From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Thu Dec 18 21:51:20 2008 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 18514106564A for ; Thu, 18 Dec 2008 21:51:20 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from freebsd@edvax.de) Received: from mx02.qsc.de (mx02.qsc.de [213.148.130.14]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id AD3898FC18 for ; Thu, 18 Dec 2008 21:51:19 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from freebsd@edvax.de) Received: from r55.edvax.de (port-92-196-68-238.dynamic.qsc.de [92.196.68.238]) by mx02.qsc.de (Postfix) with ESMTP id 4426816C001E; Thu, 18 Dec 2008 22:51:18 +0100 (CET) Received: from r55.edvax.de (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by r55.edvax.de (8.14.2/8.14.2) with SMTP id mBILpCKC035196; Thu, 18 Dec 2008 22:51:12 +0100 (CET) (envelope-from freebsd@edvax.de) Date: Thu, 18 Dec 2008 22:51:11 +0100 From: Polytropon To: Patrick Baldwin Message-Id: <20081218225111.ce261e3d.freebsd@edvax.de> In-Reply-To: <494ABFDF.1020408@studsvik.com> References: <494ABFDF.1020408@studsvik.com> Organization: EDVAX X-Mailer: Sylpheed 2.4.7 (GTK+ 2.12.1; i386-portbld-freebsd7.0) Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Cc: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Suitability question X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list Reply-To: Polytropon List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Thu, 18 Dec 2008 21:51:20 -0000 On Thu, 18 Dec 2008 16:25:51 -0500, Patrick Baldwin wrote: > I'm thinking I might be best of trying to built him a really > locked-down, high security > box, almost an Internet appliance. All he really does is use the Web, > and a little > light word processing. > > What do people think of FreeBSD as the base OS for this idea? hi Patrick, I had a similar "problem" with my parents, so I built a system (FreeBSD 6 were the times) which is completely suffficient for their needs, similar as you mentioned above, and it's still running today without any problems. basically, the system runs XFCE 4, Firefox and Opera, Sylpheed (as a standalone mail client), OpenOffice for the usual office stuff, and some multimedia components including mplayer and xmms. If your father is interested in "Flash", well... there *may* be problems using FreeBSD. With "problem" I mean it's a bit more work to do for *you* in order to get it up and running (configuration), but having a look at the improving implementations of "Flash", it will be better and better with most of the "Flash" polluted web sites. :-) Everything else you mentioned is definitely *not* of any kind of problem for FreeBSD. Before installing anything new, try to monitor a bit what your father does and how he does it. These observations will help you to create a system that fits his needs perfectly. Maybe XFCE 4 is not your way to go, maybe KDE or Gnome are better. Keep an eye on eventually present peripherials, such as printers, digital cameras, USB sticks or MP3 players. They need a bit more configuration ("automated wrapper scripts") in order not to scare the user. It's not impossible. Trust me, I'm doing this since 4.0. :-) -- Polytropon >From Magdeburg, Germany Happy FreeBSD user since 4.0 Andra moi ennepe, Mousa, ...