From owner-freebsd-hackers@freebsd.org Thu Apr 9 22:04:45 2020 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-hackers@mailman.nyi.freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2610:1c1:1:606c::19:1]) by mailman.nyi.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 799782A8FC3 for ; Thu, 9 Apr 2020 22:04:45 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from SRS0=wHoQ=5Z=quip.cz=000.fbsd@elsa.codelab.cz) Received: from elsa.codelab.cz (elsa.codelab.cz [94.124.105.4]) (using TLSv1.2 with cipher ECDHE-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384 (256/256 bits)) (Client did not present a certificate) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id 48ywDD3jh8z4MTr; Thu, 9 Apr 2020 22:04:44 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from SRS0=wHoQ=5Z=quip.cz=000.fbsd@elsa.codelab.cz) Received: from elsa.codelab.cz (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by elsa.codelab.cz (Postfix) with ESMTP id 8B91028436; Fri, 10 Apr 2020 00:04:41 +0200 (CEST) Received: from illbsd.quip.test (ip-62-24-92-232.net.upcbroadband.cz [62.24.92.232]) (using TLSv1.2 with cipher ECDHE-RSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256 (128/128 bits)) (No client certificate requested) by elsa.codelab.cz (Postfix) with ESMTPSA id 03CBA28435; Fri, 10 Apr 2020 00:04:39 +0200 (CEST) Subject: Re: Ars Technica article on FreeBSD new user experience To: Rick Macklem , Ed Maste , FreeBSD Hackers References: From: Miroslav Lachman <000.fbsd@quip.cz> Message-ID: <204957c6-1d86-7e55-b3c9-ecaabdcd8be3@quip.cz> Date: Fri, 10 Apr 2020 00:04:39 +0200 User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; FreeBSD amd64; rv:52.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/52.0 SeaMonkey/2.49.3 MIME-Version: 1.0 In-Reply-To: Content-Type: text/plain; charset=windows-1252; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit X-Rspamd-Queue-Id: 48ywDD3jh8z4MTr X-Spamd-Bar: +++ Authentication-Results: mx1.freebsd.org; dkim=none; dmarc=none; spf=none (mx1.freebsd.org: domain of SRS0=wHoQ=5Z=quip.cz=000.fbsd@elsa.codelab.cz has no SPF policy when checking 94.124.105.4) smtp.mailfrom=SRS0=wHoQ=5Z=quip.cz=000.fbsd@elsa.codelab.cz X-Spamd-Result: default: False [3.91 / 15.00]; ARC_NA(0.00)[]; RCVD_VIA_SMTP_AUTH(0.00)[]; FROM_HAS_DN(0.00)[]; RCPT_COUNT_THREE(0.00)[3]; IP_SCORE(0.83)[ip: (0.28), ipnet: 94.124.104.0/21(0.14), asn: 42000(3.61), country: CZ(0.09)]; MIME_GOOD(-0.10)[text/plain]; RCVD_TLS_LAST(0.00)[]; DMARC_NA(0.00)[quip.cz]; AUTH_NA(1.00)[]; NEURAL_SPAM_MEDIUM(0.88)[0.881,0]; RCVD_COUNT_THREE(0.00)[3]; TO_MATCH_ENVRCPT_SOME(0.00)[]; TO_DN_ALL(0.00)[]; NEURAL_SPAM_LONG(1.00)[0.998,0]; RCVD_IN_DNSWL_NONE(0.00)[4.105.124.94.list.dnswl.org : 127.0.10.0]; R_SPF_NA(0.00)[]; FORGED_SENDER(0.30)[000.fbsd@quip.cz,SRS0=wHoQ=5Z=quip.cz=000.fbsd@elsa.codelab.cz]; R_DKIM_NA(0.00)[]; MIME_TRACE(0.00)[0:+]; ASN(0.00)[asn:42000, ipnet:94.124.104.0/21, country:CZ]; FROM_NEQ_ENVFROM(0.00)[000.fbsd@quip.cz,SRS0=wHoQ=5Z=quip.cz=000.fbsd@elsa.codelab.cz]; MID_RHS_MATCH_FROM(0.00)[] X-BeenThere: freebsd-hackers@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.29 Precedence: list List-Id: Technical Discussions relating to FreeBSD List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Thu, 09 Apr 2020 22:04:45 -0000 Rick Macklem wrote on 2020/04/09 23:39: > Ed Maste wrote: >> Jim Salter has an article in Ars Technica discussing his experience >> with FreeBSD 12.1 as a desktop: >> https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2020/04/not-actually-linux-distro-review-freebsd-12-1-release/ >> >> There are some points in there that might involve misunderstanding, >> but there are also a number of real issues raised about the experience >> a new (or newish) desktop FreeBSD user will have. It will be a good >> idea for us to examine these, and offer advice or corrections if >> appropriate, and otherwise look how we can improve the FreeBSD >> experience for new users. > Since this is a public mailing list, I'll repost here... > > One thought here that I'll throw out (I have no idea if others have suggested > this before)… > What about creating a separate release for desktops/laptops that installs > X Windows etc from a simple installer "out of the box"? > --> To keep it simple, don't try to support all hardware, just stuff that is widely > available and already well supported by the drivers in FreeBSD. > Obviously amd64 only plus a few widely available display chip sets that work > well, etc and so on... > > If it doesn't support the hardware someone has, then they can go the regular > release/install route. (It would be nice to maintain an up to date list of what > hardware it supports, but it might be easier to just have it start up live CD > style and then see if the hardware it needs is there. > --> Sorry, can't do this display chipset to that sound chip or... There has been some attempt to create simple script to setup desktop / workstation with Xorg https://euroquis.nl/freebsd/2019/08/12/instant-workstation.html https://raw.githubusercontent.com/adriaandegroot/FreeBSDTools/master/bin/instant-workstation The biggest problem is graphic driver detection. If something like this can be available on newly installed machines then any new user can run just the one command to get Xorg up and running with KDE / GNOME / Xfce / Mate... Kind regards Miroslav Lachman