Other Are there any "live boot" samplers for a wide variety of GUIs?

l008com

l008com

I'm trying to figure out which desktop/GUI I want to commit to using on this server. I'm a Mac guy so I need something, I can't just go bare command line.

Then tonight I had the thought, is there a collection of liveboot USB images somehwere I can download? Something that will let me quickly sample as many different GUIs as possible? It really doesn't even need to be on freeBSD right? Ultimately I'll be putting it on freeBSD, but if I'm just sampling the GUIs, linux should work the same, you think?

Also I'm new to this so my terminology is probably shaky.
 
Nope. Try with any Linux distribution. The desktops environment are basically the same.

Anyway, you can save yourself all that work and go directly with KDE Plasma. It's the best option for someone coming from Mac (the other one is Gnome, but it's less satisfying for many reasons).
 
Maybe you have to search in Linux forums, in FreeBSD the are some live's flavours(I dont remember the names) but no bsd of the family have live usb desktops colections
If you use a server, I recomend to you Fvwm,or twm, something ligther(you dont want Kde on a server)
but,you have to touch the command line

question, how you run a server without go to the command line?
 
l008com said:
I can't just go bare command line.
Click to expand...
Silly question perhaps, but what do you plan to run or manage on that server? Webservers (nginx, apache, etc.) for example don't have a GUI configuration tool, so why would you need a GUI or desktop?
 
I think it's already a problem because the system starts with only a CLI.
You have to manually install something to get a GUI.
A good option is to use a USB SSD of 32GB or so and try out different GUI installations using pkg install. You still have to check the internet connectiom to download any packages.
 
Guys I feel like you are reading "I can't just go bare command line." and hearing "No command line at all."

I'm going to go check out that "desktop-installer" right now. And KDE plasma even though AlfredoLlaquet retracted it as an answer :D
 
You could install a few desktops. Don't use gdm, kdm, sddm, dtlogin or any other XDM-like utility. Just use xdm. Now create your own .xsession file with the following:
Code: 
case $DESKTOPSESSION in
'')     case $XDMWM in
        '')     # XDMWM=`/usr/bin/cut -c -88 - < /etc/motd | /usr/local/bin/xmessage -buttons cde,mwm,xsm,emwm,xmsm,fvwm2,twm,ctwm,lxde,xfce,mate,gnome,openbox,icewm,afterstep,i3,xterm,logout -file - -print -timeout 60 -default cde -center`
                XDMWM=`/usr/bin/cut -c -88 - < /etc/motd | /usr/local/bin/xmessage -buttons cde,mwm,xsm,emwm,xmsm,fvwm2,twm,ctwm,mate,openbox,icewm,afterstep,xterm,logout -file - -print -timeout 60 -default cde -center`
                unset XDMWMOPTS
                case $XDMWM in
                '')     XDMWM=cde;;
                logout) _clean_up; exit;;
                esac
        esac
        XAUTHORITY=$HOME/.Xauthority
        export XDMWM XDMWMOPTS XAUTHORITY
        . /usr/local/etc/X11/xdm/SetupXwin
        . /usr/local/etc/X11/xdm/LocalRc
        ;;
esac
When I log in it displays a selection of windowing environments. I almost always use CDE, sometimes mwm. The others are there for when I'm in a public place, like OpenHack or some other forum where people might ask what FreeBSD looks like. FreeBSD can have many faces. I used to have more environments installed but that became a little old. Then uninstall the ones you don't want. You get the idea.
 
l008com said:
Guys I feel like you are reading "I can't just go bare command line." and hearing "No command line at all."

I'm going to go check out that "desktop-installer" right now. And KDE plasma even though AlfredoLlaquet retracted it as an answer :D
Click to expand...
I pointed a neophyte at desktop-installer. It was too much for her. YMMV.
 
SirDice said:
Silly question perhaps, but what do you plan to run or manage on that server? Webservers (nginx, apache, etc.) for example don't have a GUI configuration tool, so why would you need a GUI or desktop?
Click to expand...
Maybe it's the sin of Windows server, which had GUI as client Windows.
If M$ sold Windows Server as mimimalistic server that are cheaper than client Windows and sells per-server-functionality as a optional (expensive than base server) components and GUIs as one of the components, things should've been different. Users that cannot purchase full components as of their budgets would purchase minimum required components for them, maybe omitting GUI component.
 
cy@ said:
I pointed a neophyte at desktop-installer. It was too much for her. YMMV.
Click to expand...
For a single desktop environment, I agree. Seeing the video, there is a tonne of reading and still many technical questions.
For trying out a lot of different DEs, it may be simpler overall. I guess we'll see with how OP fairs!
 
cy@ said:
You could install a few desktops. Don't use gdm, kdm, sddm, dtlogin or any other XDM-like utility. Just use xdm. Now create your own .xsession file with the following:
Code: 
case $DESKTOPSESSION in
'')     case $XDMWM in
        '')     # XDMWM=`/usr/bin/cut -c -88 - < /etc/motd | /usr/local/bin/xmessage -buttons cde,mwm,xsm,emwm,xmsm,fvwm2,twm,ctwm,lxde,xfce,mate,gnome,openbox,icewm,afterstep,i3,xterm,logout -file - -print -timeout 60 -default cde -center`
                XDMWM=`/usr/bin/cut -c -88 - < /etc/motd | /usr/local/bin/xmessage -buttons cde,mwm,xsm,emwm,xmsm,fvwm2,twm,ctwm,mate,openbox,icewm,afterstep,xterm,logout -file - -print -timeout 60 -default cde -center`
                unset XDMWMOPTS
                case $XDMWM in
                '')     XDMWM=cde;;
                logout) _clean_up; exit;;
                esac
        esac
        XAUTHORITY=$HOME/.Xauthority
        export XDMWM XDMWMOPTS XAUTHORITY
        . /usr/local/etc/X11/xdm/SetupXwin
        . /usr/local/etc/X11/xdm/LocalRc
        ;;
esac
When I log in it displays a selection of windowing environments. I almost always use CDE, sometimes mwm. The others are there for when I'm in a public place, like OpenHack or some other forum where people might ask what FreeBSD looks like. FreeBSD can have many faces. I used to have more environments installed but that became a little old. Then uninstall the ones you don't want. You get the idea.
Click to expand...
You could use fuzzy finder fzf in a script.
 
Sooooo I used desktop-installer, I installed Cinnamon first. It seems... ok. Its very "windows 7" ish which i could work with but I'd prefer better.

So now I'm trying to try something else, but when I go to use `desktop-installer` again to install something else, it goes on for a while then eventually kicks me back to the Cinnamon gui login window. What am I doing wrong?
 
It's been quite some years since I tested it the last time, but SUSE Linux, which now is openSUSE (Yeah - "now" - I know it's been some years.😅) came with some choices you may pick one, or install several, and then chose one from a list at the start for your X session.

What I did for my evaluation (many years ago) was,
I searched for and looked at some screenshots first to sort out the ones I don't want (which, looking back, was wrong; see next paragraph) then I installed a few I wanted to take a closer look at. On FreeBSD. You can install them all, and deinstall them afterwards, again. This ain't no Windows where there is a registry you mess up. There may some dependencies left, but those don't cause real trouble. If you don't want that anyway (I also prefer a clean machine with no useless garbage anywhere, not matter how small), either do a test installation, on an extra machine, an extra drive, or in a VM, which do not contain stuff of any value, you wipe clean afterwards, and install and check them out there.

However,
to decide if a DE/WM is your choice, you have to use and examine it for a while. Just taking a quick glance at it ain't enough.
In the first place I refused to use simples WMs, because they look so "boring simple old-school." But that's exactly where I finally end up. I am using now for several years: fvwm2, one of the oldest. 😂:cool:
(I explained why 2 and not 3 also two times here in the forums. If you must know, look for it. I'm not going to repeat it here a third time.)
Point is: I simply figured out about myself I have very strong ideas of how my desktop GUI have to look, what it shall can do, above all what it must not do or have, what I'm able to configure etc.
And I found out with neither DE I can be fully satisfied, ever, because those can only be configured within limits. When I want to configure everything, I cannot do this within their config menus, but I have to edit config files, which with many are not just one, but several, named cryptical, written in XML, ... they are not meant to be edited by the user.
That's when I realized: "Why not design your own 'DE'?"
Which brought me finally to WMs, which I can configure pretty simple they way I want them to be exactly, because with most(all?) WMs you can configure everything, not only the menus, starting with the fact you don't need to throw overboard all the things you don't need/want, because there aren't any (or just very few as an example/template), but you only add what you want.
I even changed the window's title bar's buttons on mine.
See a picture of that in my post.

Looking back It had been quicker, easier, and less effort if I had chosen this way directly in the first place.
 
GhostBSD is a good FreeBSD based distribution that lets you quickly check if your hardware will work. You may not like the DE, but it's a way to check hardware.
Since most DEs that are available on Linux are also available on FreeBSD, one could try a bunch of different Ubuntu based distros
 
l008com said:
I'm trying to figure out which desktop/GUI I want to commit to using on this server.
Click to expand...
Try a DE from the most unique computer you have (High DPI/res, touchscreen, 2-in-1); that's what had me choose GNOME back around 2014 (Plasma 5 didn't have an on-screen keyboard; GNOME was consistent everywhere)

I'd pick Xfce on FreeBSD; it's easy to set-up and works!
 
What do you intend to use a GUI for on this? Mostly ability to have multiple windows open so you can look at a bunch of different config files at the same time? Maybe a web browser to search stuff?

If so, you say you are a Mac user, so I would suggest WindowMaker. Looks similar to Mac, pretty light on resources, I've been using it for a long time.
 
I don't know if it's still around but there's also Nomad BSD which is meant to go on a USB stick. It uses openbox, a more minimalistic window manager. But glancing again over the thread, I think I'd agree with many here. There's a ton of Linux live editions and trying any that catch your eye would give you a good idea of what you might want for a desktop.

nomadbsd.org

NomadBSD

NomadBSD is a persistent live system for USB flash drives, based on FreeBSD. Together with automatic hardware detection and setup...
nomadbsd.org nomadbsd.org

Also midnightBSD, not sure what window manager it uses. Might be Gnome.

MidnightBSD Screenshots

www.midnightbsd.org www.midnightbsd.org

But someone already mentioned GhostBSD which uses Gnome.

Ahhh, I see MidnightBSD gives you a choice of desktops.

MidnightBSD Desktop Environment Documentation

www.midnightbsd.org www.midnightbsd.org
 
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