Skip site navigation (1)Skip section navigation (2)
Date:      Sun, 7 Oct 2012 13:50:52 +0200
From:      Polytropon <freebsd@edvax.de>
To:        alwin doss <alwindoss84@gmail.com>
Cc:        freebsd-questions@freebsd.org
Subject:   Re: New User to FreeBSD
Message-ID:  <20121007135052.c9e9069e.freebsd@edvax.de>
In-Reply-To: <CAHSusRrDDE3L4GgNcCcSGXCFvFdin6tZ6aBqDFte-EmLJJuQGw@mail.gmail.com>
References:  <CAHSusRrDDE3L4GgNcCcSGXCFvFdin6tZ6aBqDFte-EmLJJuQGw@mail.gmail.com>

next in thread | previous in thread | raw e-mail | index | archive | help
On Sun, 7 Oct 2012 12:47:26 +0530, alwin doss wrote:
> But something about Linux always troubled me "It's licensing", "such
> complex family of distributions which are so different from each other".

A valid point. With UNIX basic knowledge, you can master nearly
any "outdated" commercial UNIX, BSD and Linux, even though it
is sometimes complicated to find the "simple parts" (i. e. the
UNIX parts) in Linux. :-)



> Which is when I came across FreeBSD. I fell in love with it, but yes I have
> never used it yet, I have tried many times to install it, but the
> installation process is really hard, I must say.

I cannot conform that. Do you have a second system that you can
use to refer to the documentation that exactly describes, with
text and pictures, how to perform the installation process?

Note that FreeBSD, in opposite to many other systems, comes with
excellent documentation both for Internet and offline use. Check
out The FreeBSD Handbook's installation section:

http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/install.html

http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/bsdinstall.html

and the FAQ regarding this topic:

http://www.freebsd.org/doc/faq/install.html

You'll see that the installation is quite simple: You just have
to follow the instructions shown on the screen.



> I really want to install it on my laptop and all my systems.

It's a bit complicated to get _all_ features running on _all_ kinds
of laptops has hardware manufacturers do not care much about standards
and specifications. Still I hear from many people successfully running
FreeBSD on their super-duper-new laptops, and I run it on my old and
shady laptops. :-)



> Added to the above interests of mine, I am a C++ and java developer. I want
> to use this talent that God's has blessed me with in this community.

Both languages can be used on FreeBSD. C++ is supported out of the
box. Java requires you to install additional software due to licensing
terms and lawyer blahblah.



> I want to begin with FreeBSD's very own GUI.

FreeBSD does not have a "very own GUI". In fact, it has many GUIs,
and it doesn't have a GUI per se. Note that it is a multi-purpose
system, that's why it doesn't come with a graphical installer so
you can install it on a server (that doesn't even have a monitor).
After installation, you can add as many GUIs as you like (for example,
you can have both KDE and Gnome on your system, plus olvwm and
even WindowMaker). The choice is _yours_. There is nothing directly
tied to the system.

However, PC-BSD comes with a preinstalled and preconfigured (!) KDE
environment. VirtualBSD comes with Xfce, if I remember correctly.
You can check out those projects: PC-BSD is said to be easier to
adopt by Linux and even "Windows" users as it comes with a graphical
installer, preconfigured environments, preinstalled software, and
caters the "out of the box" community a lot. And VirtualBSD can be
used from within a VM, it's a nice "try it out" system.

http://www.pcbsd.org/

http://www.virtualbsd.info/

You can find screenshots there too. :-)



> Not depending on anyone
> (Gnome, KDE or....) I want it to be soooooo good that a commoner shoule be
> able to work with it with ease and feel safe and secure.

That's one of the primary advantages of FreeBSD: The system will not
do anything until _YOU_ tell it to. Know what you do. Know where to
find information (Handbook, FAQ, "man" command, mailing lists).



> So if someone could guide me about how to get started with contributing to
> FreeBSD it would be great.

Find something that you consider interesting and worth contributing
to. Refer to this page for more information:

http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en/articles/contributing/index.html



> Send me links that will get me started with FreeBSD I am all excited for
> this new journey to begin.

If you enounter problems during installation, feel free to contact
the list. Describe your problem as exact as possible, use the
available troubleshooting resources first, like, "do your
homework". :-)

http://www.freebsd.org/community/mailinglists.html

http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo

http://www.freebsd.org/support.html



-- 
Polytropon
Magdeburg, Germany
Happy FreeBSD user since 4.0
Andra moi ennepe, Mousa, ...



Want to link to this message? Use this URL: <https://mail-archive.FreeBSD.org/cgi/mid.cgi?20121007135052.c9e9069e.freebsd>