Date: Tue, 29 Mar 2011 01:46:47 -0500 From: "Paul A. Procacci" <pprocacci@datapipe.com> To: Jason Hsu <jhsu802701@jasonhsu.com> Cc: "freebsd-stable@freebsd.org" <freebsd-stable@freebsd.org> Subject: Re: Best way to switch from Linux to BSD Message-ID: <20110329064647.GH51685@nat.myhome> In-Reply-To: <20110329013223.ddca7453.jhsu802701@jasonhsu.com> References: <20110329013223.ddca7453.jhsu802701@jasonhsu.com>
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Hello Jason, (Highly Opinionated Piece) > Are there any good tutorials for using BSD on the desktop? I'm having mu= ch more difficulty finding good information on BSD than was the case for Li= nux. In retrospect, this shouldn't be a surprise given that Linux is relat= ively mainst ream while BSD is very obscure. PC-BSD is probably your best bet. (http://www.pcbsd.org/) With that said, I recall some debate a while back, but it's my opinion that= FreeBSD doesn't make the greatest desktop OS. There are many obstacles to= getting things working properly. There are lots of examples to choose fro= m, but I'll start with two in particular that are a necesity for me: skype,= wine (amd64) Naturally, it's been several months since I've tried and the above might ha= ve changed, but certianly it is a headache. The problem is really the soft= ware vendors whom target Linux (alsa crap for example). That doesn't mean = you can't ru n FreeBSD as a desktop (or any variant thereof), I've done it for many many= years, but at this time I stick to windows as I'm a heavy gamer. In regards to being obscure, it's my belief that FreeBSD as a desktop is li= mping by, but when you get right down to it, it makes for a wonderful serve= r, probably the best there is. > > Some questions: > 1. Is it possible to install KDE, GNOME, or other DE from the FreeBSD CD= in a reasonable amount of time? KDE and GNOME are huge programs, and havi= ng to download them would take too long. You can either a) install it from cd like you mentioned or b) install it us= ing the pkg_add command: pkg_add -r kdebase4 The same goes for gnome. pkg_add -r gnome2 (I think) > 2. What's lighter than PCBSD and GhostBSD? I tried the live DVDs on my = laptop (1.4 GHz processor, 1.25 GB of RAM) and found both BSD distros to be= very sluggish. Ubuntu and Mint were faster and fit on a CD, and these two= distros hav e been criticized as bloatware. Also, the keyboard didn't work in GhostBSD= . This is the FreeBSD mailing list. The question regarding GhostBSD is proba= bly better suited for that mailing list. Your claim about Ubuntu and Mint = being faster should be backed up with evidence. Quite the contrary I find = FreeBSD to *feel* faster than any linux distro I've tried. Obviously this = is highly opinionated. > 3. How do I triple-boot Puppy Linux, antiX/Swift Linux, and DragonflyBSD= ? I already use a Puppy Linux/Swift Linux dual boot. For the life of me, = I couldn't figure out what to put in the menu.lst file to allow DragonflyBS= D to boot. (By contrast, antiX Linux and Swift Linux automatically add the appropriate= entries in menu.lst.) Not sure. I don't use grub. Sorry. > 4. What are the Linux Mint and Puppy Linux of the BSD universe? I consi= der these two distros to set the standard in the Linux universe, because th= ey're so user-friendly. These are the distros I've set out to compete agai= nst in devel oping Swift Linux. I don't know what these distros are. Should they be a desktop environment,= I believe PC-BSD is what you should be comparing them to. I don't think P= C-BSD is as polished as any desktop linux distro. ####################################### ####################################### Just to reiterate: Do I love FreeBSD..absolutely, my favorite OS in fact. Does it have proble= ms in the Desktop area of all things...absolutely...but it my perception th= at it's a server OS anyways. If skype, wine and other little tidbits worked properly I'd be using FreeBS= D as a desktop hands down. Linux I keep for *other stuff* that commercial vendors won't budge on, and = that's probably all, otherwise (IMHO) it's garbage. Not sure if any of this helps...I hope it does. > > -- > Jason Hsu <jhsu802701@jasonhsu.com> > _______________________________________________ > freebsd-stable@freebsd.org mailing list > http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-stable > To unsubscribe, send any mail to "freebsd-stable-unsubscribe@freebsd.org" -- Paul Procacci Manager, UNIX Support Services Datapipe Managed Global IT Services 1.201.792.4847 (international) 1.888.749.5821 (toll free) This message may contain confidential or privileged information. If you ar= e not the intended recipient, please advise us immediately and delete this = message. See http://www.datapipe.com/about-us-legal-email-disclaimer.htm f= or further information on confidentiality and the risks of non-secure elect= ronic communication. If you cannot access these links, please notify us by = reply message and we will send the contents to you.
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