From owner-freebsd-stable@FreeBSD.ORG Tue Mar 29 05:32:27 2011 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-stable@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 2E8E6106564A for ; Tue, 29 Mar 2011 05:32:27 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from jhsu802701@jasonhsu.com) Received: from meso.stormserver1.net (meso.stormserver1.net [72.52.153.36]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 0B0AA8FC16 for ; Tue, 29 Mar 2011 05:32:26 +0000 (UTC) Received: from mn-74-5-64-245.dhcp.embarqhsd.net ([74.5.64.245]:49846 helo=localhost) by meso.stormserver1.net with smtp (Exim 4.69) (envelope-from ) id 1Q4RXv-00039W-Ad for freebsd-stable@freebsd.org; Tue, 29 Mar 2011 00:32:51 -0500 Date: Tue, 29 Mar 2011 01:32:23 -0400 From: Jason Hsu To: freebsd-stable@freebsd.org Message-Id: <20110329013223.ddca7453.jhsu802701@jasonhsu.com> X-Mailer: Sylpheed 2.5.0 (GTK+ 2.18.9; i486-pc-linux-gnu) Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-AntiAbuse: This header was added to track abuse, please include it with any abuse report X-AntiAbuse: Primary Hostname - meso.stormserver1.net X-AntiAbuse: Original Domain - freebsd.org X-AntiAbuse: Originator/Caller UID/GID - [47 12] / [47 12] X-AntiAbuse: Sender Address Domain - jasonhsu.com X-Source: X-Source-Args: X-Source-Dir: Subject: Best way to switch from Linux to BSD X-BeenThere: freebsd-stable@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: Production branch of FreeBSD source code List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Tue, 29 Mar 2011 05:32:27 -0000 I've been trying to switch from Linux to BSD for my everyday computing (email, word processing, spreadsheets, etc.), but I couldn't get things to work properly. I've been so spoiled by the quickness and user-friendliness of antiX/Swift Linux and Puppy Linux for so long. I have a backlog of stuff to do, so I'm sticking to Linux for now as my main OS. However, I might try BSD in VirtualBox and on my laptop. Are there any good tutorials for using BSD on the desktop? I'm having much more difficulty finding good information on BSD than was the case for Linux. In retrospect, this shouldn't be a surprise given that Linux is relatively mainstream while BSD is very obscure. 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 having to download them would take too long. 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 have been criticized as bloatware. Also, the keyboard didn't work in GhostBSD. 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 DragonflyBSD to boot. (By contrast, antiX Linux and Swift Linux automatically add the appropriate entries in menu.lst.) 4. What are the Linux Mint and Puppy Linux of the BSD universe? I consider these two distros to set the standard in the Linux universe, because they're so user-friendly. These are the distros I've set out to compete against in developing Swift Linux. -- Jason Hsu