BSD have you tried it ?

[GS2]

[verndog]

Re: BSD have you tried it ?

A couple of years ago I installed PC-BSD that was using kde4. Very impressed with its stability. Wasn't experienced enough for the package manager. Also, I found that BSD folks tend to be very protective of their OS. Choose your words wisely

[sithlord48]

Re: BSD have you tried it ?

does os X count?

[verndog]

Re: BSD have you tried it ?

I don't see why not.

[Ole Juul]

Re: BSD have you tried it ?

I've got one machine here with FreeBSD and I really like it. I wouldn't recommend it for someone who doesn't like the command line though, but if you do, then BSD rocks. One shocker for newcomers is that it boots to the command line and you then have to install X11 before you can install your GUI of choice. The good part is that they have a manual, so if you can read one of those everything is a piece of cake. Another good thing about it is that is can run all the same Linux programs that we are used to here. Regarding the package manger, that is a little baffling at first because there are two methods. You can install "packages" in exactly the same way as "apt-get" or you can choose "ports" which are compiled locally.

Actually it's funny that this should come up right now, because I just spent the last 2 hours working on a BSD install on a 1993 laptop with 64MB ram. Obviously I'm not going to use "ports".

[sixonetonoffun]

Re: BSD have you tried it ?

Where does PCBSD fit in there ?

I've wanted to try BSD for a while but when I did (FreeBSD 4 alpha I think) 7, 8 maybe 10 years ago and it booted to a command line I bolted for good reason "I didn't have a clue!"

Now I feel more comfortable there and wouldn't mind learning more about using it. But right now space and time make it look unlikely. But those BSD girls sure make it look inviting!!

[Ole Juul]

Re: BSD have you tried it ?

Where does PCBSD fit in there ?

They say it is for the "casual" user. It has a GUI and stuff, so ... what can I say. I don't see the point. Of course you get the advantage of having BSD underneath, but does the "casual user" require more security than Linux? I don't think so. Does the commercial server have a GUI. No. The whole idea with BSD is to either run a server, or to have a self built system.

Now I feel more comfortable there and wouldn't mind learning more about using it

There you go. Actually FreeBSD is not that different from Linux, it's just that it is intended to be configured from the ground up - in fact it is expected. Basically you get X11going by enabling hald and dbus. Then you type "Xorg -configure" to write a config file. If it works for you (it probably will) then you put it in it's proper directory, restart (or reboot) and that's done.

X is pretty ugly (in so many ways) to most people, so you probably want a desktop or something. I prefer fluxbox: (pkg_add -r fluxbox). Type "startx" and up she comes. You'll figure it out. You may prefer KDE which would be pkg_add -r kde.


The trick is to just look up whatever it is you want to do in the handbook. It looks hard because they give complete instructions for stuff, but the fact is that most of it just works without much effort. Anyway, like I said earlier, a big draw is that they have lots of programs AND you can run all the Linux programs too.

Personally, although I run Kubuntu on my main machine, I like to try different operating systems. I was just fooling with Minix3 to see what that's like. Travel broadens the mind.

[verndog]

Re: BSD have you tried it ?

Where does PCBSD fit in there ?

I'm not sure I understand your question, or what your asking, but here is a recent interview with Dru Lavigne , who is the Director of Community Development for the PC-BSD project. Maybe that can help.

[Yuri sss]

Re: BSD have you tried it ?

Haven't touched any Bsd so far.
Only had many Blue Screens of Death on Windows

[kyonides]

Re: BSD have you tried it ?

You forgot about several corrupt files you'd get right after a BSD

[askrieger]

Re: BSD have you tried it ?

I actually tried BSD back around the turn of the century BEFORE I started using Linux. My initial objective was to find something that ran on cheap hardware that worked as well as Unix did on expensive hardware. (I had just started my own business.) I tried Coherent and Solaris (on a second hand Sun workstation knockoff) Eventually, a colleague told me about Linux. I haven't looked back since.