From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Sat Apr 14 19:38:23 2007 Return-Path: X-Original-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [69.147.83.52]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 078DA16A406 for ; Sat, 14 Apr 2007 19:38:23 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from doug@safeport.com) Received: from fledge.watson.org (fledge.watson.org [209.31.154.41]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 1101413C44C for ; Sat, 14 Apr 2007 19:38:21 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from doug@safeport.com) Received: from fledge.watson.org (localhost.watson.org [127.0.0.1]) by fledge.watson.org (8.13.8/8.13.8) with ESMTP id l3EJcF6O096176; Sat, 14 Apr 2007 15:38:15 -0400 (EDT) (envelope-from doug@safeport.com) Received: from localhost (doug@localhost) by fledge.watson.org (8.13.8/8.13.8/Submit) with ESMTP id l3EJcE84096172; Sat, 14 Apr 2007 15:38:14 -0400 (EDT) (envelope-from doug@safeport.com) X-Authentication-Warning: fledge.watson.org: doug owned process doing -bs Date: Sat, 14 Apr 2007 15:38:14 -0400 (EDT) From: doug@safeport.com X-X-Sender: doug@fledge.watson.org To: Chad Perrin In-Reply-To: <20070414182309.GB302@demeter.hydra> Message-ID: <20070414151719.D73976@fledge.watson.org> References: <2a4057fc0704131021t60249c62k4107ee6cf9f1fb8f@mail.gmail.com> <86mz1ckqlc.fsf@dwp.des.no> <20070413183656.E73976@fledge.watson.org> <86tzvjz2dr.fsf@dwp.des.no> <20070414182309.GB302@demeter.hydra> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed X-Greylist: Sender IP whitelisted, not delayed by milter-greylist-3.0 (fledge.watson.org [127.0.0.1]); Sat, 14 Apr 2007 15:38:15 -0400 (EDT) Cc: Dag-Erling Sm?rgrav , Claude Menski , "freebsd-questions@freebsd.org" Subject: Re: I like Ubuntu X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list Reply-To: doug@fledge.watson.org List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Sat, 14 Apr 2007 19:38:23 -0000 On Sat, 14 Apr 2007, Chad Perrin wrote: > On Sat, Apr 14, 2007 at 12:17:20PM +0200, Dag-Erling Sm?rgrav wrote: >> doug@safeport.com writes: >>> First my experience with [Free]BSD as a server completely mirrors >>> Dag-Erling's observation, it [mostly] just works. I started with BSDI >>> switching to FreeBSD around 3.5. I think it is also true that >>> depending on your hardware a FreeBSD workstation or laptop can be a >>> bit of a challenge. >> >> My issues with FreeBSD as a desktop mostly come from the difficulty of >> installing software and keeping it up-to-date: 'pkg_add -r' and >> 'portupgrade -aP' simply can't hold a candle to 'apt-get install' and >> 'apt-get dist-upgrade'. > > What do you find lacking in the FreeBSD approach? I'm a relatively > recent transplant from Debian, and my experience is that FreeBSD > provides better, more predictable, and more customizable results, > without increasing the difficulty or reducing the convenience at all. As far as this goes nothing. I use FreeBSD exclusively on production servers, and workstations. My laptop I dual boot with windows which I only use to duplicate costomer problems and keep up with the latest (and greatest?) changes to the Outlooks. > Granted, I haven't really tried the package-based software management > options for FreeBSD in any depth -- I'm mostly installing from source at > this point -- but thus far I haven't any reason to expect package-based > installation to be any less easily managed than source-based installs. > Here (I think) there are some things that could be better. The installation can be tricky depending on one's background, but I did not follow the maxum, if you don't like it, make it better. Portupgrade does not work for me because all my desktops are too small, too slow. In a (my) perfect world portmanager would allow the use of packages. For some the fact that flash, java, and openoffice can be difficult to install are issues. I am an advocate for the FreeBSD desktop.