Re: Hardware Compatibility

["STeve Andre'" <andres@msu.edu>]

On Sunday 21 September 2003 06:24 pm, Venice Miazza wrote:
> Hi, I'm a Windows user who got tired of the endless
> security and unreliability issues of said operating
> system, and a novice programmer (but a programmer
> nonetheless).
>
> I have an Hewlett-Packard Pavilion 8705 desktop, and I
> want to get OpenBSD on it as part of a dual-boot, but
> the website says the 9000 series is the one that's
> supported.
>
> Is 8705 close enough, or should I look for a
> different, probably not as good, Unix operating
> system?
>
> Thanks.
 
The fastest/easiest way to find out would be to stick another disk
in the machine and try a simple install with that.  Less simple, but
physically easier would be to boot up with a floppy or cdXX.iso
and look at the kernel probe data.  This involves knowing what to
look for.  Offhand I don't know of any document which would help
newcomers with that.  I'll bet it will work, but "winmodems' aren't
supported.  In my experience 

Me, I'd change out the disk.  That, or save my Windows data and
do an install that way.  You'll have to do that anyway, since you 
need to install OpenBSD first on the disk, before Windows.

Take the time to read the FAQ.  It will give you a lot of excellent
data.

--STeve Andre'