Dear all,

I recently got interested in what FreeBSD is. I run Linux Mandrake, but sometimes one got tired to install software, to find drivers, etc.
A friend of mine said that if a software is for FreeBSD than it just works on FreeBSD ! In addition, although FreeBSD does not support so much hardware as Linux, if it supports one kind of hardware, than this works.
Pratically, it's easy as Windows but powerful as Linux.

Is this true ?

Hi,
No, it's not true. This is rather strange : if it supports one kind of hardware, than this works.
Doesn't linux-supported hardware work ?

It is not as easy as windows. You have to read the install guide thoroughly to install FreeBSD.
It works well, but not better than either Windows or Linux. It is perhaps best for servers.

cheers

With my experience in Linux, I can't say that if hardware is told to be supported than you can use it, unless you have weeks of free time. And this goes for the software also (but urpmi or yast help so much in doing this).
Windows sucks, Linux is not friendly sometimes...I was wondering if FreeBSD was the solution. But maybe I'll get myself a Machintosh system.

Anyway thanks

Just like software specifically designed for Linux. However, there are thousands of programs ported to FreeBSD all of which are easy to install via the FreeBSD Ports.

True, FreeBSD doesn't support as much hardware as Linux, but that which is supported works well and documented where it doesn't.

Not true. Harder to use than Microsoft Windows, and similiar to that of Linux.

Please keep your uneducated remarks to yourself. FreeBSD is, undoubtedly, better than MS Windows and just as functional and efficient a desktop as Linux, since it runs the same software (X11, KDE/GNOME, etc.).

Well, I'm the one who started this thread.

I've to say that Windows is the easiest solution, but...come on...it sucks !

Linux is wonderful (I've been using it since the age of times) but sometimes it makes you fool. FreeBSD, yes, I don't really know...but two things strike me :

1) it has its own software, that once is ported to FreeBSD, than it works. I come from Mandriva. And those like me know the pain to install software, expecially because you can find a piece of software you like and then discover that...oh, my god, there is for SuSE and not for Mandriva, there is for Mandriva and not for Xandros, etc. In addition...I think FreeBSD has a more rational way to install programs. Linux spreads files all over the system, this I don't like.

2) FreeBSD looks to have the same software (maybe less maybe more) than a Linux Distro (whichever distro, like SuSE or Mandriva or Ubuntu)

Again the simplified question : can FreeBSD be the rational Linux for a home user ?

Thanks

I would love to hear your reason on why Windows sucks.

No, it's the `rational unix-like' operating system for a home user. =)

My reason is: it's highly insecure and far too easy to break (i.e. an obscure file or registry key can render the system non-bootable).

Click here. Enough said.

-A

Windows sucks because it's unstable. Not only, but to have software costs so much that just reach people can afford to have a good solution even for their minimal usage (think about the cost of the Office Suite). So, it's a living invitation to crack software (and if in Europe and America there could be some control in Asia there is not, this I can say to you for sure).

About the philosophy : a monopoly results ALWAYS in less chances and greater prices for the users, in addition being not possible to make software better by anyone but just from software houses that own the rights slow the progress. Pay more and get less, this is the Microsoft Philosophy.

In Italy there are always spots on tv saying that Xp is the NEW solution for everything. Today is 2005. Trust the market and you'll be happy !

People find easier Windows just because they find them installed with all the drivers ready. But this is just a market problem, not because Windows is better.
In addition, people have grown using Windows.

In my opinion this is too much !

just spare one partition from your harddrive & install FreeBSD. Try it, feel it than you will know....

For what it's worth I'll share my experience with Linux and FreeBSD.
I'm a Slack kind of guy. I have been using it for over 4 years now as my sole OS. As a web developer and programmer I have no need of any Windows programs except for Flash MX2004 which I run through VMWare.

I, however, wanted to try BSD and got DesktopBSD (http://desktopbsd.net/). The installation has nothing to envy Windows XP. It detected the hardware very well and installed very, very fast.
To update programs I used the ports and it was, in my opinion, even simpler that windows.

I found the firewall part to be a pain in the neck. After much reading (the manuals are very well done and documented to the tilde in BSD) I settled for IPF.

Most (at least so far for me) of the applications that run in Linux also run in BSD and I do not miss any thing in therms of applications but I find (this is perhaps personal taste) that Slackware has a more elegant and friendlier way of dealing with configuration files. Yes, yes, some folks out there will tell you "is almost the same" but it is in the "almost" that I find this comment holds its ground.

The overall experience I think is very satisfying and if you try it you may discover the same thing but I also think that you will have to "apply" yourself to learn to do things the BSD way because it is different from Linux in many regards. This is particularly true for distros like Mandrake, SuSE, and the like where you have very little interaction with the command line interface, unless you really want to.

Hope this will give you the type of insight you are looking for.

Rick

better try out bsd fast before it becomes too common-place , just like windows ...

I dual boot Debian/FreeBSD..... and loving both