Considering Installing FreeBSD

[Fr0sti3]

I remember in the distant past, I tried installing BSD twice. One time failed, the second time succeeded but wasn't able to successfully configure a desktop environment. So my all in all experience with FreeBSD is like 3 days total.

I've been using various distros of Linux over the last 10 years. Although I find headless Linux on servers to be extremely stable, no matter what distro I use, something always seems to break after just a few weeks when used in a desktop environment, even with just normal use.

So I want to ask, how is FreeBSD once configured for desktop environments? Does it come with most drivers already working for older hardware 'out of the box'? Is it simple enough to use with a wireless adapter on a PC?

Thank you.

 

[SirDice]

If you want a "FreeBSD Desktop" I suggest you take a look at PC-BSD. That will give a desktop "out-of-the-box". You can get the same thing with a vanilla FreeBSD but it's going to take a lot of configuring and fiddling.

 

[hukadan]

If you decide to take the vanilla FreeBSD path, then here is a tutorial I used to setup my Desktop. As you can see from the Upgrade Notes on the bottom of the webpage, this tutorial is updated on a regular basis. It also gives you and idea about what SirDice means by "lot of configuring".

 

[scottro]

For desktop, I would also recommend the site mentioned by hukadan.

FreeBSD tends to lag a bit behind Linux in hardware and software support, at least in my (completely anecdotal) experience. For example, a Zenbook I had didn't get wireless support till FreeBSD-10, a year or so after its release, as opposed to Linux, which worked out of the box. You'll find that sometimes software supported on Linux, especially if proprietary, like TeamViewer, may not work on FreeBSD. Synaptics (for a laptop touchpad) may not work, or may at least require more effort to work on a machine where it works out of the box on Linux. So, just be aware of that.

PC-BSD has been mentioned--there's also GhostBSD which is even easier to install and use and has lower system requirements. PC-BSD uses ZFS by default which can tax underpowered machines.

On the upside, binary package and updating management has greatly improved, and you can probably get a desktop up and running as quickly as say, installing a minimal Fedora install and adding X later.

A lot of it depends, IMHO, upon what is irritating you about Linux, what you use Linux for, and so on. If you're used to the command line with Linux, it won't be that hard to get used to using, but if you are used to working primarily with graphic tools, the adjustment may be a bit harder.

That being said, there are lots of knowledgeable and helpful people on these forums, good documentation, and, although yes, things will break with updates, especially that one time you forgot to look at UPDATING before doing so, in my experience, quality control seems a bit better than many versions of Linux.