FreeBSD compared to clean Linux

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DemoDoG

Has anyone compared a bare installation of Linux to FreeBSD? Let's say you install Arch Linux with Xorg and Fluxbox and Firefox. And then you check how much MB it takes on the harddrive and how much RAM it takes and how fast it starts up.

Then you do the same on a FreeBSD and compare the results?

Reason why I ask it that I have a rather slow laptop with 1 GB RAM that used to have FreeBSD but then I installed Ubuntu and it was so slow. So I wonder if I should try installing Arch Linux instead of go back to FreeBSD. I changed to Linux because I can't run Spotify and Flash natively in FreeBSD.
 
I had a similar experience with an old cheap Acer laptop. Things never did work right with Windows, Linux was better but still kind of slow. Oddly enough FreeBSD worked the best on it (even detecting the eth driver automatically which ArchLinux did no do at the time). I ended up putting on PC-BSD and giving it to my mother. She still uses it.

It seems to be different for every laptop, but FreeBSD will be one of your best choices I bet. Arch would be my next choice, maybe Slack (personal preference).
 
Currently I use Arch Linux (and testing and thinking about switching to FreeBSD). I have Arch with Xorg and dwm as a base system and I can tell you it is super fast. Memory usage never went over 1 GB and the total disk space used is ~ 3-4 GB with all applications (but of course it depends on what other programs you want to install).
 
DemoDoG said:
Has anyone compared a bare installation of Linux to FreeBSD?
Click to expand...

Not recently, but when I was running Linux it would always be a bare install of Debian, installing minimal packages with apt-get.

Now matter how lean, fast or minimal a Linux install is though, it is still using the broken, deliberately incompatible GNU userland tools.
 
I hope this isn't too much, but here is a list of Linux distros that run on old hardware:
  • 1. Puppy Linux
    Puppy Linux is yet another Linux distribution. What's different here is that Puppy is extraordinarily small, yet quite full-featured. Puppy boots into a ramdisk and, unlike live CD distributions that have to keep pulling stuff off the CD, it loads into RAM. This means that all applications start in the blink of an eye and respond to user input instantly. Puppy Linux has the ability to boot off a flash card or any USB memory device, CDROM, Zip disk or LS/120/240 Superdisk, floppy disks, internal hard drive. It can even use a multisession formatted CD-RW/DVD-RW to save everything back to the CD/DVD with no hard drive required at all.
  • 2. CrunchBang Linux
    CrunchBang Linux is an Debian-based distribution featuring the light-weight Openbox window manager and GTK+ applications. The distribution has been built from a minimal Debian system and customised to offer a good balance of speed and functionality. CrunchBang Linux is currently available as a live CD; however, the best performance is achieved by installing it to a hard disk.
  • 3. Bodhi Linux
    Bodhi Linux is an Ubuntu-based distribution for the desktop featuring the elegant and lightweight Enlightenment window manager. The project, which integrates and pre-configures the very latest builds of Enlightenment directly from the project's development repository, offers modularity, high level of customisation, and choice of themes. The default Bodhi system is light -- the only pre-installed applications are Midori, LXTerminal, EFM (Enlightenment File Manager), Leafpad and Synaptic -- but more software is available via AppCenter, a web-based software installation tool.
  • 4. Lubuntu
    Lubuntu is a fast, lightweight and energy-saving variant of Ubuntu using the LXDE (Lightweight X11 Desktop Environment) desktop. It is intended to have low-resource system requirements and is designed primarily for netbooks, mobile devices and older PCs.
  • 5. antiX
    antiX is a fast, lightweight and easy-to-install Linux live CD distribution based on Debian's "Testing" branch for x86 compatible systems. antiX offers users the "antiX Magic" in an environment suitable for old computers. The goal of antiX is to provide a light, but fully functional and flexible free operating system for both newcomers and experienced users of Linux. It should run on most computers, ranging from 64 MB old PII 266 systems with pre-configured 128 MB swap to the latest powerful boxes. 128 MB RAM is recommended minimum for antiX. The installer needs minimum 2.2 GB hard disk size. antiX can also be used as a fast-booting rescue CD.
  • 6. Tiny Core Linux
    Tiny Core Linux is a 12 MB graphical Linux desktop. It is based on a recent Linux kernel, BusyBox, Tiny X, Fltk, and Flwm. The core runs entirely in memory and boots very quickly. The user has complete control over which applications and/or additional hardware to have supported, be it for a desktop, a nettop, an appliance or server; selectable from the project's online repository.
  • 7. LXLE
    LXLE is an easy-to-use lightweight desktop Linux distribution based on Lubuntu and featuring the LXDE desktop environment. Compared to its parent, LXLE has a number of unique characteristics: it is built from Ubuntu's LTS (long-term support) releases, it covers most users' everyday needs by providing a good selection of default applications, and it adds useful modifications and tweaks to improve performance and functions.
  • 8. Damn Small Linux
    Damn Small Linux is a business card size (50MB) live CD Linux distribution. Despite its minuscule size it strives to have a functional and easy to use desktop. Damn Small Linux has a nearly complete desktop, including XMMS (MP3, and MPEG), FTP client, links-hacked web browser, spreadsheet, email, spellcheck (US English), a word-processor, three editors (Nedit, nVi, Zile [emacs clone]), Xpdf, Worker (file manager), Naim (AIM, ICQ, IRC), VNCviwer, SSH/SCP server and client, DHCP client, PPP, PPPoE, a web server, calculator, Fluxbox window manager, system monitoring apps, USB support, and soon it will have PCMCIA support as well. If you like Damn Small Linux you can install it on your hard drive. Because all the applications are small and light it makes a very good choice for older hardware.
  • 9. wattOS
    wattOS is a fast desktop Linux distribution based on Ubuntu. Using the lightweight Openbox window manager as its default user interface, the distribution strives to be as energy-efficient as possible so that it can be used on low-specification and recycled computers.
  • 10. VectorLinux
    VectorLinux is a small, fast, Intel based Linux operating system for PC style computers. The creators of VectorLinux had a single credo: keep it simple, keep it small and let the end user decide what their operating system is going to be. What has evolved from this concept is perhaps the best little Linux operating system available anywhere. For the casual computer user there is a lightening-fast desktop with graphical programs to handle daily activities from web surfing, sending and receiving email, chatting on IRC to running an FTP server. The power user will be pleased because all the tools are there to compile programs, use the system as a server or perhaps the gateway for home or office computer network. Administrators will be equally pleased because of the small size and memory requirements, so the operating system can be deployed on older machines that have long been forgotten.
  • 11. Unity Linux
    The community-oriented Unity Linux is a minimalist distribution and live CD based on Mandriva Linux. The project's main goal is to create a base operating system from which more complete, user-oriented distribution can easily be built - either by other distribution projects or by the users themselves. Unity Linux uses Openbox as the default window manager. Its package management is handled via Smart and RPM 5 which can download and install additional software packages from the project's online repository.
  • 12. SliTaz GNU/Linux
    SliTaz GNU/Linux is a mini distribution and live CD designed to run speedily on hardware with 256 MB of RAM. SliTaz uses BusyBox, a recent Linux kernel and GNU software. It boots with Syslinux and provides more than 200 Linux commands, the lighttpd web server, SQLite database, rescue tools, IRC client, SSH client and server powered by Dropbear, X window system, JWM (Joe's Window Manager), gFTP, Geany IDE, Mozilla Firefox, AlsaPlayer, GParted, a sound file editor and more. The SliTaz ISO image fits on a less than 30 MB media and takes just 80 MB of hard disk space.
  • 13. Absolute Linux
    Absolute Linux is a light-weight modification of Slackware Linux. It includes several utilities that make configuration and maintenance easier and it has many common desktop and Internet applications installed and configured with tight integration of menus, applications and MIME types. Absolute Linux uses IceWM and ROX for its window and file managers.
  • 14. Legacy OS
    Legacy OS (formerly TEENpup Linux) is a distribution based on Puppy Linux. Although the original concept was to create a flavour of Puppy Linux with more applications and a more appealing desktop aimed at teenage users, Legacy OS has now grown to become a general purpose distribution. It comes with a large number of applications, browser plugins and media codecs as standard software. Despite these enhancements Legacy OS is still perfectly suitable for installation on older and low-resource computers, as well as modern hardware.
  • 15. Swift Linux
    Swift Linux is a lightweight, Debian and Linux Mint-based distribution featuring the IceWM window manager. Compared to its parent, Swift Linux includes extra applications, such as BleachBit (a tool for freeing up space and clearing private information), the LibreOffice office suite, and a wide variety of forensic analysis and data recovery utilities.
  • 16. KolibriOS
    KolibriOS is a tiny open-source operating system with a monolithic preemptive kernel and video drivers for 32-bit x86 architecture computers. KolibriOS is a fork of MenuetOS, written entirely in FASM (assembly language). However, C, C++, Free Pascal, Forth, among other high-level languages and compilers, can also be used in application development. KolibriOS features a rich set of applications that include a word processor, image viewer, graphical editor, web browser, and over 30 games.
  • 17. LinuxConsole
    LinuxConsole is an independently developed Linux live CD with different editions designed for desktops, servers, gaming consoles, and old computers. Its primary characteristics are easy installation, extensive choice of software in the form of modules, and excellent hardware detection.
  • 18. GALPon MiniNo
    GALPon MiniNo is a lightweight, Debian-based distribution designed for PCs that are 10 years old (or more), though it's also perfectly usable on modern computers and netbooks. It contains a carefully tuned selection of applications that try to maintain a balance between features, ease of use and speed. IceWM with ROX-Filer and PCManFM provides the desktop. The distribution has full support for three languages (English, Galician and Spanish) and it also comes with "magic icons" - a set of tools that automate repetitive or system tasks (e.g. rotate or resize hundreds of digital images, convert audio or video files into other formats or burn an audio CD with a simple drag & drop).
  • 19. Toutou Linux
    Toutou Linux is a French variant of Puppy Linux, a minimalist, yet powerful and extremely fast Linux distribution for the desktop. It is especially suitable to Linux beginners. It features the JWM window manager, SeaMonkey as the default Internet browser and a variety of lightweight applications, including some custom configuration utilities. The project also provides extra software packages, converted into French, for free download.
  • 20. Quirky
    Quirky, a sister project of Puppy Linux, is a Linux distribution built with a custom tool called Woof. The underlying infrastructure, such as boot-up and shut-down scripts, setup tools, hardware detection, desktop management, user interface, speed and general ease-of-use are common across all distributions built with Woof, but a specific build will have a different package selection and further customisation (even totally different binary packages). Quirky is developed by the founder of Puppy Linux and Woof to push the envelope a bit further, to explore some new ideas in the underlying infrastructure -- some of which may be radical or odd, hence the name Quirky.
 
Tiny Core Linux is very cool. There was a project a while back that was using PKGNG to provide that kind of modularity for the FreeBSD base system.
 
Number 8 in the list above IIRC is the live CD I tried before learning of FreeBSD. Never got around to using it with internet connectivity though. [That might have been in the year 2003 or so...]
 
Mustela said:
YoungUnix, where is the Gentoo Linux? :D
Click to expand...

The list above was generated based on "old hardware" criteria. According to Gentoo's hardware requirements, you'll only be able to run a minimal environment on the hardware the OP mentioned. Last time (2008) I used Gentoo, I ran into some hardware issues, but things have changed a lot since then.

I can vouch for WattOS which is based on Ubuntu. I have it running on an 11 year old PC in a medical clinic for students to surf the web and do other minor tasks.
 
I've Toshiba 320CDS from 1998 (15 years!) with Pentium Mobile 233 MMX, 32MB RAM and 4GB slow HDD working only with PIO0 at 4MB/s by the lethal controller (externalling on any other computer is faster). Controller doesn't support forced PIO1.

Gentoo 2013/08 with LXDE, xterm and Links for write this post. All network, sound and graphic drivers. The only BIG problem on this laptop is the HDD, because read at 4MB/s maximum and the CPU goes to 100% all the time reading data.
 
Mustela said:
I've Toshiba 320CDS from 1998 (15 years!) with Pentium Mobile 233 MMX, 32MB RAM and 4GB slow HDD working only with PIO0 at 4MB/s by the lethal controller (externalling on any other computer is faster). Controller doesn't support forced PIO1.

Gentoo 2013/08 with LXDE, xterm and Links for write this post. All network, sound and graphic drivers. The only BIG problem on this laptop is the HDD, because read at 4MB/s maximum and the CPU goes to 100% all the time reading data.
Click to expand...

Very cool.

Up until a couple years ago, I was running a circa 1993, 50 Mhz PC with FreeBSD 5.3, using it as a mail server. Finally, when the NIC RIP'd, I stopped using it.

To the original poster: I just installed FreeBSD 9.1 on a USB "live disk", and am using it plugged into a machine similar to what you describe. Actually, I'm using it right now. I'd say the performance is about par with Haiku (which I can run from another stick) - and it's definitely not too bad. The 8G FreeBSD stick has between 4 and 5G left, and it's fairly bare bones with Xorg, the Chromium browser, and a few small miscellaneous apps.

From my memory, I think the old Linux stick I had was slower than either the FreeBSD or Haiku sticks. The only Linux I use now, with my older hardware, is the delightful Debian Etch (4). It's on par (bloat wise) with FreeBSD 7.
 
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