Bsd os

[christophe]

Hi everybody,

Without hope to have many replies, I ask the question anyway (you never know):
did anyone, anywhere, one day manage to install a bsd os ?
I have personally tried several times to install netbsd, openbsd, DragonflyBSD, pcbsd (and, of course, freebsd), etc ..., without ever managing to go through whatever the used equipment (old or recent).

In short, bsd, that's possible or is it just a joke ?

Thank you.

[thenktor]

I've installed FreeBSD some years ago

[sqlpython]

I am a regular BSD user. I have installed FreeBSD, PCBSD, DesktopBSD and GhostBSD.
I have lastest 8.2-rc3 PCBSD and am community member there as well..
The easiest installs for LINUX users are Probably PCBSD and DesktopBSD..
The most active communities and best Docs are IMO at FreeBSD and PCBsd..

The kernel is different and the CLI commands are different as are the Dir layout (slightly)
The PCBsd and DesktopBSD both have LiveCDs so give it a look if it peaks your interest..
Ghost is a Gnome Desktop while PCBSD and DesktopBSD are KDE
http://www.pcbsd.org/content/view/169/11/
http://ghostbsd.org/get-ghostbsd/
http://www.desktopbsd.net/index.php?id=89

The FreeBSD install is a bit daunting for the uninitiated to BSD terms.. so if you wish to go that route read up first.

[witek]

I tried FreeBSD, DesktopBSD and PCBSD. I can assure you that BSD family sucks for desktop usage. They don`t have so much support for hardware (wifi, webcam) as Linux nor for closed applications as Flash. They are quite unstable (in spite of they claim contrary). Unplugging USB stick used to crash whole system similary unmounting a Linux partition. Maybe they fit for a server but definitely not for desktop. Furthermore, BSD community seems to hate Linux. For them Linux is messy, its terminal looks like a christmas tree and Linux is all about hype. Just read a BSD dedicated forum`s archieves.

[maximus]

Well... as opposed to witek's experience, I used PCBSD for a good while about 4/5 years ago (if I remember rightly the project had recently started) and I found it to be very stable. Fast installation (not quite as fast as Salix though!). Basically it's FreeBSD with a few nicities on top. I stopped using it mainly due to lack of flash support (and I wasn't interested in using a Linux compatability layer to use Linux flash) but who knows... with HTML5 on the way up maybe just maybe we won't have to worry about flash for much longer.

[christophe]

Well, ok guys, thanks for everything.
Finally, if understood, it seems that this thing does exist, liked or disliked.
Rather comforting, I began to wonder...
I think I retry an install one of these days on other hardware, but which one ? I've never managed a single one (none of the options proposed by the installer for none of the distros works on my laptop).
Damned...

[sqlpython]

Well, Witek pretty accurately sums up the feeling of many on the FreeBSD forums..

However they are not usually so on the PCBSD project. PCbsd welcomes & expects newcomers.
FreeBSD does make a better Server then a Desktop. PCBSD, GhostBSD and DesktopBSD do focus and the DESKTOP and make a good job of it... Like I said try a Live CD you can decide if it is interesting enough to install.

[christophe]

Good, as usual, the install doesn't work.
I just burn the Live DVD GhostBSD-1.5-x86 and and boot from it. What I have is just a lot of error messages (eg error 5, not found, can't mount,...), exactly like any other bsd distro (md5 is ok).
Hardware problem, I guess.
I'm tired of this thing.
Many thanks and good bye.

[christophe]

That's it ! I finally managed to install a BSD system (pcbsd).
Emotion is such that I have tears in my eyes...
Think, since the time I try.

For those interested, the problem was well on my hardware.
Apparently, unlike other os, BSD is very sensitive to the way which the DVD players are installed. A simple physical reversal of my 2 players solve the problem.

Spread the word!

[witek]

Apparently, unlike other os, BSD is very sensitive to the way which the DVD players are installed.

BSD, unlike other os, is very sensitive to everything...