Buying a new computer for Haiku

Feedback Hardware
1

I am looking to buy a new computer that will allow me to use Haiku without much hassle.

If I buy this computer, will all the things work?

My main concerns are:

Boot up

Full quality graphics

WiFi

Keyboard and Mouse

Recognize hard drive

(i.e. normal computer use)

Basically, I want Haiku to work out of the box without me needing to tweak the config files or compile my own drivers. Like if I was using it as a consumer, not as a developer.

And I would prefer not buy a new computer that isnā€™t compatible. I already purchased two laptops and a desktop computer that only partially worked, so Iā€™m trying to get at least one computer that definitely works.

2

Graphics should work because of vesa. HDD and keyboard/mouse (due to not requiring additional drivers) should also be functional. Wifi might definately pose a problem there. Thereā€™s only one way to know for sure and that is to try it out yourself, you can always test it out in a live environment before installing the OS onto your computer.

By any chance do you know what wifi adapter it is using?

What were the problems faced by the other computers?

3

maybe you can install it on usb thumb driveā€¦ and test it on computer before buying it? some pc shop maybe agree to do this before you buy itā€¦

2 Likes
4

The problems I faced with the other computers are this:

Laptop 1
Does not recognize hard drive
Does not recognize trackpad or keyboard
Likely more issues, but wasnā€™t able to make much progress with this one

Laptop 2
Does not recognize Wifi
Does not recognize trackpad

Desktop
Wasnā€™t able to use back-side audio jack
Wasnā€™t able to use Wifi USB adapter
Initially wasnā€™t able to use full non-VESA graphics, I think that got updated

I have several iMac computers from 2017 and on, and they just seem like too much trouble.

The problem is, I wasnā€™t trying to build computers from scratch, I wanted to have a working computer that would work well. It just means that Iā€™m going to need to put some of this off until I can invest more time and money.

5

Disable RAID / enable AHCI in BIOS.

6

One of the problems I see is that when looking at some computer shops, like Best Buy in the US, the specifications are somewhat vague when it comes to some components. So it makes it hard to compare to the list of components that others have submitted.

7

I think it was because it was a solid-state eMMC drive.

8

Possible, as they are unsupported at this moment.

9

Yeah, so I guess thatā€™s the challenge. I would like to be able to shop for a new computer to use with Haiku that doesnā€™t require as much trial and error. Iā€™ll see how well I can cross reference the component lists that seem to be supported with the computers I find online at some stores.

10

I found this one also:

https://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/04/product-support/product/inspiron-24-3475-aio

Iā€™ve also pulled up this hardware info page:

https://dev.haiku-os.org/wiki/HardwareInfo

I got some further information from the Dell website. Here is what Iā€™m seeing:

Graphics: AMD Radeon R5
According to the hardware page for this one, I see the following:
Mode Switching: Yes
Display Port: Early
Hardware cursor: No
2d acceleration: No
3d acceleration: No
not working: (empty)

So, does this mean that this graphics card would work in its native resolution, or in VESA mode?

For Wifi, it says ā€œWi-Fi 802.11a/b/g/n/acā€ but Iā€™m not really sure how to determine more details to find out whether this would be expected to work.

It also shows that this computer comes with wireless keyboard and mouse. On that hardware page, it is hard to know whether to expect this to work. I see Human Interface Device Profile (HID) which might be correct, but I see nothing in the Support column for any of them.

On the Dell website, Iā€™m also trying to get some clues from their drivers and downloads:

For audio, I see a driver: Realtek-High-Definition-Audio but I donā€™t see how to compare this to the list of what I see on the hardware page.

Also in the drivers section I can see ā€œQualcomm QCA61x4A and QCA9377 802.11ac Dual Band (2x2) Wireless Adapter and Bluetooth 4.2.ā€ so perhaps that gives a clue. I donā€™t feel like I see this in the list on the hardware info page, so perhaps this isnā€™t supported?

The drivers page also shows ā€œSK Hynix SC401 SATA 256 GB, 512 GB, 1 TB, firmware version 90000122ā€ for the SSD drive I see in the product description. On the hardware info page, I see SATA under ā€œbussesā€ so perhaps this is expected to work?

The driver downloads page also shows ā€œRealtek PCIe Ethernet Controllerā€ but Iā€™m not sure where to see this information in the hardware info page.

I see a memory card reader driver download for a ā€œRealtek USB memory card readerā€ but Iā€™m not sure how to compare this one to the hardware page either.

My summary is that it seems like I can see some correlation between the product details and the Haiku supported hardware info page, but the process is certainly not very easy for someone who doesnā€™t have deep knowledge of this stuff.

11

Iā€™d personally avoid all-in-ones and OEM builds. Itā€™s hard to guess which componentā€™s gonna have some compatibility issues, and hard to fix/replace.

It looks like AMD CPUs and GPUs are a good investment. Once you pinpoint a specific motherboard with Haiku compatible sound, ethernet, and/or Wi-Fi chipsets, it shouldnā€™t be much hassle.

12

I have an ASRock DeskMINI A300w, and it works. Video is fine (except, currently, you have to set it to use failsafe video on boot up). Sound works. Ethernet works well. I havenā€™t tried the WiFi, but it shows up in the Network Preferences as an iDual 7260, so I would guess that works as well.

Itā€™s a ā€˜bare bonesā€™ PC, so you have to buy the processor, memory, and HD separately. I have a Ryzen 5 3400G with 16GB.

13

It tough, thatā€™s for sure. ESP if you donā€™t have any hardware lying around you can just test. Becomes even tougher if you want to build something bleeding edge as then you have nothing to go on.

Mainstream stuff, /should/ work. I tried to look at the original hardware from BeOS and went from there. Though I was pretty lucky that my dual socket mobo worked properly. Pretty darn happy about that. I guess most of it is an educated guess. Good luck with your hunt for supported hardware.

14

See:

15

It is funny that you mentioned this one. The desktop one that I mentioned above was actually an Optiplex 790 and worked the best out of the bunch. It was just the Wifi and back-side audio jack that didnā€™t work. Initially the graphics was working in compatibility mode, but that got updated some time after I had started testing with it.

The two laptops mentioned above were Lenovo IdeaPad 130S and Lenovo IdeaPad S145.

16

Ok. Then, youā€™ll want something like the Intel Wireless-AC 7260/7265/8265/9260 cards.

You can retrofit your Ideapad laptops (and the USFF) with them.

Better compatible laptops (if keyboard/mouse/trackpad concerns):

  • ThinkPad X140e (Type 20BL-S00900)
  • Thinkpad T450s