so I'm waiting on a Mac mini to arrive for web browsing / mail / iPhone stuff.

my linux is ipv4 only and I have no time to "do all the ipv6" that the ipv4 is doing. Plus I have a $2000 app that requires both LIBC5 and LIBC6 support.

I love compiling from scratch so I try freeBSD. (always compiled easily from scratch since BSD).

install worked fine (don't close laptop lid, support not installed), ipv6 did get an internet connection with just one command (name server caching had stopped?). BUT even having read the whole handbook: I saw no simple way to get a desktop and web browser installed. perhaps PC-BSD does that (it's supposed to - I'm unsure it does)

I began thinking: what good is compiling from scratch if I have to reconfigure a whole new unix just to begin surfing? networking? but I have cheap hardware routers that do that sufficiently well these days, and at best bsd is not salable as a Cisco commercial router either. cell phone support? no linux is better there too. apple support? well apple has a bsd user land that supports itself. and BSD has no C compiler (they removed they horridly fast C compiler from BSD 4.3, replaced it with gcc, then clang, trying to be compatible with "others").

I was thinking: when I get a mini-PC with HDMI connector to replace my decade(s) (some parts) old linux libc5 box, I might run the $2000 linux app in PC-BSD (using lxrun). but I'm unsure it's worth that bother.

What does anyone think? Is it work getting a hyper visor and running both freeBSD and Linux? Or no - I'm wrong about compiling from scratch, that BSD is lacking in other ways that can't easily be improved on by a single end user?

I'd start with TrueOS instead of stock FreeBSD. It used to be called PC-BSD.

TrueOS is preconfigured with a lot of the niceties that you would expect from a desktop. Since it is FreeBSD underneath, you can still compile what you wish to compile. So since you are soliciting comments, my comment is to try it as a means to begin to find your way around FreeBSD on the desktop.

Don't start with TrueOS. Its "additions" are rarely stable enough to bring you any joy.

Get X up and running, then:

Refer to the manual for the basics.

(You can also use the ports instead of pkg, which would only take somewhat longer.)

(i got the $ app on sale, and it's depreciated by now, and still good. but still worth keeping.)

> Don't start with TrueOS. Its "additions" are rarely stable enough to bring you any joy.

freeBSD forum told me try GhostBSD because it's more configured but allows one to (better) move from from Ghost to free by just dis-using the enhancements.

> pkg install firefox

Do you really feel that one command will work or are you going to add "it is a way to get the process started" and may not even yield a safe-mode)?

I didn't try that because I felt it might pull me into hours of configuring Xorg gnome xdm startx firewalling (etc) which at the time i wasn't willing to give .. because that's the way linux was in the past in linux. (i guessed it would be worse than in ubuntu or fedorda. but it was a total guess)

i felt an os that left me without config menu at the prompt couldn't just get a desktop up in a way (say ubuntu installer) would. i could be completely wrong.

" Is it work getting a hyper visor and running both freeBSD and Linux?"

That part of the question seems to get easier each day. Both OS and hardware get better at that task.

It was how I started. Desktop and browsing was easy peasy at first. Then I tried to get fancy. Failed miserably after that. Update this and that. Killed everything.

I still don't know why you need BSD.

Have you read the freebsd handbook or did any research on freebsd? Freebsd is not ubuntu and never will be. If you don't want to read/follow the handbook or do as YesItsMe has suggested then maybe you need to try some other distro.

It might not be as simple as you expected, but there is such a way and it is indeed well documented. You should also look at the documentation you have on your system.

Those are completely unrelated matters, IMHO. How does the fact that you are willing to compile some software, instead of installing a precomplied binary, imply that what you need should be already installed and configured for you?

In fact the BSD systems are quite a bit different from Ubuntu, being developed for different users, having different needs. Besides, web browsers, desktop environments, and in general all software you expect to be found on a desktop setup, and much more, are not part of the BSD systems themselves: they are ported there by the community. It is unrealistic to expect a BSD installer to be like Ubuntu's.

Anyway, here's a good read: BSD vs Linux

First OP post is completely random. If LFS stands for linux from scratch, then no comments because BSD is just child's play.

I don't have any experience with GhostBSD or TrueOS.

but FreeBSD is easy (by the way why 10% of BSD userland in OSX makes it considered as BSD I have no clue: check out kernels for comparison and read about Darwin and NextStep. I would assume that it gives this "cool" UNIX feeling for OSX users.). Was more difficult in 90' but so was linux.

anyway, installing GUI is simple as mentioned, so it is installing firefox.

But when you install GUI it will not start:

edit rc.conf
and add:
dbus_enable="YES" <- needed for gui to load at all
slim_enable="YES" <- if you installed slim and want gui to autostart

you may need to check/add these
hostname="whatever_you_fancy"
ifconfig_em0="DHCP" <-replace em0 with your interface
ntp_enable="YES"
----------------------
create .xinitrc

when you install package you should get a list of all dependencies required that will be installed so no need to worry that you have to add something. It is that simple. Same goes for package removal.
All this is in fact in in BSD handbook so I don't know how it is that you could not find it. Again if you ever installed lfs, you should know how to read manuals.

configure firewall

regarding compiling: you should recompile kernel to get rid of of debugging options (really slows down FBSD), which is advised. Screwing kernel is not a big deal because you can always invoke old kernel and safely boot last good kernel.

hope this will help a little