Hello Ottavio,

> My current Thinkpad is dying and I was wondering if the Raspberry Pi 4-B
> 8GB would be a half-decent laptop replacement, obviously with the
> addition of a portable monitor (suggestions?) and an external drive.
> I can only stress "half decent"; I don't expect miracles.
> I would be running NetBSD [1], not Raspbian.
> I don't really do gaming or other CPU intensive tasks, but I do some
> word processing every now and again and I'd like to build my own
> packages from pkgsrc.
> I'm getting disillusioned with newer Thinkpads and the old ones are just
> too old.
> Thanks
> [1] https://wiki.netbsd.org/ports/aarch64/

I visited that site, and only the Raspberry Pi 3B is listed there,
not de Pi 4B.
Beware, the Pi 4B 8GB is different from the Pi 4B 4GB model !
I have both and the Raspbian Buster 2019 works ok at the 4 GB model 4B,
but for the 8GB model 4B,
so I had to install the newer version of Raspbian Buster may 27 2020.
That's why I am a little bit pessimistic if the NetBSD wil work on the
Pi 4B 8GB.

Saturday August 22th I tried to install Ubuntu Server 20.04 LTS on a new 32 GB
microSDcard, and that worked ok at 2 displays, the Eizo FlexScan L367 and my
mini TV MT-Logic LE207839MT 17" with HDMI at the Pi's first left HDMI port.
But I had no sound from HDMI or the 3.5 mm Jack source ;-(.
I did not understand why?
On the Philips 196V3LSB/00 I got an unreadable mangled text screen.
That monitor has only a VGA and a DVI-D port.
Strange as the Eizo worked ok at the DVI-D port.
Then I could install the Mate desktop, but that took a large amount of time.

I donot know the solution how to get a good view with the Philips monitor.
It must be some setting in Ubuntu or boot partition,
as Raspbian works good there with all my Pi's with all RISC OS and all Raspbian
versions.
A friend of my from the computerclub also tried RISC OS at the Pi 4B
with a strange setup of the USB3.1C (power-) port and a powered hub.
You need a USB3.1C to USB3.1A converter cable for that.
I think the normal USB2A and 3A ports are not accessable with RISC OS
on the Pi 4B.

But with Raspbian you can browse the web and also work with LibreOffice.
For YouTube video's a Pi 4B with at least 2 GB is the better solution,
but if you can spend the money, choose for a Pi 4B 4GB,
or even better a Pi 4B 8GB in a transparant case with fan.
Do not choose a metal case, as that gives worst results with WiFi and BlueTooth
if you need wireless connections.
My Pi 3B+ hangs naked in the air and gets over 20 WiFi stations here.
My Pi 3B in aluminium case with transparant lid got much less stations.
But at home I only use RJ45 EtherNet cables.
I am using older Pi's for AIS+ECDIS at inland ships with OpenCPN.
At home I have an AIS-receiver and a USB2A GPS mouse for that purpose.
Good luck.

Henri.
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