. Contact Alexander Schmid. dmesg ¦ XF86Config
Fujitsu Siemens Lifebook E8010 with i855/SXGA+	OpenBSD 3.7 works. SD card reader and SVGA are not supported. Doesn't have APM, so there's no way to suspend or 'halt -p' the box. iwi(4) needs an increased watchdog timeout of 10 in busy environments, see if_iwi.c.diff (with or without this diff, you might still experience 'fatal error' from time to time). needs Xorg-current (+ 855resolution for full 1400x1050 resolution). The laptop only does 1280x1024 by default. Everything else on the machine works. Contact Nikolay Sturm. dmesg ¦ xorg.conf ¦ if_iwi.c.diff
IBM Thinkpad T23 model 26478NU.	Works fine with OpenBSD 3.7-current (April 2005). If using a boot floppy the system may hang when probing ahc. Workaround: boot with -c and disable ahc. A GENERIC kernel does not have this issue. Serial ports must be enabled in BIOS. "ctrl:nocaps" in X puts the control key in a proper location Apm mostly works -- suspends OK Hibernation not tested, but should work with /usr/ports/sysutils/tphdisk from the ports collection. The audio chipset is supported (auich). See http://www.snafu.org/t23/ for more info. Contact Marco S Hyman. dmesg ¦ xorg.conf
IBM Thinkpad T42 model 2373	OpenBSD 3.7 works fine. See entry for the X40 for the built-in iwi(4) or ipw(4) 802.11 card and APM/Hibernation support. See entry for the X31 for Enhanced SpeedStep and the extra Thinkpad buttons. The alternatively built-in "Atheros AR5212 (IBM MiniPCI)" 802.11 card works with the ath(4) driver. X.org with ATI Radeon Mobility works fine (1024x768, 24bpp). The built-in USB Bluetooth and infrared are not presently supported. The built-in em(4) gigabit ethernet device works fine. The built-in auich(4) audio device works fine. The built-in fingerprint scanner found in some models is not supported. Contact Reyk Floeter. dmesg ¦ xorg.conf
IBM Thinkpad X31	Works with OpenBSD 3.7-current (April 2005). Nearly all Hardware is supported, except FireWire. APM is well supported. Suspend mode (apm -s/zzz) works without problems. Hibernation (suspend to disk) works also fine but requires a small MS-DOS partition with a hibernation file at the beginning of the harddisk. You can create this file with tphdisk from ports (/usr/ports/sysutils/tphdisk). The two extra keys around the cursor block can be configured via xmodmap. Example: xmodmap -e "keycode 233 = Page_Down" xmodmap -e "keycode 234 = Page_Up" The integrated Intel PRO/Wireless 2100 in my X31 (Model 2672-C8G) works with the ipw(4) driver. But you need to download the unfree firmware first to get it working. For more details read ipw(4). I'm planning to replace this card with a ral(4) or an ath(4). For these cards, no unfree firmware required. To replace it, I'll have to unlock the bios first because IBM allows only special IBM mini-PCI cards to be installed. The bios can be patched with the tpwireless program (/usr/ports/misc/tpwireless, use on your own risk!). The integrated CF-Card reader (really nice!) is supported as well. Enhanced SpeedStep is supported. You can adjust the cpu speed via sysctl (sysctl hw.setperf). The on-board fxp(4) and auich(4) are working without problems. The keys for mute, volume up and volume down are working fine. No special software is required. If you'd like to get the big "Access IBM" button to work and have a nice on-screen display, you can install tpb from ports. (/usr/ports/sysutils/tpb) This works just fine and you have nice on-screen messages when you change volume and brightness settings or enable/disable the ThinkLight. Contact Bernd Ahlers. dmesg ¦ xorg.conf
IBM Thinkpad X40	OpenBSD 3.7 works fine. SD Card Slot is not presently supported. The built-in "Intel PRO/Wireless 2200BG" works only with additional firmware. See iwi(4) for more information. The use of other mini-PCI cards may be restricted by the BIOS. However, non-IBM supplied cards can be used after running the /usr/ports/misc/tpwireless utility. APM works fine, including suspend to hard-disk (hibernation) If you want to use Hibernation, you must have a small msdos partition with a save2dsk.bin. For this, you can use /usr/ports/sysutils/tphdisk. Perhaps one of the best supported notebooks because several developers also use it. Contact Marcus Popp. dmesg ¦ xorg.conf
JVC MP-XP 7250DE	OpenBSD 3.6-current (October 2004) works. Everything works fine except APM and the built-in SD card reader. Since OpenBSD 3.4 the boot loader does not boot correctly from USB CDROM on this machine -- workaround: take 3.3 and upgrade or boot via network or PCMCIA floppy. The audio chipset is supported. Wireless 802.11b PRISM 2.5 (USB) is supported, too. Contact Joerg Zinke. dmesg ¦ xorg.conf ¦ more info.
Medion MD6100 (model no. FID2040)	OpenBSD 3.7-current (April 2005) works. ACPI-only machine, no APM support. sis0 has certain issues, see postings [1], [2], and [3]. infrared does not work under OpenBSD. sound is erratic, two out of three times. USB2.0 doesn't work (pci_intr_map: no mapping for pin D). To use the onboard NIC, make sure the interface is in Promiscuous mode. I use `tcpdump -i sis0 -w /dev/null` to accomplish this. For normal operation I add a (wireless) PCMCIA NIC. Audio programs (mplayer/mpg123/ogg123/xmms/etc) simply should be restarted once or twice to get proper audio. Overall, this laptop stinks. It's heavy, powerhungry and gets very hot (too hot, often it will shut itself down to prevent meltdown). A lot of hardware works only mediocre. The battery doesn't last long. It's huge/bulky. It's *extremely* noisy. But, it *does* run OpenBSD. And, when properly cooled, it's pretty fast (2.6 GHz). Why anyone would need that much CPU in a laptop is beyond me, but it's there. Contact Paul de Weerd. dmesg ¦ xorg.conf
Sony VAIO PCG C1XD	OpenBSD 3.6 works, but there are some minor issues. USB and built-in sound (Yamaha) work just fine. My 3com Megahertz Cardbus LAN Card xl(4) works ok. Jog Dial and the mini camera were useless to me, so I never tested them. While the GENERIC Kernel works fine, the installation ramdisk kernel hangs on booting since OpenBSD 3.3 or so. Disabling the cardslot and PCMCIA subsystem in UKC before booting makes the ramdisk come up, too. But then you have to install from images you left on the hard disk before (e. g. in a discardable filesystem in the partition you want to use for swapping later), because you can't access LAN or WLAN without the cardslot. Removing cards from the PCMCIA/Cardbus slot on a running system may cause system freeze or instant reboot sometimes. My D-Link DWL-650 (PrismII) works for some time, but then locks up and has to be reinserted to work again. This, however, causes the problems mentioned above. APM works partly: "halt -p" switches off the machine, but sometimes, you can't wake up from "zzz". Contact Alexander von Gernler. dmesg ¦ XF86Config
Sony VAIO VGN-S16TP	OpenBSD 3.7-current (June 2005) works. Everything works just fine. Contact Kevin Lo. dmesg ¦ xorg.conf
Sony VAIO z505n	OpenBSD 3.6-current (as of August 2004) runs. Installation is cumbersome, though. The Sony CD drive does not boot the snapshot CD. Installation by USB floppy: The floppy36.fs of the snapshot (august 2004) can be brought to boot if one disables the following (boot -c, wait for the UKC> prompt): disable pcibios disable fxp disable pcic After this there is no USB, no PCMCIA, no Cardbus and no network. This means that the laptop has no input/output! So you have to put the install sets on a partition from some other OS or earlier installations of OpenBSD. The install script can mount ffs and msdos partitions. The kernel as supplied with the snapshot boots alright and recognizes all the relevant hardware (no firewire, no memorystick, no JogDial). Sound (yds) works. The XFConfig from the OpenBSD install works without modification. Contact Matthias Bauer.
Toshiba Satellite 2410S	It's running OpenBSD 3.7-current (April 2005). All stuff are working fine (graphics, sound, PCMCIA, APM, ethernet), except infrared and the built-in SD card reader. There's a bug with certain toshiba laptops and XFree/X.org. Ratio is too quick, and some chars are repeated. To avoid that, disable X's kbd handling, and load a modmap with xmodmap if needed. Contact Alexandre Anriot. dmesg ¦ xorg.conf
Toshiba Tecra 8000	OpenBSD 3.6-current (Jan 2005) works ok. All hardware except infrared works. Some issues with APM suspend/resume. Sound required the following change to /bsd : In the system BIOS use the following values Sound = Enabled --- SOUND SYSTEM --- WSS I/O Address = 530H SBPro I/O Address = 220H Synthesizer I/O Address = 388H WSS & SBPro & MPU401 IRQ Level = IRQ5 WSS(Play) DMA = Channel 1 WSS(Rec.) & SBPro DMA = Channel 0 Control I/O Address = 538H MPU401 (MIDI I/F) = 330H config -f -e /bsd ukc> disable sb 193 sb0 disabled 241 sb* disabled ukc> change wss0 197 wss0 at isa0 port 0x530 size 0 iomem -1 iosiz 0 irq 10 drq 0 +drq2 -1 flags 0x0 change [n] y port [0x530] ? size [0] ? iomem [-1] ? iosiz [0] ? irq [10] ? 5 drq [0] ? 1 drq2 [-1] ? 0 flags [0] ? 197 wss0 changed 197 wss0 at isa0 port 0x530 size 0 iomem -1 iosiz 0 irq 5 drq 1 +drq2 0 flags 0x0 ukc> quit Saving modified kernel. separate xorg.conf not needed, X works perfectly without one An older but still very useable laptop. Not too fast, but fast enough for some DivX viewing with mplayer and firefox/thunderbird-use (not for the impatient though, but then again, what is?). The fan can get a bit loud after many power-on hours. This also impacts battery lifetime, but that is to be expected. Nice and well supported. Contact Paul de Weerd. dmesg
Toshiba Tecra 8100	OpenBSD 3.7-current (April 2005) works ok. All hardware except infrared works. Some issues with APM suspend/resume. Very nice laptop indeed. Quiet, boots very fast, most hardware is supported. Only APM doesn't work very well. Pretty fast, not too heavy, very OpenBSD-friendly - just like its predecessor, the Tecra 8000. Battery can get a bit rusty, works good from 100% to 50%, then drops to ~3% in minutes. Not too strange for an older machine though. Contact Paul de Weerd. dmesg ¦ xorg.conf

If your laptop under OpenBSD is not listed above, feel free to mail www@openbsd.org to cure this. Please supply as much information as possible, such as:

• Notebook exact manufacturer, name and model.
• Latest OpenBSD version known to work on it (must be the latest release or -current).
• List of working/not working things with OpenBSD.
• List of hacks you used to get certain things running.
• Links to your dmesg and xorg.conf.
• Contact name and email address.