From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Sun Sep 2 12:58:47 2007 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 7C09016A418 for ; Sun, 2 Sep 2007 12:58:47 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from mike.jeays@rogers.com) Received: from smtp106.rog.mail.re2.yahoo.com (smtp106.rog.mail.re2.yahoo.com [68.142.225.204]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with SMTP id 4E2B613C459 for ; Sun, 2 Sep 2007 12:58:47 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from mike.jeays@rogers.com) Received: (qmail 22777 invoked from network); 2 Sep 2007 12:31:42 -0000 DomainKey-Signature: a=rsa-sha1; q=dns; c=nofws; s=s1024; d=rogers.com; h=Received:X-YMail-OSG:From:To:Subject:Date:User-Agent:References:In-Reply-To:MIME-Version:Content-Type:Content-Transfer-Encoding:Content-Disposition:Message-Id; b=KO9Pl32Fh9O9pAeknxS/dZDsksHsXCMuquJrBWjhKuDeyEpyKNHLM8Oh6toVo42WdQCT2Syykk2x7xfZ1Jq/BMlbkBhY2y7lwChGDqlYRJEkgvu64dTnDxK03Iti1F1Ci5W28vuR0P5gqg0CdN0DvA2LHd547UW2+otAnkrAwNw= ; Received: from unknown (HELO ?192.168.2.100?) (mike.jeays@rogers.com@74.104.218.93 with login) by smtp106.rog.mail.re2.yahoo.com with SMTP; 2 Sep 2007 12:31:42 -0000 X-YMail-OSG: YJbzykEVM1lbq07_wFEhVuWYW7wDvGbtMMFc0G8f1WhdB7XiJx8Lwt8tMsJfzpQZQA-- From: Mike Jeays To: mchauber@gmx.net, freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Date: Sun, 2 Sep 2007 08:31:41 -0400 User-Agent: KMail/1.9.5 References: <200709020222.21000.mchauber@gmx.net> In-Reply-To: <200709020222.21000.mchauber@gmx.net> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Disposition: inline Message-Id: <200709020831.41628.mike.jeays@rogers.com> Cc: Subject: Re: Sadly, my tinker-time has run out.... X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Sun, 02 Sep 2007 12:58:47 -0000 On Sunday 02 September 2007 02:22, Michael Hauber wrote: > Hey, all... > > I've been a user of FreeBSD and OpenBSD for quite a while now. > Unfortunatly, I haven't had much time to tinker lately, and that's unlikely > to change in the near future. Sadly, I need to get an OS that my wife > would be more comfortable using and that wouldn't be as time-comsuming to > make it more comfortable for her. > > I downloaded the uberyl live CD and found that ubuntu seems to pick up on > everything I have on the laptop (as well as all the attachments), so I'm > downloading it now. > > Because I've put so much time into getting this FreeBSD install where it is > now (and because I favor the BSDs), I'm still a bit hesitant... Has anyone > here had much experience with ubunu as a desktop? Negatives/positives? > > Kind of OT, I guess... I'd just rather hear it from someone in this group > rather than the inevitable, "Oh yeah. You won't be sorry." from the ubuntu > folk (salespitches == fingernails on a chalkboard :) ). > > Thanks, > > Mike > > > PS. Yes, I've played with PC-BSD. Unfortunately, that's still more work > than I have time for. I am one of those sad cases who used FreeBSD for many years as my primary desktop at home, and then switched to Ubuntu about 6 months ago. I still run FreeBSD on an older server, that runs round the clock and is 100% reliable. I was only slightly frustrated by FreeBSD, mainly because of my inability to get a Hauuppage TV card to work, even after a few queries on this list. I also found that other multimedia software seemed more available and easier to set up - I not saying they were impossible, just that I seemed to be spending more time trying to get them to work than I wanted. Ubuntu works very well 'out of the box', and their Synaptic tool for finding and installing software is excellent. I am now running VirtualBox under Ubuntu, and it works extremely well; I can run W2K and XP for occasional use as guests, and what seems like full speed. (Much faster than QEMU, which I used before.) Both KDE and GNOME work fine, and for basic work with Firefox, Thunderbird, OpenOffice and Postgresql, there is nothing much to choose between FreeBSD and Ubuntu from an office user's point of view. Both work great. Both seem rock solid, and recover well from the occasional power outages I get at my new home. (Ought to get a battery backup before disaster hits one day, I suppose). All the development tools are a few mouse-clicks away. I may switch back one day, as I like FreeBSD very much for its sound design and underlying philosophy. I feel 'guilty' about having changed! -- Mike Jeays http://www.jeays.ca