dch :flantifa: :flan_hacker:
boosted
I keep having to remind myself that this #FreeBSD laptop isn't running Linux.
Other than a few very minor issues, it JUST WORKS. After all of the work (it wasn't even hard, really) of setting it up and customizing a couple of my scripts to run on FreeBSD, the OS does its most important job: disappearing.
This is pretty cool. Give yourselves a pat on the back, #FreeBSD devs. Things are really getting better.
Disclaimer: Just because I haven't encountered any deal-breakers doesn't mean that you won't. Always do your due diligence and try it out on a non-critical machine, first. Also, using an old #Thinkpad (instead of a brand new whatever) is usually the best advice for stuff like this ;)
Stefano Marinelli
boosted
Sometimes old projects are back. Made some updates for my utility, which is used to control brightness of a display, connected to the #Thinkpad X220/X230 via the AGAN X230 board (from AliExpress):
- Since I'm using Awesome WM and don't want to write a logic to change brightness on the Lua, I added the --increase-brightness / --decrease-brightness options to change it by one step.
- Add option --percent to display current brightness level not as internal value from board, but as percentage.
- Update man page, add ChangeLog.
For now it is tested under #FreeBSD 14.1-14.3.
Tommi 🤯 → 39C3
boosted
Hi @tommi,
#permacomputing forever!
A side note: I rent out 9 year old #ThinkPads with #Linux #Mint and refer to https://mro.name/laptop/#:~:text=Permacomputing
Michael Dexter
boosted
My #Thinkpad X200 (currently running #OpenBSD) is about to turn 16.
I bought it when it was already a relic of 9 years old.
Yet, I could just about daily-drive it today without really breaking a sweat. Especially using a BSD and an X11-based window manager, which leaves a lot of free RAM out of its 4GB available for other things, like actually running a web browser. XD
That's just crazy to me.
I remember when my belovèd old #Macintosh SE turned 16 (in 2006), it was just sitting in my closet gathering dust. It had a lot of sentimental value, but wasn't really usable to me.
RIP #MooresLaw. ;)
X210Ai is a new motherboard to upgrade ThinkPad X201/200
https://www.tpart.net/about-x210ai/
#HackerNews #X210Ai #ThinkPad #Upgrade #Motherboard #Tech #News #Hardware
Sometimes old projects are back. Made some updates for my utility, which is used to control brightness of a display, connected to the #Thinkpad X220/X230 via the AGAN X230 board (from AliExpress):
- Since I'm using Awesome WM and don't want to write a logic to change brightness on the Lua, I added the --increase-brightness / --decrease-brightness options to change it by one step.
- Add option --percent to display current brightness level not as internal value from board, but as percentage.
- Update man page, add ChangeLog.
For now it is tested under #FreeBSD 14.1-14.3.
Hi @tommi,
#permacomputing forever!
A side note: I rent out 9 year old #ThinkPads with #Linux #Mint and refer to https://mro.name/laptop/#:~:text=Permacomputing
Two things that would've made my #Thinkpad x260 a perfect laptop:
- A little nicer screen (>1366x768, not TN (that's on me for not reading the ebay description more closely))
- A backlit keyboard, or heck, even a derpy ThinkLight XD
Otherwise, this is a pretty sweet bit of kit. 6th gen i5, 8GiB RAM, 256GB SSD, responsive keyboard, TouchPoint (ThinkNubbin) and touchpad, internal and external battery, roughly 6.5-8 hours battery life (I got 5:21:00 active usage yesterday and it only got down to 48% on the little internal battery (0% on the external) when I was done (it estimated 1:20:00 remaining)), super friendly to both #Linux and #BSD. Oh, and it's dirt cheap right now.
I keep having to remind myself that this #FreeBSD laptop isn't running Linux.
Other than a few very minor issues, it JUST WORKS. After all of the work (it wasn't even hard, really) of setting it up and customizing a couple of my scripts to run on FreeBSD, the OS does its most important job: disappearing.
This is pretty cool. Give yourselves a pat on the back, #FreeBSD devs. Things are really getting better.
Disclaimer: Just because I haven't encountered any deal-breakers doesn't mean that you won't. Always do your due diligence and try it out on a non-critical machine, first. Also, using an old #Thinkpad (instead of a brand new whatever) is usually the best advice for stuff like this ;)
My #Thinkpad X200 (currently running #OpenBSD) is about to turn 16.
I bought it when it was already a relic of 9 years old.
Yet, I could just about daily-drive it today without really breaking a sweat. Especially using a BSD and an X11-based window manager, which leaves a lot of free RAM out of its 4GB available for other things, like actually running a web browser. XD
That's just crazy to me.
I remember when my belovèd old #Macintosh SE turned 16 (in 2006), it was just sitting in my closet gathering dust. It had a lot of sentimental value, but wasn't really usable to me.
RIP #MooresLaw. ;)
@avocadoom 7 Jahre ist fast noch taufrisch, quasi wie dieses X260 von 2017 🥸
Michael Dexter
boosted
Stefano Marinelli
and 1 other
boosted
Just published a detailed write-up on tuning a ThinkPad T480 for power efficiency under FreeBSD 15.0-BETA5.
Achieving 6–8 hours of battery life with full suspend/resume, ZFS, Wi‑Fi, and XFCE.
Read here → https://codeberg.org/Larvitz/gists/src/branch/main/2025/20251109-T480_FreeBSD_Laptop_Efficiency.md
Just published a detailed write-up on tuning a ThinkPad T480 for power efficiency under FreeBSD 15.0-BETA5.
Achieving 6–8 hours of battery life with full suspend/resume, ZFS, Wi‑Fi, and XFCE.
Read here → https://codeberg.org/Larvitz/gists/src/branch/main/2025/20251109-T480_FreeBSD_Laptop_Efficiency.md
dch :flantifa: :flan_hacker:
boosted
@rl_dane @cienmilojos @grahamperrin Huh, I had the same problem with my #Thinkpad — with #FreeBSD 10 (or 11) it resumes near instantly. But with FreeBSD 14.X the resume takes a looong time…
First I thought, that this was a Libreboot problem, but then I realized that this is the FreeBSD problem and made a few hacks to speed up resume process. My method is described here: https://eugene-andrienko.com/it/2025/07/28/speed-up-suspend-resume-freebsd.html
@rl_dane @cienmilojos @grahamperrin Huh, I had the same problem with my #Thinkpad — with #FreeBSD 10 (or 11) it resumes near instantly. But with FreeBSD 14.X the resume takes a looong time…
First I thought, that this was a Libreboot problem, but then I realized that this is the FreeBSD problem and made a few hacks to speed up resume process. My method is described here: https://eugene-andrienko.com/it/2025/07/28/speed-up-suspend-resume-freebsd.html
A friend needed a new laptop and was about to buy some consumer-grade garbage for ~500-600€. Fortunately he asked me before committing to it, and we found a second-hand AMD-based Thinkpad T14 for 300€. It's stupidly powerful for what he does, has much better connectivity and a much sturdier case. It was in really good condition too.
Long story short, stay away from consumer laptops. There's second-hand business machines that are both better and cheaper.
@gabrielesvelto I have a soft spot for the #thinkpad family 😉 I use them for anything outside work and they never le me down 😊