Introduce yourself, tell us who you are and why you chose FreeBSD

[Sevendogsbsd]

Agree - Linux is NOT Unix and that distinction is lost on many Linux users both long time and new. Linux is "Unix like" I would say. It probably doesn't really matter because the true Unices of the world are fading, no? (AIX, Solaris) and the term "Unix" is a trademark also, isn't it? There are I am sure, many users of true Unix here that can probably speak much better to this than I.

I don't believe new users of Linux really care either way; they just may be happy they found an alternative OS.

 

[kpedersen]

Agree - Linux is NOT Unix and that distinction is lost on many Linux users both long time and new.

Arguably POSIX is what is useful in UNIX. And Linux is POSIX(ish). The problem is that most of POSIX (and UNIX) is completely hidden in Linux behind (terrible) GUI systems. Many Linux users just flitter about with the package store, install a web browser and some GUI themes. The rest of the system remains fairly opaque.

 

[20-100-2fe]

Though Linux is not Unix, I've learned a lot with it, and all this learning has greatly helped me getting into BSD.
I'm thankful to Linux for that!

 

[Zirias]

This whole "what is Unix" discussion is pretty pointless, IMHO...

• Is it Unix, when there's a direct "inheritance line" to some original Unix system? Then, at least, FreeBSD is Unix
• Is it Unix, when it "looks like" Unix and mostly adheres to some important specs (like POSIX)? Then, FreeBSD is Unix, and GNU/Linux is, as well
• Is it Unix, when it's allowed to display the UNIX® trademark? Then, very few Linux distributions are Unix, FreeBSD definitely isn't. Note this involves, apart from implementing important specs, paying money on a regular basis

For whatever that's worth, GNU/Linux is a "Unix-like" system. I personally think the "Unix spirit" is more present in FreeBSD, as it involves basic design ideas, principles, and not introducing any breaking changes without a really good reason. But how to exactly qualify that? To me, personally, GNU/Linux is one option of having a "Unix" on a consumer PC. I prefer FreeBSD for that

 

[Krvopije]

Who I am: 25, living in central europe. I guess thats as much as is neccessary to know.
Why I am choosing FreeBSD: I switched to Linux at the beginning of 2017 and enjoyed the time so far. Learned so much and appreciate all the flavours of Linux or GNU/Linux is someone insists on it.
But although I wouldn't say it is not impossible to learn further with the documentation of each distro and to get used to all the differences between them, I still would say it is too unorganized for a newcomer like me and a real pain in the ass.
My goal is to continue the journey of learning more about my hardware, to get more knowledge and better skills when it comes to system administration and boy, just a look at the documentation/handbook of FreeBSD made me decide to switch at some point this year. It will most likely be once everything settles down and I can go and buy hardware for my workstation, laptop will stay on GNU/Linux for now, but I am so hyped. I have not had much interaction with any FreeBSD guys and don't know how "helpful" and "generous" they are, when newbies asked (stupid) stuff and many Linuxfolks warn you of the cocky BSD-Fanboys, but I gotta say, just reading the handbook made me feel like, don't worry, you might be able to find out everything that is considered a stupid question by yourself with this documentation and if you can't then you might deserve the rough feedback. I played a little so far with FreeBSD, GhostBSD and NomadBSD on Virtualbox and GNOME Boxes and can't wait to put it directly on the hardware, it just feels so clean and overseeable compared to any Linuxdistro I tried.

 

[k3y5]

I mentioned this a few months back. I was wondering why there was such an influx of new posters but it was from a lot of people making negative comments out of the blue and I was suspicious about where it was coming from. This could be an interesting thread to read about legitimate newcomers.

That's too bad. I've been lurking for a while, but interacting is so much better!

I moved over after working on a security based product deployed on OpenBSD, and for malware/pentesting lab setup. After dealing with the pitfalls of linux, and loving the straight forward build process just made sense. I've been loving ports, and with a little Clang you can be dangerous.

 

[hruodr]

I see UNIX as more or less a standard, it includes Posix and BSD, the console commandos, how one deals with the system. If I sit in front of a Mac or Linux computer, I try to guess how to open a console, after I get it, I can deal more or less with the computer, if something does not work as expected, I type "man". If I sit in front of a Windows computer, I can click with the mouse on the web browser icon, but much more than that I cannot do. But what can do a Linux Distribution User in front of a FreeBSD system, those that use the GUI?

I do not know a Linux Distribution that try to emulate a normal UNIX system. Also with server versions used as desktop PC I end doing strange things. How will someone learn a standard with this? It is better to begin with a BSD system, if one needs Linux later, it will be easier.

 

[drhowarddrfine]

I see UNIX as more or less a standard

UNIX is a standard published by The Open Group

 

[Zirias]

just reading the handbook made me feel like, don't worry, you might be able to find out everything that is considered a stupid question by yourself with this documentation and if you can't then you might deserve the rough feedback.

"The handbook" is indeed a huge advantage over most Linux distributions It's not perfect, it sometimes misses things, and (very rarely) gets things wrong. But it's better than anything I have seen so far concerning GNU/Linux systems. And, of course, it's constantly maintained and bug reports about the handbook are welcome and will be fixed.

But then, what gives you the idea you'll get "rough feedback" in the FreeBSD community? Sure, someone might be annoyed having to read a question that a RTFM would have solved .. this happens everywhere But in my experience on IRC, mailing lists, web forums and even usenet, you'll get an answer most of the time, and even if it's just a link to the relevant documentation. Most of the time, you won't see any complaints about a "stupid" question. If your problem is a bit more challenging, people will try to help.

 

[k3y5]

But then, what gives you the idea you'll get "rough feedback" in the FreeBSD community? Sure, someone might be annoyed having to read a question that a RTFM would have solved .. this happens everywhere But in my experience on IRC, mailing lists, web forums and even usenet, you'll get an answer most of the time, and even if it's just a link to the relevant documentation. Most of the time, you won't see any complaints about a "stupid" question. If your problem is a bit more challenging, people will try to help.

As an IRC scrub, can you offer any advice to get started? It just seems like all the deep cuts have been surfing the digital airwaves for decades. A bit intimidated, and unsure where to start.

Also, the handbook is amazing. If anyone is interested, I would recommend picking up a copy of: 'The design and implementation of the freeBSD operating system' by: McKusick, Neville-Neil, and Watson. It can be a bit dense at times, but understanding _why_ decisions were made, changed my perspective.

 

[Krvopije]

"The handbook" is indeed a huge advantage over most Linux distributions It's not perfect, it sometimes misses things, and (very rarely) gets things wrong. But it's better than anything I have seen so far concerning GNU/Linux systems. And, of course, it's constantly maintained and bug reports about the handbook are welcome and will be fixed.

I will strive to look out for bugs and potential optimizations.

But then, what gives you the idea you'll get "rough feedback" in the FreeBSD community? Sure, someone might be annoyed having to read a question that a RTFM would have solved .. this happens everywhere But in my experience on IRC, mailing lists, web forums and even usenet, you'll get an answer most of the time, and even if it's just a link to the relevant documentation. Most of the time, you won't see any complaints about a "stupid" question. If your problem is a bit more challenging, people will try to help.

It's based on the "rumors" about FreeBSDs users that exist in the Linuxcommunities I was in. I expect it to get exposed as an exaggeration over time just as I expect to see here a lot of exaggerated prejudices towards GNU/Linux.
It will be a great journey for me nonetheless.

 

[weberjn]

If I sit in front of a Mac or Linux computer, I try to guess how to open a console, after I get it, I can deal more or less with the computer, if something does not work as expected, I type "man". If I sit in front of a Windows computer, I can click with the mouse on the web browser icon, but much more than that I cannot do.

On my Windows machines at work and at home I do all command line work in bash under MSYS2, mostly scp, curl, git and maven. The MSYS2 guys have done a great work of integrating the Unix command line tools in Windows. Of course, man works, too.

 

[deadmorozz]

FreeBSD because it reminds me of Da Free Musketiers yeah

 

[Hakaba]

Sure, someone might be annoyed having to read a question that a RTFM would have solved

I try in most time to find answer in manual or internet.
But sometimes, I do not know how a 'think' is named. I use the "apropos" tool but this is not always sufficient.

In the last months (weeks?) I saw a lot of the question like "I do xxx in Linux, how it is in FreeBSD" and apropos xxx has the answer.

I think it is because some Linux distribution has a bad documentation, but a "good" forum or IRC chan.
Maybe Arch Linux or Gentoo Linux users ask less and read more...

 

[greencloud]

I think it is because some Linux distribution has a bad documentation, but a "good" forum or IRC chan.
Maybe Arch Linux or Gentoo Linux users ask less and read more...

That's very true.

By the way, I'm a web developer. I was a Linux user for many many years, started with Debian around '98. Since then I've tried and used dozens of Linux distros, I ended up with Archlinux and used it for almost 4 years until systemd came in (good thing it's now obsolete). Archlinux is still my favorite Linux Distro though, but I'm an all-time FreeBSD user now since 2012. Why I chose FreeBSD? There's lot of things to say but I guess because FreeBSD fills the gap and for me it's more resource friendly than any Linux distros I've used in the past, including Arch. And the ports are just awesome.

 

[tuxador]

Hi I am a 38yo physician living in north Africa (Algeria), i am a tech hobbyist and a free software enthusiast, i've been using Gnu/linux since 2003 (occasionnaly due to lack of a good internet connexion and exclusively from 2006 and kubuntu 6.06 Dapper Drake).
I loved the concept of FreeBSD and the "unix spirit" and tried desktopBSD in 2008, i ended up stuck to Archlinux since then (2009-2020) as i found the /etc/rc.conf very convenient and BSD friendly, besides the excellent archlinux wiki.
This year i am running my own medical cabinet and decided to build up a small server for archieving documents(i consider samba as a good option), sharing printer (cups as my first target) and running my django based application for medical records.
I thought it's the best opportunity to run FreeBSD again as it's clear documentation and the RC files based configuration will make the server setup easier and because of it's acclaimed stability.

It took me a couple of attempts :
1. ghostBSD : installation was straightforward but the structure of configuration fileswas too different from upstream FreeBSDand the documentation is sparse.
2. FuryBSD : despite the fact that's "pure" FreeBSD the installation was a real mess .
3. FreeBSD (12.1) : happily running on my machine (ivybridge core i5 with 4GO RAM, ZFS on a single HDD, no RAID), a full featured plasma-kde5 desktop (did i mentionned that i am a KDE lover?), next step is setting up nginx-uswgi , SMB and CUPS.

 

[Mjölnir]

Who's new to FreeBSD? Did you migrate from another OS and what was your reason?

I'm using FreeBSD+KDE for (over?) 10 years now - for obvious reasons - Linux sucks:

• it (ubuntu) crashed my system on an update (ok, that's a decade ago)
• re-invented the wheel several times, and went into the same pitfalls that others had already solved ("not invented here" behaviour)
• Overly aggressive "1st write, then think, test later" hacking attitude (again, numerous examples), and once they mimic'ed a 20-year-old BSD solution, they shout hurray!

In general, I'm quite happy with FreeBSD, BUT:

• on every new installation I feel like a newbie...
• the defaults on FreeBSD suck for the desktop use-case
• automagic discovery of devices and their integration into the system stops at driver level
• too few things works "out-of-the-box", and need time to find out how to do it
• lack of GUI system settings to quickly adjust the system to behave how I want
  (KDE is overly linuxoid, that's not FreeBSD's fault, and it's buggy)

I prefer used/refurbished business laptops for private use, because usually they're more robust than consumer hardware and most of the initial problems have been solved. Last not least, the price/value ratio is unbeaten.

 

[DonK]

Greetings, I've been running BSD on PCs since the Jolitzs released 386BSD on a Dr. Dobbs CD in 1992. My first BSD PC used an Adaptec 1542. 386BSD had a circular buffer 1542 device driver bug that caused an installation failure on PCs with more than 4M of memory. Naturally, my PC had 8M of memory.

So, Slackware was used for a year or so until FreeBSD for PC was released.

 

[Aeterna]

First OS that I learned was SunOS 4 and Novell Netware NOS. After that Windows 2 and 3. I got my first personal computer in mid 90' and I installed my first FreeBSD upon friend's recommendation. Next I installed RedHat (PC Magazine?) from floppies and Slackware and OpenBSD. I tried to learn them all. FreeBSD 5 was the last of FreeBSD series for a long time. I started to use linuxes at home and NetBSD and windows at work. Main reason for abandoning BSD was related to the hardware. I was a member of this and other (that do not exist anymore) BSD forums at least few times.

Currently running FreeBSD/Openbox in VM with Slackware host alongside with OpenBSD, OpenIndiana and Oracle Solaris.
I wanted to introduce myself in the case that I will have questions with my setup.

 

[Mjölnir]

[...] Currently running FreeBSD/Openbox in VM with Slackware host alongside with OpenBSD, OpenIndiana and Oracle Solaris. [...]

"Wrong" order. Turn it upside-down

 

[Techguy46]

Standard Windows user, but wanted to learn more about the other different operating systems there and the best uses for them.

 

[BeCitizenSci]

Greetings!

I'm happy to be here. It's been a long time (1999) since I've incorporated FreeBSD fully into my personal life but I'm pleased to announce that I'm doing so once again. And I'm looking forward to chatting about it with everyone.

 

[franky44]

Howdy. I just installed FreeBSD 11.4. I've using Linux for the past 4 years. I threw Windows out the window because I wanted a system that more stable. I've always wanted an OS that was like Unix. While I can't afford the AT&T Unix, I thought Linux would be as close as I could get. Then I heard about freeBSD.

I had a devil of a time getting things set up, but I kept at it till I was up and running. I have it installed on my desktop. I'll install it on my laptop when I have a good handle on how to manage BSD. I have a lot of questions about what everything means, but I'm getting a book about freeBSD from no starch press. I'll read through that book a couple hundred times. I'm doing the same with Linux. I have a 1800 page book on Linux that I've been reading for the past year. I've asked myself over a dozen times "What the hell did I get myself into?" I'll be asking that again when I get deeper into BSD.

In the meantime, I have some reading to catch up on in the freeBSD handbook. Is there a freeBSD dictionary?

 

[franky44]

Who's new to FreeBSD? Did you migrate from another OS and what was your reason?

I just installed it a few days ago. I have freeBSD on my desktop, but I still use Linux Q4OS on my laptop.

 

[SirDice]

Is there a freeBSD dictionary?

There's a glossary at the end of the handbook, it has explanations of commonly used acronyms and some specific FreeBSD ones. Anything in particular you're looking for?