From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Tue Apr 8 09:04:49 2014 Return-Path: Delivered-To: questions@FreeBSD.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [8.8.178.115]) (using TLSv1 with cipher ADH-AES256-SHA (256/256 bits)) (No client certificate requested) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id 41294E9A; Tue, 8 Apr 2014 09:04:49 +0000 (UTC) Received: from mx1.fisglobal.com (mx1.fisglobal.com [199.200.24.190]) (using TLSv1 with cipher DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA (256/256 bits)) (Client CN "mx1.fisglobal.com", Issuer "VeriSign Class 3 Secure Server CA - G3" (verified OK)) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id 0D09C17B7; Tue, 8 Apr 2014 09:04:47 +0000 (UTC) Received: from smarthost.fisglobal.com ([10.132.206.191]) by ltcfislmsgpa02.fnfis.com (8.14.5/8.14.5) with ESMTP id s3894j3D025814 (version=TLSv1/SSLv3 cipher=AES128-SHA bits=128 verify=NOT); Tue, 8 Apr 2014 04:04:45 -0500 Received: from THEMADHATTER (10.242.181.54) by smarthost.fisglobal.com (10.132.206.191) with Microsoft SMTP Server id 14.3.174.1; Tue, 8 Apr 2014 04:04:44 -0500 From: Sender: Devin Teske To: "'Mel Thompson'" , References: <1396930646.84739.YahooMailNeo@web163605.mail.gq1.yahoo.com> In-Reply-To: <1396930646.84739.YahooMailNeo@web163605.mail.gq1.yahoo.com> Subject: RE: Please Let Me Know When You Have A Live CD With GUI Date: Tue, 8 Apr 2014 02:04:29 -0700 Message-ID: <0da401cf5309$8d643740$a82ca5c0$@FreeBSD.org> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook 15.0 Thread-Index: AQLW5KTH5xcKvoT2L9p379/0nCUTy5j4SDSg Content-Language: en-us X-Proofpoint-Virus-Version: vendor=fsecure engine=2.50.10432:5.11.96, 1.0.14, 0.0.0000 definitions=2014-04-08_02:2014-04-07,2014-04-08,1970-01-01 signatures=0 Cc: dteske@FreeBSD.org X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.17 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Tue, 08 Apr 2014 09:04:49 -0000 > -----Original Message----- > From: Mel Thompson [mailto:melvinbrand@yahoo.com] > Sent: Monday, April 7, 2014 9:17 PM > To: questions@FreeBSD.org > Subject: Please Let Me Know When You Have A Live CD With GUI > > Dear FreeBSD: > > I'm a decades-long Mac user who is eternally grateful for your providing the > basic world-structure for my favorite OS. Of course, I'd rather just go around > MAC and use FreeBSD most of the time. I started doing computer jobs, > computer testing, and computer experimentation, part-time, way back since > Fortran punch cards and BASIC and Database III, in the 1980s. Heck, I even > remember using a Wang Terminal with timeshare systems. > > I was a distro-freak who would wipe my hard drive clean ten times a night > and try ten different distros, going to bed at dawn, loving all those > experiments, everything from Damn Small Linux to massively-bloated > versions of Debian. And, although I vowed not to, I spent years fiddling with > line-commands in virtual terminals. Sometimes, at jobs, there were literally > rows of printers, CPUs and monitors. I was one of the first beta testers of > Windows 95, having survived strange years on the bizarre Windows 3.1 > system. And, it goes without saying, I was a clerical worker who did DOS- > based Word Perfect and even Word Star, (if any living soul could remember > such a thing). > > During this time I got a BA in Philosophy with special training in Philosophy of > Science and Scientific and Linguistic Methodology. I worked as a "tutor" and > "companion" to various artificial intelligence programs meant to mimic > human conversation or human speech, correcting their grammar, and so on, > even once working as a "test patient" with a massive computer that had "the > mind of Carl Rogers" in it. I was a pioneer in Desktop Publishing and my > Desktop Publishing work. While not attaining the literary fame I had hoped I > would, I did, as a technical matter, interest the press, because, at that time, > the poetry world was very backward, and almost no one was doing almost > full-time desktop-graphics-publishing of poetry books. In this way, although I > never attained enough computer proficiency to become a "real" > programmer, one could hardly think of a humanities person whose life was > more infused with technology. > > I mention all this just to give you some perspective on the main issue I want > to bring up to you: If a person of my background still can't get any version of > FreeBSD installed on what are, admittedly, the old and outdated computers I > can afford to maintain, it seems then that, in spite of many errors I am sure I > am making, that the process of installing FreeBSD is still somehow not user > friendly. For that matter, forget installing: I've never been able to get a Live > CD, which should require not installing, and should be complete on its own, > to boot into a Graphical User Interface. A kind of terminal-line-command- > prompt is the best I ever got. > When you were trying all those different disros before bed 'til dawn, didn't you come across a distro that didn't come with a GUI? You mentioned Damn Small Linux -- of which I've never run -- but I assume it would be one of the ones not providing a GUI from its LiveCD interface. Maybe PC-BSD has what you're looking for? or Midnight BSD? > While I'll admit to many weaknesses in my understanding of technology, and > will admit to still having many devices that are unacceptably-outdated due to > my low income, which stands stubbornly at $1,139 per month, (in spite of my > occasionally being able to game the travel-points systems to win a trip or two > per year), still, I am hoping one day that one of my computers will boot into a > graphical desktop environment of FreeBSD, since I regard it as a "Father OS" > to Mac, which, as you might guess, changed my world in many ways. > Well, you have to get it installed first. The handbook is a good place to start. http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/bsdinstall-partiti oning.html > Let me know if such a product is ever developed, as I should eagerly await it's > arrival. Too, part of the fault is mine because I have quirky machines like > Aopen mini-computers and Mac Minis which are quirky anyway. But, in spite > of all the weakness of these machines and the huge gaps in my technical > knowledge, I notice that I've gotten probably dozens of distros of Linux to > work, even on weird drives where they aren't supposed to work, and even > on old, ugly machines with the wrong specs. So I appreciated the flexibility of > those distros to accommodate both my flaws and the flaws of my rather > haggard equipment. > Have all those Linux distros had GUIs? -- Devin _____________ The information contained in this message is proprietary and/or confidential. 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