anyone ever try freeBSD ?

[capybara]

1. how difficult is the default install?
2. does it recognize most standard hardware
(nothing cutting edge)
3. internet config and browser no problem?
4. kde or gnome included ?
5. recommended to try it or not?

[gmoreno]

Check this out:
http://www.linuxjunior.org/yabbse/in...;threadid=6906

[ifred]

. . . and I'll give the short answers.

1. Pretty simple. It 's menu based (no GUI) and fairly easy to follow. Anything you miss in the original install you can run again later using the sysinstall utility.

2. Perhaps a look at the hardware page in FreeBSD handbook would give you some idea of hardware compatability vis a vis your systems. Try it here: http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO...-hardware.html
Side note: The FreeBSD handbook is (at least to me) a very high quality piece of OS documentation.

3. None at all. Of course this could depend on your specific setup at home/work/school.

4. Yep.

5. Of course!

One other thing to nate is that the versioning on FBSD can be fairly confusing (at least to me . . . not saying much I know . .. . but anyway . . . ). I installed using the 4.8-RELEASE CD and then used a tool called cvsup to upgrade my RELEASE ports collection to the CURRENT ports collection. This ensures that the apps you install will be recent versions of the software you have installed. Other tools such as portsupgrade will help you install your updated ports. This setup seems to be working well as I have had no problems getting ports to compile.

[Schotty]

[quote author=capybara link=board=7;threadid=7601;start=0#msg69564 date=1061656135]
1. how difficult is the default install?
2. does it recognize most standard hardware
(nothing cutting edge)
3. internet config and browser no problem?
4. kde or gnome included ?
5. recommended to try it or not?
[/quote]

1. Like slackware's. Pretty straightforward, text based. Doesnt get any easier than this.

2. Most. Check the HCL and see if yours works. I got standard, modern stuff and it worked fine.

3. Its a UNIX, of course ;D

4. And the others too.

5. Hell yeah! Try OpenBSD if you got servers. Its also very ideal for non MS environments (Open doesnt do Wine or SMB too well (client side)) Free really differs only in the kernel. The software can all be found for FBSD just fine. The ports list is huge these days (over 8K IIRC)

1. The installer takes getting used to.. it's text based and highly confusing at first glance..

2. well, I was surprised it found my off board ATA100 controller and booted off it as default - Linux didn't either did Windows. Didn't find or configure any multimedia devices though.

3. worked out of the box since the network was setup in a pleasantly elite text dialog in the installer

4. ports has +9000 packages to pick from - rest assured it has what you crave and more... and then some.

5. unless it's a server no.. I would get a Linux distro instead and install a 2.6 kernel - if it's for hack value sure.. I like FreeBSD but I will never get used to it's weird ways.

I much prefer Portage to Ports - but even that sucks donkeys balls for many tasks.