BSD Installation: An Outdated Mess That Nobody Wants to Fix

OP reminded me of how I sound when I am screaming at my computer because some LLM is not following instructions for the millionth time - though I sound like a string of profanity mixed with a few real words

there comes a point you realise - "I'm shouting and insulting myself, because I chose to do it this way with this tool rather than learning how it's done" - this doesn't only apply to LLM's generally a good reflection in every regard

I think the problem is the one who rides the motorcycle most of the time, not the motorcycle itself.

Very helpful for visual learners is this channel I think they've actually got short clips addressing every one of OP's "issues" or questions.

Or the Handbook is there I see people have linked it.

 
TUI also doesn't slag around the emulated VESA framebuffer over VNC or on a desktop VM client.
A TUI install is able to run over serial port, which means the client has normal, native copy paste. I don't know of easy way to "share clipboard" when VM is running in graphics mode without extra drivers.

Also keep in mind it is roughly the same people writing TUI desktop applications and GUI OS installers in 2026. You install a Linux using full blown Wayland session with a fat installer only to curl | sh various TUI junk from github that cosplay as full blown graphics applications and you work in them. KDE is fat, Kdevelop "looks ancient", lets create entire desktop and development environment out of small pieces like it's 1992 in text mode but god forbid disk partitioning or anything else than shiny branded next next finish installer GUI
 
Speaking of which,I remember that I once found a possible bug in network config part of the Debian GUI installer.However,I didn't see the same issue in the TUI installer.I don't remember what it was besides being related to wifi.
 
MG-20260909-152512.jpg

Yes, I finally did it! I'm so happy. (I had tried ghosbsd before, but the latest version didn't work.

Final build

✓ Windows
✓ FydeOS / Android
✓ Debian
✓ Free/GhostBSD


I can see the Wi-Fi but it's not connecting. I need help with this.
 
I looked arround, and figured out FreeBSD is the only OS i want to use. And it isnt hard to install at all..nothing about FreeBSD is outdated or ancient, FreeBSD is improving..The fact that you tried so many different distros means, you dont like them and now FreeBSD is the culprit
 
Bsd install is not easy. You can boot using legacy. With or without grub. On mbr or gpt. On ufs or zfs. I boot with simple USB stick. There is some learning needed. Which takes time. But once you master it it's easier then most linuxes and always fixable
 
Starting out, it's always safest to utilize a VM and then you can attempt installing the .iso from scratch, like you would with a regular system.
Disk partitioning is also another tricky beast especially if you're maintaining numerous other active partitions, which again can be practiced safely within a VM.
Because of that, I'd just provision extra resources in a VM and then full screen it if I'm intending to use it in a serious capacity. This helps avoid the dual-booting and partitioning problems.

Also, certainly take the time to read the handbook, as it's truly a great resource. Otherwise, great stuff in keeping with it.
 
Sono un neofita di FreeBSD, avendo la disponibilità di 1 DeskTop PC, ho deciso di dedicarlo a FreeBSD, per curiosità, e da utente da decenni di altri OS (windows-macos-linux), ho installato senza fatica FreeBSD 15.1, solo leggendo attentamente la orocedura di installazione su supporto nvme da 2 TB, ho comprato testi su Unix, e giorno dopo giorno sto capendo e imparando su questo OS, lo trovo interessante, e sempre più sto approfondendo su UNIX, primo sistema operativo al mondo, e grazie alla comunità di FreeBSD, quindo non sono d'accordo sulla critica esposta, anche se rispetto le tue idee

I am new to FreeBSD; having a desktop PC available, I decided to dedicate it to FreeBSD out of curiosity. As someone who has used other operating systems (Windows, macOS, Linux) for decades, I installed FreeBSD 15.1 without difficulty—simply by carefully following the installation procedure for a 2TB NVMe drive. I’ve bought books on Unix, and day by day I am learning more about this OS; I find it interesting and am increasingly delving into Unix—the world's first operating system—and the FreeBSD community. So, I disagree with the criticism you raised, even though I respect your views.
 
Ettore said:
Sono un neofita di FreeBSD, avendo la disponibilità di 1 DeskTop PC, ho deciso di dedicarlo a FreeBSD, per curiosità, e da utente da decenni di altri OS (windows-macos-linux), ho installato senza fatica FreeBSD 15.1, solo leggendo attentamente la orocedura di installazione su supporto nvme da 2 TB, ho comprato testi su Unix, e giorno dopo giorno sto capendo e imparando su questo OS, lo trovo interessante, e sempre più sto approfondendo su UNIX, primo sistema operativo al mondo, e grazie alla comunità di FreeBSD, quindo non sono d'accordo sulla critica esposta, anche se rispetto le tue idee

I am new to FreeBSD; having a desktop PC available, I decided to dedicate it to FreeBSD out of curiosity. As someone who has used other operating systems (Windows, macOS, Linux) for decades, I installed FreeBSD 15.1 without difficulty—simply by carefully following the installation procedure for a 2TB NVMe drive. I’ve bought books on Unix, and day by day I am learning more about this OS; I find it interesting and am increasingly delving into Unix—the world's first operating system—and the FreeBSD community. So, I disagree with the criticism you raised, even though I respect your views.
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You are right..FreeBSD isnt so hard to install, once you know what to do of course. In fact it is much less complicated than Gentoo for example, here you have starting point (installer) which boots you into OS on console mode. And there you can install what you prefer from DE, nvidia drivers or amd drivers, OS components like networkmgr, sddm, apps..and enabling dbus for communication with plugged usb devices etc, enabling sddm..all is very logical. Handbook is almost perfectly written..I am loving my FreeBSD 15.1 and i am for sure staying on it..It serves me very well..And i noticed one more thing..kde plasma works much smoother in transitions when animation is present (first desktop appearance(dock animation) minimise/maximise basically all kde animations are fluent and there is no lagging..as i see every detail i had to share this with you lol..Again great job to FreeBSD project team. And i have been on few forums, non of them are kind and helpfull as this one..p.s. if he criticizes BSD he had to be more constructive, pointing in what is missing, what could be done with FreeBSD to make it easyer to install to people used to graphical installers...or what bug is critical to fix etc.. not be rude on entire team here, which is working hard. I am convinced that FreeBSD has its place, its audience, and it is a great OS.
 
LostNebula said:
I don't think I did anything wrong; I'm just an enthusiastic, inexperienced newbie who, when things go wrong, complains and asks for help like this.
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Welcome to the club of people who deleted another OS while installing a dual boot. It's the price of experience. Don't get discouraged — we've all been there, installing all sorts of OSes. Dual boot is not a simple task.
 
vladlen said:
Welcome to the club of people who deleted another OS while installing a dual boot. It's the price of experience. Don't get discouraged — we've all been there, installing all sorts of OSes. Dual boot is not a simple task.
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yes, that and the "crap, where is my bootloader?" because windows decided to erase the boot sector "for reasons". And you are 99% sure your data is there but the 1% will eat away at you until you restore order (and before people with more sense give feedback, think back to the 90's and you being a young teen and broke).
 
Just saw this and well, it's easier to criticize and dismiss something, than it is to take some effort to (try and) learn more about the process. Happy to see that OP came around and reflected on this.

Honestly... bias aside I think that FreeBSD's installation process is one of the best around. Simply because it's "no nonsense": you don't even need to use that installer if you don't want to use it, you can easily fully bootstrap a system from scratch using just the command line, which also makes it very easy to automate the full process.

I mean... Jails anyone? The way I deal with jails is simple: /opt/jails in which I keep base.txz (obviously), kernel.txz (a (little) bit of "security through obscurity" is involved there) and finally lib32.txz. I just extract them to a new folder, and then set it all up:
  • tzsetup to set the correct timezone.
  • Edit ./etc/rc.conf to set up things like the hostname and what not.
  • And you probably want a DNS resolver, though it should automatically handle this.
Then you're done with the core mechanics.
 
LostNebula said:
I’ve tried installing a lot of different operating systems, but I have honestly never seen installation processes as difficult, outdated, unnecessarily complicated, painfully long, and frustrating as those of the BSD operating systems. ...
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I asked: "Is there any constructive criticism in this message?"

AI: "Strictly speaking, the message contains no actionable constructive criticism. It is almost entirely an emotional venting and ad hominem attack, though it buries a few legitimate pain points beneath the hostile rhetoric."
 
(reading the complete thread)

I asked: "Is there any ask for help by LostNebula?"

AI: "Across the entire thread, LostNebula asks for actual help exactly once, which occurs near the end:
The Real Ask for Help
Post #80:
"I can see the Wi-Fi but it's not connecting. I need help with this."
This is their only explicit, technical request for assistance in the entire conversation."
 
Vladimir Botka said:
I asked: "Is there any constructive criticism in this message?"

AI: "Strictly speaking, the message contains no actionable constructive criticism. It is almost entirely an emotional venting and ad hominem attack, though it buries a few legitimate pain points beneath the hostile rhetoric."
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So, you use a computer to do the reading for you.
If you (or your computer) had continued you would have find out later the OP reflected and said:
LostNebula said:
I apologize to everyone, but I was very angry when the system crashed.

What actually happened was that I was trying to install FreeBSD alongside Windows and Linux. While partitioning the disk manually by entering commands in the terminal, something went wrong and the entire system crashed. As a result, I had to reinstall the whole system from scratch.

I was extremely frustrated at the time, and out of anger, I wrote a harsh criticism of FreeBSD and its developers, hoping that it might somehow contribute to improving the situation or lead to changes in the future.

Looking back, I realize that I was reacting emotionally. I apologize if my words were unnecessarily harsh or disrespectful.
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I do sometimes wonder if it's that AI has gotten better or search has gotten worse. Every once in awhile, I'll search for something that I think should be simple to find. I use startpage, which I think is based on Google, and I'm finding that I've gotten the bad (IMO) habit of, if I don't find it in a few minutes, going to claude.ai and asking there. (Though, I also find that Claude or chatgpt--I only use the free versions) are often wrong, or just not good.)
But, I also wonder if AI didn't realize that several of the posts were implicit answers the issue. I'm far too lazy to go through the 4 page thread, but I remember commenting that it verified the old joke that if you ask for help on a Linux forum you won't get an answer, but if you post Linux is horrible, I could do this easily in Windows, you'll get lots of answers with solutions mixed in with insults about your incompetence, and I suspect I based that post on the OP getting answers.

I think there are subtle nuances that AI doesn't yet always comprehend, such as not realizing some things are actual answers mixed in among commentary.
 
scottro said:
I do sometimes wonder if it's that AI has gotten better or search has gotten worse. Every once in awhile, I'll search for something that I think should be simple to find. I use startpage, which I think is based on Google, and
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Alas since all are meta engines which search google, and everybody is only interested in AI these days, plus when I'm not mistaken Google already announced to shut down classic search in favor to switch everything to AI, I fear unless somebody starts a real classic search engine again, we'll have to face the fact in a short time we will only have this unreliable AI junk, only.
Don't get me wrong: AI is a nice thing, IF you know how to use it as an optional addition and have other - reliable - sources. But to have it as the only option is in IMO not a good idea.

Maybe I'm mistaken and there already are other "classical" search engines - let get them URLs.
 
sualbee said:
There is Marginalia:
https://about.marginalia-search.com/

I've never used this engine myself as a main one, but I really like the idea/philosophy behind it.
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Thanks.
Of course I know, there are a few "real classic" search engines.
Point is: Nobody knows them, so they have small databases, so not really useful, which makes nobody uses them.
Plus, one does not know, what monetary interests they really follow, since it's always the same: It's all free until a certain amount of users are reached (there are a few exception's of course, but who knows in advance?)

Anyway, I think it's a good idea to collect those search engines in any case - if Google shuts down their classic search, or not - it's always good to preserve alternatives.

But this ain't the thread for this.
 
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