April 2025 Laptop Support and Usability Project Update

The FreeBSD Foundation’s Laptop Support and Usability Project continued to make steady progress in April. The report is now available on GitHub.

Highlights include:

• Improved Wireless Support: Updated Realtek (rtw88/rtw89) drivers are now in main and coming in 14.3, along with improved TKIP Wi-Fi performance. Intel Wi-Fi firmware updates are now handled through the package system for easier management.
  
  
• Graphics and Audio Enhancements: Linux 6.7 graphics driver patches are nearly complete, clearing the path for Linux 6.8 driver integration. New automatic audio switching allows for seamless hot-plugging of audio devices—no more workarounds required.
  
  
• Power Management and Installer Updates: Progress continues on improving suspend/resume behavior and modern standby (S0i3) support. The FreeBSD installer now supports pkgbase installation on 15.0-CURRENT, with more customization features in development.

As always, many thanks to the developers, project team members, and community contributors driving this work forward. You can follow the project here: FreeBSD Foundation Laptop Project GitHub.