[geeks] FreeBSD Laptop

[J. Alexander Jacocks]

On Wed, Mar 11, 2015 at 5:01 PM, Andrew Jones <andrew at jones.ec> wrote:

> I thought laptop firmware usually hardcoded the list of acceptable
> wireless cards, in order to prevent a non-compliant antenna/card
> configuration from being installed.
>
> At least, that's what I was told the last time I tried to do this.  I
> ended up buying a replacement card that precisely matched an alternative
> configuration shipped by the manufacturer.
>
> On 03/11/2015 04:28 PM, hike wrote:
>
>> While I have not worked on the Dell XPS 13, it is generally an easy task
>> to
>> physically replace the WiFi card.
>> It can a little of searching to find the drivers for an upgraded Dell card
>> but, these days, Dell drivers support multiple WiFi cards.
>> It is an easy search to find the drivers for Intel cards (Dell or
>> Intel-branded) at the Intel.com website.
>
>
No, good laptop hardware definitely does _not_ hardcode device IDs.  HP and
IBM/Lenovo have both been caught doing so, however.  My advice is to read
reviews for all laptops that you might want to buy, and to buy nothing that
isn't at least a few months old, to reveal such manufacturer malfeasance.

On the other hand, I have never personally run into a laptop that hardcodes
device IDs, so it's definitely not standard behavior.

- Alex