Submitted by “Although Linux gets much of the attention in the Free and open source operating system world, the BSD operating system is also very popular. BSD has a longer history, and its roots go right back to one of the original Unix implementations that spawned commercial Unix variants like Solaris and Mac OS X. BSD is actually a popular source for server-focused operating systems and, due to an open license, it is sometimes more attractive to developers as the base for their projects. With some BSD variants, security and high-performance networking are key drivers.”
Another in-depth article about BSD. 😉
Yes, not much depth there. The subject is interesting though. Agree with him about PCBSD for the desktop, its very very promising. Another of the same genre, that he doesn’t mention, is DesktopBSD. If picking a desktop today, I might be tempted to go for PCBSD instead of one of the big four Linux distros. It has a bit the same feel as PCLinux, which is also a real contender in the Linux space.
Would be interesting to hear from anyone who has tried DesktopBSD. These have to be the future, don’t you think? One app per purpose, simple clean interface, perfect for people who are looking for an appliance, and are not enthusiasts. Mepis maybe falls in this category too.
Dragonfly, I tried a while back, and couldn’t get a proper install as desktop working on my slightly old test machine.
Not really sure what the great advantage of the BSD kernel as opposed to the Linux kernel would be. If you were comparing, lets say, PCLinux with PCBSD?
PC-BSD is on my list as a replacement for Kubuntu too. I like the .pbi way of (un)installing packages. It’s just that the package list at this point is too short for me to make the ‘switch’. Of course I can use ordinary FreeBSD software, but that would defeat the point of using PC-BSD.
I hope it gains more traction, seriously. Maybe someone inside the Linux world gets the idea and ports/copies/recreates .pbi on Linux so that it is as usable on Linux as it is on PC-BSD.
Autopackage already does this on Linux. I used it to install Nvu on an unsupported distro, as it can be very difficult sometimes. Went off without a hitch…took me about 2 minutes.
“Would be interesting to hear from anyone who has tried DesktopBSD. These have to be the future, don’t you think?”
Definately better for ordinary desktop users yes, but when someone asks me what I think would be best for them to buy for day to day stuff, I usually point them towards G4 Macs anyway. All the power of Unix, and few of the hassels. More reboots though, and sometimes it can be a little slugggish.
“Not really sure what the great advantage of the BSD kernel as opposed to the Linux kernel would be.”
Depends on what you’re doing. Sometimes one will be better than the other, but the real-world differences are minimal as they all pretty much do the same things. FreeBSD and most Linux distributions are the most easilly compared as they both have most of the same features. It’s cat and mouse really.
OpenBSD’s quality control though, I’d have to say is the best in the computing world. It’s kind of slow however, as unlike Linux, FreeBSD and DragonFly, it doesn’t have a unified buffer cache or kernel-assisted userland threading. Solid OS though, with a quick (if initially intimidating) install.
I prefer the BSDs over Linux (OS X and DragonFly esp) for reasons that are more based on personal preference than anything else, so I’ll not go into that. WinXP isn’t that bad either, once you change some of the more brain-dead default settings. But hell, if you’re using Linux, BSD, Mac OS X, Windows or whatever, and it does everything you want with little hassel, then there really isn’t any reason to switch.
Edited 2005-11-20 18:35
“Not really sure what the great advantage of the BSD kernel as opposed to the Linux kernel would be.”
Realize that Linux is ONLY a kernel, the BSDs ship as complete OPERATING SYSTEMS.
“Realize that Linux is ONLY a kernel, the BSDs ship as complete OPERATING SYSTEMS.”
Which doesn’t stop you from comparing the kernels.
Realize that it doesn’t really matter when _most_ of the stuff that makes up your desktop isn’t BSD anyway. 😎
you need to distinguish between different “disributuons” of the big-3 BSD kernels/bases .. and a real different suystem. PC-BSD is not different. Dragongfly is different.
I cant remeber the website of that netBSD based distro….
It was a simple netBSD install with KDE and openoffice I think it was…
Something like netBSD-office or something…
Anyone know what I am talking about?
I tried to install PCBSD but couldn’t so I went to DesktopBSD.
I have been using DesktopBSD for 6 months now, and I’m very excited about it. I like the ports interface and the mounter. And everything is as it is everywhere else.
One thing that sucks is the Java install thingy. It sucks that one have to manual fetch the right files. But thats a problem on all FreeBSD’s.
/B
“One thing that sucks is the Java install thingy. It sucks that one have to manual fetch the right files. But thats a problem on all FreeBSD’s. ”
That is a Sun issue; to be blunt. The certification process is costly, if I am not mistaken. Under FreeBSD 1.3.x was certified by Sun.
“That is a Sun issue; to be blunt. The certification process is costly, if I am not mistaken. Under FreeBSD 1.3.x was certified by Sun.”
I know that it is a Sun issue. But that doesn’t change the fact that installing java is a bitch in freebsd. 🙂
But I may better look PCBSD up again as it sounds like they have a java .pbi package thingy. 🙂
/B
For the netbsd based ofice go:
http://inst.aydogan.net/
DesktopBSD rc2 is way ahead of PC-BSD right now for normal usage as it is far more polished and uses (tested/polished) FreeBSD 5.4. Some people say it felt faster than pcbsd but that has changed since the last PC-BSD release based on FreeBSD 6.0.
Right now, PC-BSD is faster than windows XP pro on my P4 3GHZ/1GB Ram. And my windows XP is a 2 month old/tweaked for speed/no extra garbage running/lots of unneeded stuff disabled toy. That sucker is fast!
The problem is, it needs polishing, FreeBSD6,0 bug killing and gui tools. DesktopBSD is closer to what i’d call a ready for normal usage with a 5.4 base. RC3 based on FBSD5.4 is just around the corner too and i expect it to be desktop ready.
Java still has to be installed the hard way on DesktopBSD but for freBSD there is a real java PBI. It’s easier to install as in windows and replaces the older PBI which was just a wizard covering all the steps to install the hard way with links to the download places and everything else automatic. The new PC-BSD java is just clicking “yes, yes, yes”.
PC-BSD has also another good thing, the nvidia driver.
As with java, it’s a “click Yes, Yes, Yes” install and it works. well, it worked for the 5.4 based OS, A new Nvidia driver PBI for the FBSD6.0 based system is days from release.
The OpenOffice2.0 pbi is also near completion and it will replace the (fully working) OO1.98 Beta version which stands on http://www.pbidir.com/, the oficial PBI repository.
There is also a Gnome based version of PCBSD alpha being released in the next few days (dont know if oficial or not) which should make things interesting.
For Linux, i think the most promising “Distro” is GOBOLINUX. I have heared someone there is working on a OSX like drag and drop install for their precompiled packages which should be very cool.
There is also a Gnome based version of PCBSD alpha being released in the next few days….
Where did you here this? Thats exactly what I was looking for >:)
Where did you here this? Thats exactly what I was looking for >:)
Wanna know who is the one man responsible for PC-BSD with GNOME? OSNews’ Andrew Youll
.
Funny though, Andrew started working on GNOME PC-BSD because he got sick of me complaining about a lack of a GNOME version of PC-BSD; now, I’m in a KDE period, and he’s in a GNOME period (he used to be a KDE person).
Funny, ey?
Java still has to be installed the hard way on DesktopBSD but for freBSD there is a real java PBI. It’s easier to install as in windows and replaces the older PBI which was just a wizard covering all the steps to install the hard way with links to the download places and everything else automatic. The new PC-BSD java is just clicking “yes, yes, yes”.
Note: If this is a binary install, then this is an illegal / unauthorized install. The reason there are no binary packages for Java on FreeBSD beyond JDK 1.3 is that Sun Microsystems has not certified any of the binary packages, nor given their stamp of approval for distributing binary packages. While this won’t be a big deal for casual home users, this could land the PCBSD group in some serious trouble with Sun.
Just something to think about.
The Java PBI in PC_BSD seems to be a Linux binary that is run via Linux Binary Compatability layer.
http://www.pcbsd.org/?p=changelog
The Digikam package on PBIdir showa Dru Lavigne as the PBI maintainer… WOW
I found it…
I wonder if this project is dead…
http://inst.aydogan.net/
I remember when osnews ran a story on it and I tried it and managed to get it installed and running on my first attempt, too cool! I hope he rolls out a new version!
..that the article writer listed all the BSDs listed on wikipedia, even though a number of them are dead.
For info on the gnome version, look on pcbsd forums, i am sure it’s there and fresh.
about the article, Ronald is right… and Desktopbsd, while not noisy, it is well alive. pitty it wasn’t mentioned…
Right now, PC-BSD is faster than windows XP pro on my P4 3GHZ/1GB Ram. And my windows XP is a 2 month old/tweaked for speed/no extra garbage running/lots of unneeded stuff disabled toy. That sucker is fast!
could you tell me what particular tweaks did you do for speeding up your winxp installation?
“It is friendlier than many Linux alternatives, and, unlike Linux, the entire operating system fits onto a single CD for installation.”
That’s the problem of people calling Linux an operating system when it’s a kernel that fits a 45MB tarball.
The most popular distribution on distrowatch.org fits on a single CD for installation. And it’s not PCBSD.
It is one of the original Unix implementations…
As I know, FreeBSD developers mainly focus on server side .
What do you guys talk about here? Desktop OS?
disabled unneeded services
disabled indexing
pagefile is on a separate disk and channel and fixed size (4gb)
disabled system restore
disabled all visual effects exept:
– cleartype fonts
– shadows for names and icons on desktop
– common tasks in folders
and some more things i cant remember. pcbsd rc1 (i really dont agree on this naming scheme, this is beta grade, not rc)based on fbsd6 is a fast son of a gun
sun is protecting Solaris’s ass with a piece of glass.
some day, the glass is going to cut Solaris’s ass.
i like pcbsd for the installation it gives, sound and video working on first boot. I then write loader.conf to just load the “ich” and configure the video script with the correct horizontal and vertical settings for my video card, “i810”, otherwise some resolutions do not work.
I have installed no .pbi’s but have installed a bunch of apps through the ports. all seems to be well except i fear i have broke the “online update”. pcbsd is kind of stingy installing fonts. I had to install urwfonts and 75dpi to get xboard and eboard to work which led me to a new tool; “xset fp+ /path/to/fonts”
Yes, 6 feels faster than 5.4.
javajazz
I’ve always digged the design of the BSDs. It had a certain simplicity to it, although some variants needed some serious work. I always hope that the BSDs continue to be refined and get further exposure.
I’m using OpenBSD at home as my desktop machine and it works perfectly…definetly less bloat than Linux distros or even FreeBSD.