culaterout

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Mulsiphix

Here is your stability

Get Flash to work in Freebsd


VirtualBox in Freebsd



Firefox on Freebsd


Stay away from FreeBSD 7.2 has problems go with FreeBSD 7.0 can run all of the following listed above with no problems...

Mulsiphix

Here is a link to installing FreeBSD 7.0 does a great job explaining install process...


Here is a video link of BSD VS Linux


What are with these noted problems???? Have they been resolved in FreeBSD 7.2 and no one answered the following as solved..

Fin7PL

Ok, i think you both should go and discover some more..

Like that flash thingie. (im not in the mood for putting the effort to explain this and that right now, but you can really find it if youre intrested enough)

Maybe not install a BSD at all? Like i said, go with ubuntu.

Thats should answer better to your needs i guess.

culaterout

Don't worry I can install BSD with my eye closed if needed just haven't wanted play with it....


If you keep challenging me with its to hard... I'm going to install it and have it up in running before end of the week....


I guessing from your comment that some of those complaints are from users that don't understand the idea there is more then one way get the skin a cat...

Far as the Firefox flash video I got the idea you are to run a version of Fedora11 flash with the BSD in order to get flash running...

So this being the case I'm sure you can use other open source data from other linux distro's to implement other features that don't work in BSD...

Since they are both using open source... Just a matter of compiling there data to BSD....

Guess this would be similar to taking a rpm and having compiled to suse yum .. Done this before...

I imagine there might be a bit more to this....


There is no great stretch of the mind...

Every thing is complex in this world it starts out easy and gets more complex...



Well thanks for the insight..

Mulsiphix

I apologize for the late reply. I've been sick with the Flu since Thursday and the doctor told me this morning it has progressed to bronchial pneumonia. If I've been a little unclear or contradictory when asking for advice or help I do apologize. I will do my best to address everything that has been brought up during my absence. I realize this post is long which is why I've added headers to each section. I'm trying to respond to a lot of questions so feel free to skip anything that doesn't interest you.


DesktopBSD Community Responds To My Issue/Question
I did receive a response over at the DesktopBSD forums that stated the background can only be in Jpeg format or the system will crash. They said if I was using a jpeg that several different bugs could have been the culprit but addressing everything would simply take too much time (for the user responding that is) and he recommend I just reinstall the OS and not mess with a background picture and to not edit KDE settings too much as doing so can cause KDE (I'm assuming this is unique to DesktopBSD) to crash and/or hard lock. Not the most reassuring response


How I Stumbled Across FreeBSD
Let me see if I can clear some things up. When I decided to leave Windows behind I was only aware of the existence of Windows, Mac OS, and Linux. I've used the Mac OS quite a bit in the past but I was just never that taken with it, so Linux was my only viable option. I came to LQ.org and started asking folks for information and general advice. When I was sent to DistroWatch.com I discovered BSD. I started doing a lot of wikipedia reading on both Linux and *BSD. From what I read, realizing most articles were lacking in objectivity, I thought BSD would be a better fit for what I wanted.


The Sole Reason I Decided To Go With FreeBSD Over Linux
I used Windows 98SE for five years and Windows XP for six years and the interface for both of them were identical (Win98 was standard and in WinXP it was referred to as Windows Classic). What I desire more than anything is to be able to build a customized GUI that meets all of my needs and doesn't include a bunch of features I will never use, unnecessarily taking up system resources. Ultimately I desire a GUI that I am comfortable with and one that won't change when I move from one distro to another or when there is a major OS upgrade/new version. I've really loathed the massive change in Vista and Windows 7 in both design and additional resource consumption. When I read about the X Window System and Window Managers I was sold on FreeBSD. I just learned yesterday that you can use Window Managers in Linux and Windows as well which makes going with FreeBSD no longer a necessity. Given that FreeBSD seems to have a more difficult learning curve than Linux I was starting to desire going with Linux again.


Please Don't Misunderstand Why I Started With The Easy GUI
I do want to point out that I never wanted to use Gnome, KDE, PC-BSD, or DesktopBSD. They were just tools to make the transition a little easier while I got familiar with aspects of the OS that are very different than Windows (file system, program installation, working with a terminal, learning terminal commands, etc...). I knew getting into a new OS would be time consuming and chalk full of trial and error that may even require a re-installation or two if I made a big enough mistake. Gnome and KDE are both prime examples of a GUI that has so many features that I would never use (like Window wobble, exploding windows, theme manager, window decorations, widgets, etc...). I prefer simplicity and an OS I can tailor to my work needs.


Sound Is My Friend, FreeBSD Sound Driver Support Is Not
Something really bad happened last night though. Listening to music is a source of daily joy while I work from home. I cannot stress enough how sound is a deal breaker for me. Last night I got my Creative X-Fi Xtreme Gamer installed (OSS 4.2 included a beta driver, more info here and here) and the sound was horrific. It was so flat and bland it made me cringe. I literally felt violated. To make sure it wasn't just the X-Fi driver I replaced the card with a Creative Sound Blaster Audigy 2 which is not a beta driver and the sound was no better or worse. The last sound card I tried was a Auzentech X-Raider which uses the C-Media CMI8768 chipset, also not a beta driver, and still no change for better or worse.


Further Driver Support Issues
I'm not a big gamer anymore so amazing graphic driver support I don't need as long as it is supported enough to avoid vid card related crashing and lockups. I do have a Logitech G5 Gaming Mouse which makes work more productive due to the huge amount of customizable buttons, something FreeBSD doesn't support. I believe I read that there was a Linux based project for HID-Compliant Devices which would allow customization of my mouse. From what I have seen and been reading I have come to believe that there is better support for a larger variety of hardware drivers under Linux, for the simple fact that more folks are investing the time to support these devices. Note that I tried four different media players and played around heavily with the equalizer of each player. Even with the setting set to Full Bass it still sounded like I was listening to music being played from a digital watch *shutters*.


What Now?
At this point in time I feel I have no choice but to leave FreeBSD behind. The lack of support for my most favorite hardware (Logitech Mouse and quality Sound) is simply something I cannot do without. My next step is installing Ubuntu, Debian, or Mandriva and testing the sound there. I also want to look into the mouse support. I don't need the support I received in windows from the original drivers. I just want to be able to configure the additional buttons that are currently rendered useless.

I've tried to answer everything I could remember you folks asking. I sincerely apologize if I have missed something. I'll try to give this thread another read tomorrow as I'm passing out right now. I really appreciate your help and offers to truly support me while I make this transition. It is you fine folks that have kept me from running away in fear and using the OS that should not be named =)

Fin7PL

Ok. thanks.

Like said, i don´t know about those PC-BSD and DesktopBSD´s and how they are configured etc...

I just prefer to install FreeBSD and go from there. I have graphics working, my mx518 working like it should. Also sound is working great.

It just needs to be configured right. I don´t think that there is any drag and drop options to these in BSD.

That´s why i asked what are your needs, and what you do with the OS.

I really recommend something linux (like ubuntu) for starters.

With that you can probably get to know different parts of the OS, what belongs where, what handles this and that etc..

After being good with that, feel free to compile your own BSD in the future.

Mulsiphix

@Fin7PL

I just wanted to add that I spent a solid six hours working, grand total, on the three sound cards. I read the FreeBSD man page for sound and played with a variety of the settings contained therein. KDE, at least this one, comes with a utility called Kmix which is essentially the volume control utility. I was able to use it for the X-Raider and Audigy 2 but it didn't work for my X-Fi (to be expected). Only OSS was available as a sound option within DesktopBSD/KDE. I'm hoping that ALSA will give me the sound I'm used too.

The primary purpose of my computer is music playback, web browsing, PDF reader, and writing utilities both basic (Kwrite) and complex (Open Office). I'm a writer by trade and having a stable system is a very big priority. I've lost plenty of data in blue screens and OS crashes under Windows.

frenchn00b

Under Debian we install flash like this:
then restart iceweasel.

BSD is more compiling, and requires more experience. Linux Debian is very stable, and can get everything almost from apt-get. Ubuntu is foruming, boarding, and loosing time cuz its unstable, a lot.
Why did you favour/choosed BSD, instead of Linux?

Mulsiphix

Four posts up (#19) there is a section called "The Sole Reason I Decided To Go With FreeBSD Over Linux". Give that a read please.

frenchn00b

oh thanks. very interesting. Every ideas are interesting, if they are constructive. It is good, so that *Nix world can get improves, with constructive input from everyone. That Ideal but that free source.

Well this choice to BSD over Linux, in your text, it seems that it is not deeply profound. I have doubts that your choice is right, in reality, because of the ideal you are looking for can be also ultimately provided by Linux, in some extends.

Fin7PL

Ok, but i meant really FreeBSD from scratch not DesktopBSD.

Moss

Uhhh, you want to do experimental stuff on your production machine?

I'd get a second machine to separate the two, if you don't want to install a removable hard drive bay or an external hard drive.

Then again, I'm definatly a coward when it comes to risking my data.

rocket357

Aww, you're not one to run this??

Disclaimer: I take no responsibility if you run that command and you lose tons of data =) Part of wielding the awesome power of the Unix CLI is knowing what the commands do before you blindly run them...

frenchn00b

there is a tool for undeleting, via apt-cache search undelete
but well, I dont know if the given command + software trial is worth

Moss

I prefer looking forward to adventures to experiencing them.