FreeBSD vs. Linux

[Dapman01]

I was curious to try out FreeBSD in a dual boot with ubuntu but I have a few questions

1. What advantages does FreeBSD have for me, a desktop user
2. is the GUI any different, is it flashy at all?
3. is it worth the hassle trying to dual boot them.

I'm just curious to try new open os's I love ubuntu and would like to see what else is out there

[jrusso2]

I was curious to try out FreeBSD in a dual boot with ubuntu but I have a few questions

1. What advantages does FreeBSD have for me, a desktop user
2. is the GUI any different, is it flashy at all?
3. is it worth the hassle trying to dual boot them.

I'm just curious to try new open os's I love ubuntu and would like to see what else is out there

1. There are no advantages to running FreeBSD as a desktop

2. The GUI is the same. KDE is common.

3. The main reason to run FreeBSD as a desktop is that it changes slower then Linux so its a bit more stable. However beware the hardware support is years behind Linux and some linux apps will not run or will run poorly.

Or if you just want to try something else. I tried them all pretty much. Linux is just the best desktop.

[tubasoldier]

I do agree with jrusso2. However, if you just use your computer for simple tasks like web browsing and office you can do it quite well. Flashy stuff is not going to happen, as far as I know. You may be interested in PC-BSD or DesktopBSD. But as far as a Linux replacement? not quite. If your looking for a server with great stability and security, then BSD is your mistress.

[Dapman01]

Ok, I don't think I'll mess with it, I stilll love ubuntu and just got it the way I like it and don't want to mess it up by trying to dual boot (It's happened to me before)

[Dapman01]

Well, one more question, is it possible that FreeBSD will run games better throught wine than with ubuntu?

[elctb]

If you want to play games I would suggest you dual boot to XP. I have never been able to play games very well on linux). I dual boot into XP to play games, everything else I use ubuntu.

FreeBSD is cool too. Last time I used it was 8 or so years ago. You should try it for yourself to really see what it's like.

[SunnyRabbiera]

Well, one more question, is it possible that FreeBSD will run games better throught wine than with ubuntu?

wine is univseral...
its the same there as it is here.
One major drawback though: if you need flash you are dead in the water as the latest flash does not work in BSD... yet

[Bachstelze]

Flash 7 works though, and so does Gnash. Most people don't need Flash 9 anyway.

Moved to BSD discussions.

[B-rabbit0000]

FreeBSD is good if you use it as server because it's more stable, but it is not as flashy as ubuntu or SUsE, but if you still want to still try it out i would recommend to boot it via a virtual machine. I use virtual box to run Free BSD and Slackware :)

[GS2]

There are some very significant advantages to running FreeBSD, and it would take too long to list them here, but I will post a few to counter the responses posted here already.

Firstly nip over to the FreeBSD website, and have a read of the Handbook, then read it again several times - what you will notice is that unlike the Linux (where one has a kernel and the constituent parts supplied and selected by the distro), FreeBSD is a complete OS, and an extremely efficient and stable one at that, in my experience it is rock solid.
However check your hardware compatibility!

After an install of FreeBSD, you can choose from over 17,000 different ports/packages to install on the OS - you have the choice (this includes linux emulation) - indeed compiz-fusion is in there somewhere ;) In addition to a choice of Desktop Environments., I'm running XFCE 4.4.1 (thats pretty up-to-date )

Be prepared for a steep learning curve, and you will need to use a shell - to install update and configure your system - and probably plenty of searching - but that Handbook is a brilliant resource (if only others could follow their lead), it is written excellently - and is structured in a manner that enables one to find answers easily.

The ports collection is a breath of fresh air (something the people over at Gentoo agree with), and is the easiest way to install source (all dependencies are automatically resolved).

I believe the BSD's are the 'secret' gems of the internet, they are certainly not for those without the patience, or aptitude to dig deeper, and gain new skills - but if you can spare a pen-drive why not try NetBSD:

http://imil.net/nlk/

Enjoy! Besides opinions are just that :)

[strictly_serious]

1. What advantages does FreeBSD have for me, a desktop user

To a certain extent, only you can answer that.


2. is the GUI any different, is it flashy at all?

gnome is gnome, kde is kde, etc, etc.


3. is it worth the hassle trying to dual boot them.

It's not a hassle, really. You just need to read up on things, like the way that bsd labels disks and so on.

There's a live cd version

http://www.freesbie.org/



I'm just curious to try new open os's I love ubuntu and would like to see what else is out there

Don't forget opensuse, fedora, debian, slackware, etc, etc, etc...

[diskace]

There are some very significant advantages to running FreeBSD, and it would take too long to list them here, but I will post a few to counter the responses posted here already.

Firstly nip over to the FreeBSD website, and have a read of the Handbook, then read it again several times - what you will notice is that unlike the Linux (where one has a kernel and the constituent parts supplied and selected by the distro), FreeBSD is a complete OS, and an extremely efficient and stable one at that, in my experience it is rock solid.
However check your hardware compatibility!

After an install of FreeBSD, you can choose from over 17,000 different ports/packages to install on the OS - you have the choice (this includes linux emulation) - indeed compiz-fusion is in there somewhere ;) In addition to a choice of Desktop Environments., I'm running XFCE 4.4.1 (thats pretty up-to-date )

Be prepared for a steep learning curve, and you will need to use a shell - to install update and configure your system - and probably plenty of searching - but that Handbook is a brilliant resource (if only others could follow their lead), it is written excellently - and is structured in a manner that enables one to find answers easily.

The ports collection is a breath of fresh air (something the people over at Gentoo agree with), and is the easiest way to install source (all dependencies are automatically resolved).

I believe the BSD's are the 'secret' gems of the internet, they are certainly not for those without the patience, or aptitude to dig deeper, and gain new skills - but if you can spare a pen-drive why not try NetBSD:

http://imil.net/nlk/

Enjoy! Besides opinions are just that :)

Totally agree with you. FreeBSD is not for everyone.

From easy to difficult i would say:

XP - Linux (K/X)Ubuntu - Linux Slackware - FreeBSD - NetBSD/OpenBSD

[theonlyrealperson]

Totally agree with you. FreeBSD is not for everyone.

From easy to difficult i would say:

XP - Linux (K/X)Ubuntu - Linux Slackware - FreeBSD - NetBSD/OpenBSD

I agree with both of you, with the exception of the ease of FreeBSD over Slackware. FreeBSD has such great documentation, it makes even compiling the kernel a breeze.

Speaking only personally, FreeBSD is what really got me where I am today. When I first moved over from Windows onto Linux I was completely lost. I started with Ubuntu Dapper - which made things easy - but I really couldn't do anything for myself. I didn't know how things worked, or where anything was.

Then, I tried in earnest to install a working desktop FreeBSD from scratch (a minimal install). That really got me into the "guts" of the system. Now, although I wouldn't say I'm an expert, I'd say I'm a decent power user. I'd say a lot of that knowledge came from working with all the documentation for FreeBSD via the handbook and other sites.

If anyone is interested, the pages that were really helpful in getting started are here:

OpenAddict - Installing FreeBSD 6.2 (http://www.openaddict.com/node/34)
OpenAddict - Deploying a FreeBSD 6.2 Desktop (http://www.openaddict.com/node/32)

[freymann]

I was curious to try out FreeBSD in a dual boot with ubuntu but I have a few questions

1. What advantages does FreeBSD have for me, a desktop user
2. is the GUI any different, is it flashy at all?
3. is it worth the hassle trying to dual boot them.


I've been working with FreeBSD back since version 3. We used it as an OS on many machines at an internet service provider company I used to work at.

For the ISP, we only used FreeBSD at the command line (since they were all 'servers'). Excellent OS. Stable. Reliable.

At home, I loaded FreeBSD up and then set out to add XWindows and a Desktop. I think my first desktop was Gnome. I played with some others, and when I discovered KDE I stuck with that one.

Today I program daily and require apache, php and mysql. I've finally convinced myself that I don't really need 'server' configuration anymore, and a desktop with LAMP is fine for my home programming purposes.

I usually followed the releases of FreeBSD. Upgrading isn't all that hard. But I was getting pee-oooo'd at the ports/packages system. To me you had an easy time of things if you grabbed the release, installed your apps, and then did nothing, as sure enough, a main component would get updated and it would require you to recompile all your apps to keep current with the libraries, and I always ended up with things criss-crossed to the point where some things wouldn't load anymore, or would crash.

Even after all my years with them, I always got pi**ed when I attempted to update one major program or install a new program that forced an update of something old.

So I decided that instead of switching over to Release 7, I would try PC-BSD (which was using 6.2). I backed up my data and installed PC-BSD 1.4 and was actually quite surprised and happy! It had a few quirks, especially with font sizes, but for the most part letting PC-BSD worry about the updates was a nice change. There was also alot of new GUI panels for configuration that I have never seen before. I thought this was very interesting and I was running along quite happy.

So happy, that I decided to upgrade (less than a month later) from my trusty P4 2Ghz with 512MB of RAM to what I have now. The new equipment arrived and I hit a brick wall because FreeBSD doesn't like my new hardware. That was very disappointing.

I popped in my puppy-linux liveCD and it booted just fine. So I downloaded ubuntu 7.10 desktop and let it install. Worked fine. In all my struggles I was back to using an older IDE 40GB HD and CD Drive on the new machine, so when I finally figured I would just load the new machine with ubuntu, I downloaded ubuntu 7.10 server so I could take advantage of the easy LAMP installation and then I just added the ubuntu desktop and carried on. Of course, I did the install a second time using the new SATA 250GB HD and DVD Burner. (now that choice haunts me to this day over the restricted drivers manager not wanting to allow me in because I guess it downloaded the desktop version instead of the server version?).

Other than learning where the apache and mysql configuration files and data files go, the switch wasn't too cumbersome.

Some mornings I come down and there's the update icon telling me updates are ready. I review them, click OK and things are updated ever so smoothly.

I remember reading in the FreeBSD forums and mailing lists that the debian package system sucked, at least that was my take on the matter. However, after seeing it work I have to say I prefer the debian package system over FreeBSD's ports/packages anyday.

I like to tinker with software and have always had a spare machine kicking around that I could blow away and test with. I have since given that machine away and with ubuntu, installed VirtualBox, and now have Win98, WinXP and various linux distro's running that way. Last I heard FreeBSD wouldn't run in VirtualBox, but when it does I would like to pick up PC-BSD and DeskTopBSD and play with those again.

One thing I can say is that if you think you're going to have a nice complete desktop environment to play with when you install FreeBSD you have another thing coming. I don't think it compares to ubuntu at all. I would use sysinstall at the command line and have it install from CD so your new software doesn't 'break' dependencies.

I like the idea of the different distro's including some useful apps from bootup after it installs. I find using the synaptic package manager a breeze to get other software installed (or even uninstalled).

I don't know if I would go through the trouble of dual booting, but I would highly recommend you give VirtualBox a try so you can then test the other OS's.

[void_false]

ut if you can spare a pen-drive why not try NetBSD:
Right. If you wanna be really l33t then go NetBSD. :twisted: