OpenBSD 6.6 test results for the Penguin T2 GNU/Linux Laptop

As of Nov 7th 2019 the Penguin T2 GNU/Linux Laptop should have the best support of all of our laptops. While all of our laptops should eventually have better support than your typical laptop due to the chipsets and components that we utilize a system that is "too new" may not yet have support for everything. As newer models will not yet have support under OpenBSD 6.6 the T2 currently has the best support and seems to mostly work just fine with one small big issue (wifi). But this would also be true of any recent laptop. Read below for further info.

Buy now link: https://www.thinkpenguin.com/gnu-linux/penguin-t2-gnulinux-laptop

I've gone and done some rudimentary testing of the hardware under OpenBSD 6.6. Here is what I tested and the results:

Ethernet: Seems to work

Wifi: No, but this is the result of OpenBSD not having support for more modern wifi chips compatible with an M.2 wifi slot, or that are available for the M.2 wifi slots in recent generation laptops. Neither of our M.2 Atheros wifi cards work (yet) and these would be the best supported under OpenBSD. They have been around longer than other chipsets. It won't surprise me if at some point Adrian Chadd gets around to porting support from the Linux kernel to OpenBSD for these cards, but it hasn't happened yet, and it can take a long time to see support added under OpenBSD unfortunately.

Our USB N wifi adapters utilize an AR9271 chipset which only got support under OpenBSD a few years ago even though the chipsets have been entirely free software for quite some years. They are also the best supported wifi chips in adapters on the market still being manufactured (at least by us). And this in spite of the fact that Adrian Chadd worked with us on getting the source code released for the firmware of this chipset (and a few others). He is also well known for being a big fan of *BSD.

I would probably suggest looking at one of these USB wifi adapters as a temporary solution for those looking to run OpenBSD on a modern laptop:

https://www.thinkpenguin.com/gnu-linux/penguin-wireless-n-usb-adapter-gn...
https://www.thinkpenguin.com/gnu-linux/penguin-wireless-n-usb-adapter-w-...

https://www.thinkpenguin.com/gnu-linux/penguin-wireless-g-usb-adapter

Alternatively wifi solutions include connecting via an ethernet to wifi bridge using a mini wireless router:

https://www.thinkpenguin.com/gnu-linux/free-software-wireless-n-mini-vpn...
https://www.thinkpenguin.com/gnu-linux/free-software-wireless-n-mini-vpn...

Directions to do that are available here:

https://www.thinkpenguin.com/gnu-linux/creating-ethernet-wireless-bridge...

Audio: I did some basic testing of the audio and volume control buttons under XFCE and Firefox. Both worked. I didn't test the microphone.

Webcam: I did a VERY basic test of the webcam and captured a small picture via the terminal.

Brightness keys: These don't work, but you can adjust the brightness via the terminal with xbacklight -set command:

xbacklight -set 10
xbacklight -set 100

* You may be able to get these working, but they don't work "out of the box" in the sense that they aren't configured

Graphics: Looks like 1920x1080 works, but I didn't test 3D acceleration. I didn't have any problems playing video in Firefox.

Touchpad: Seems to work as I would expect, but didn't think to test more advanced functionality.

USB: I did some very basic testing of the USB ports. Connected to a wifi network with a few USB wifi adapters. All those listed above. No problems pinging some sites.

While these probably all work too I didn't test them or any other functionality of the laptop:

Card reader: Not tested.
HDMI: Not tested
USB-C: Not tested
VGA D-SUB output: Not tested