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

My decision to migrate our business to FreeBSD was triggered by Windows10. For the first time, Windows 10 made me feel like I do not own my computer, this was the breaking point. With windows XP all the way to Windows 7, and to a certain extent Windows 8, I felt like Stallman & Cie were kind of excessive ideologues with their free software talk.

I didn't feel anything like oppressed, limited or controlled when using Windows. This all changed with Windows 10 when I found myself constantly fighting against my computer. What I found the most shocking is the harassment to install system updates. Every dark pattern trick ever invented is used. I am the kind of person who constantly leaves my computer powered on to avoid wasting time opening development environments, documents, and other applications and projects I am currently working on every morning. I also tend to keep things open to remember to come back to them a few days later. I could go on for months without rebooting.

However, with windows10, if you haven't installed an update for a few days, try stopping using your computer for 30 minutes or - better - going to bed, and when you come back you will have the good surprise of finding that your computer has rebooted itself to install updates (that are sometimes followed by intensive I/O operations slowing your computer down for hours after the update - without you knowing exactly what's taking place in the background).

If it wasn't enough, random applications such as Candy Crush Saga are now added with every update. Advertisements are now included in the start menu apparently with plans to put ads in the file explorer too. And a bunch of creepy features such as so-called "cognitive services" offering to record and analyze each of your keystrokes give me the uncomfortable feeling that everything I do on my computer is being watched by someone and that nothing is truly private. To the point that I have become worried of writing certain documents on Windows 10. If a backdoor exists, the government can subpoena its way through it and hackers may gain access to it too. Moreover, it is not clear what kind of metadata/data about my system Microsoft now stores in the cloud.

There are many other issues, some of them could apparently be mitigated by upgrading to the "Professional" version of Windows 10 which supposedly provides finer-grained configuration options. But there is a breach of trust at this point, the whole foundation on which this OS is built no longer feels right to me. Moreover the direction they are heading to is pretty obvious.

Having seen how Windows 10 got in the way of my productivity, I realized how much it can kill the productivity of employees. Employees would be better served by workstations configured from the bottom up to allow them to get their job done without friction.

So I decided to find an open-source OS that would be stable and no-nonsense. I rapidly came across FreeBSD and after a few months of studying the Handbook, something else happened. For the first time, I realized how comfortable it feels to know the ins and outs of your system and to have a comprehensive documentation for every system utility. This does not exist in the Windows world and I suddenly realized how much time is wasted guessing, and looking up stuff on Google, only to find a list of tricks and workarounds working or not working without clear reasons. And this is without even mentioning artificial system limitations introduced by Microsoft.

I am now irritated every time I have to use a Windows system. And to add to this irony, even Linux does not fit the bill for me at this point. I find it too inconsistent, bloated and poorly documented. I want to leave this type of ecosystem behind. I want a system that I can configure exactly the way I need, and I want to know that what works today will continue to work tomorrow. I want to know that investing time to learn something today is time well-invested because the paradigm will remain stable for the next 10, 20 or 30 years rather than being disrupted from one update to the other. And I want to know that my time and our employees time will not be wasted because someone decided to fix something that wasn't broken.

My only regret with FreeBSD is the major upgrade process which introduces more friction than I had hoped. In particular with regard to the need to rebuild every package which requires users to backup and manually restore every customized configuration file after the upgrade (if I understand correctly). If it was possible to at least keep the configuration files of packages intact when they are rebuilt/re-installed it would be perfect. However, upgrading is - at it seems to stand - a high-risk and high-friction operation (what about if you forget to restore a customized configuration file from a third-party software you use). This may be good to encourage automating configuration deployment, however it makes the burden of system maintenance quite high for situations where such extensive automation adds more complexity and overhead than it solves problems (single server, focusing on going to market fast and iterating fast and grow the farm progressively as demand increases etc...).

However apart from that I feel more than happy to migrate both our servers and workstations to FreeBSD. I want a single operating system to be used throughout the company so that we get to know our system in depth. I also find it preferable that software be developed and tested on the platform on which it will run. For the rest, FreeBSD makes it inspiring to configure and deploy corporate workstations. For example, jails can be used to sandbox email clients to safeguard them in front of dangerous attachments. And the same is true for web browsers. And these are just a few examples, with many regards FreeBSD opens up many opportunities. And the fact that it runs on so many platforms make this vision of FreeBSD everywhere even more interesting from servers to workstations all the way to embedded devices sold to consumers.
 
Greetings to all.

I started with MS-DOS on those large disks, 51/4, and eventually Windows. The first version I used was before Windows 95 came out. Then I upgraded to 95 and eventually Windows ME. I refused to upgrade to XP because the use of software activation triggered an alarm: Microsoft's growing control over it's customer's OS. I eventually read about Linux and switched to it while working hard to break a dependency on Microsoft Windows. That meant giving up programs like Adobe Premier and a video capture card designed to only work on Windows. To me it was worth it and I don't miss any Windows dependent software or hardware.

I remember trying to install FreeBSD in the past when it had a confusing menu system. I believe it even gave a option of kde as a desktop during install. At other times, I got a black screen and my system froze during boot. Completely different from the ease of installation that I achieve now. Eventually, I believe with the 10.x series, FreeBSD recognized my Radeon video card and I have been experimenting with it every since. I'm currently using version 12.0 as my operating system of choice and kde5 as my desktop.

Today's world seems light years away from the days when I originally wrote computer programs on punched cards as a student. Later education involved terminals and no punched cards but I don't believe I'd yet heard of FreeBSD or open source software. The fact that FreeBSD isn't configured forces me to learn more and feeds my curiosity. I particularly enjoy learning about what goes on under the hood, behind the GUI. I'll continue to learn from my own experimentation and involvement in this forum.
 
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I refused to upgrade to XP because the use of software activation triggered an alarm: Microsoft's growing control over it's customer's OS.

Exactly this! Once a company can get you tied to their DRM servers through the Internet, they can start doing some really horrible things to you. This is also where I called it quits on Microsoft software. It is a shame because I honestly actually enjoyed their software up until this point.
 
Just a casual user here (for now) but IT runs in the family. I left Windows the first time because I was using an extremely crappy Celeron 500Mhz machine with 256MB ram and it blue screened a lot when I tried to install Windows XP. So I tried Ubuntu for a bit but couldn't figure out how to get my printer working at the time. So I went back to Windows for about 6 months until I tried again with Kubuntu which I enjoyed until I switched to Mandriva which I used for a few years. Went back to Windows for a couple of years because I had some e-drums and the programs I was using (Superior Drummer) only worked in Windows plus I wanted to mess around with some games even though I'm not a gamer.
Fast forward to 2012 and I bought a laptop that had Peppermint Linux on it. That got me back into Linux but I installed Linux Mint (because it was the most popular on DistroWatch) then Crunchbang which was popular at that time. I'm not a Debian or Debian based fan at all and so after numerous headaches with those a forum member suggested Arch Linux which I stayed away from initially thinking it was way too hard. I gave it a shot and I enjoyed it a lot, especially how fast Pacman was compared with apt. So I used Arch for 6 years, right from when systemd was being introduced there (which I had no problem with at the time). Dual-booted with Windows for games but stuck with it until about a month ago when I decided to resurrect this ten year old machine from the computer graveyard in my basement that I'm using now. I found out about FreeBSD on DistroWatch actually because it's listed as the most popular version there.
I tried a BSD before (can't remember) but immediately got rid of it due to not taking the time to learn how to install and configure it. This time I did and I found it WAYYYY easier than Arch Linux. The main reason, however, why I switched is because, believe it or not, FreeBSD uses OSS natively and OSS is a deal-breaker for me. It's a hack job to use it on Linux and I had a hard time getting it to run "bit perfectly". FreeBSD has a built in bitperfect mode! After using FreeBSD until now I find it is way easier, more organized, intuitive and well-designed than any of the Linuxes I tried. The package system is so easy to use. Not only this but my learning stagnated with Linux. Now I'm forced to learn the ins and outs of each command I use and I enjoy it. Feels like back in the day when all I had was DOS. So now I am looking forward to doing more learning (feels like starting over) and teaching myself to do more advanced things and maybe get into a little programming myself.
The documentation and community of FreeBSD sets it apart from every other OS I've used. I have been able to find solutions to every problem I had right here on this forum and was able to ask questions without fearing offending forum members or getting my posts deleted (like ARSE Linux forums :sssh:). I am also amazed by the experience level of FreeBSD users. Being around so many top flight computer geniuses and programmers is very inspiring. I am a full convert now and I will never go back to Linux or Windows. The moral of the story, never shy away from something because it's too hard. Even if you fail, when you retry your approach will be more refined every time.
 
I am not new to FreeBSD but when I first started using it, I was introduced by a fellow admin on a irc network I am a founding member off, what kept me using it was the ports system, the fact you can choose the options for the packages you compile and mix and match dependencies I think no other unix OS comes close to except gentoo. Although having used FreeBSD for so long I have seen how the ports tree has regressed as well :(.

Now on top of ports, its also ZFS.
 
Hello, everyone,
I installed FreeBSD for the first time, but wanted to do this a long time ago. Before that, I used Linux (Arch Linux), but I wanted something "smaller and cleaner." I am a biologist working with bioinformatics, but my everyday hobby is making software in C. Currently making a painting application and a 2D game.

- Felipe
 
Hi, I'm newbie on this forum... i was linux user, i was curious to discover unix and I installed netbsd, after configurations and etc. I decided to try freebsd and I'm happy with that, in the netbsd system example, when the lock screen was operated, after washing, the mouse disappeared, in the freebsd work perfectly and the installation wiriless work perfectly ... in the netbsd not work, don't scan wireless.

There are other reasons why I chose to put freebsd.

Freebsd is very different to netbsd for example the folder /dev have a different files and etc.
 
Hey, I'm new to *BSD and really curious. I came from linux too, I was gentoo user for many years. I tried FreeBSD and OpenBSD; I really like the security features of OpenBSD, but I like the performance and the gentoo-like powerfull port-tree of FreeBSD, so I decided to go with FreeBSD and use OpenBSD on a second partition. I mostly do infosec and OS development (also worked a bit on linux kernel, it was a mess..) and I want to get started with kernel / base system development on FreeBSD :)
 
Welcome aboard. But I must nitpick a bit here. Where do you think GenToo got the idea with the portage tree from?
 
Welcome aboard. But I must nitpick a bit here. Where do you think GenToo got the idea with the portage tree from?

Portage was inspired by the port-tree of FreeBSD, I know.^^ That's why I use FreeBSD instead of OpenBSD. I want to configure software features.
 
Scientist, Maths.

Requirements of needed OS: still today support of X11 for easily portable graphical plots of mathematical analysis.

Why FreeBSD and *BSD(s): Security and stability of operating system, last OS, last stand of Unix, clean base of FreeBSD.

Unix still remains in FreeBSD: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unix
HP 9000 735 running HP-UX with the Common Desktop Environment (CDE), used for modelling and simulations.
220px-HP-HP9000-735-99-Workstation_02.jpg


FreeBSD is likely the best modern operating system ever.
 
Hey, I have one of those in my basement. When I find time I'll put it up as a firewall and see what those script kiddies will do with it.
 
Hey, I have one of those in my basement. When I find time I'll put it up as a firewall and see what those script kiddies will do with it.

Heh, thats cool. It would actually be very interesting to see if anyone does break in. I don't imagine security of such an old OS will be perfect but since it is old and archaic, I doubt there are many "click-and-play" skiddy tools that will support it. You might actually be safe!

Since I personally believe there is more to computing than accessing the internet, I would use it as my dedicated offline "Doom" gaming rig.

(... No, there isn't more to computing than Doom!)
 
Heh, thats cool. It would actually be very interesting to see if anyone does break in. I don't imagine security of such an old OS will be perfect but since it is old and archaic, I doubt there are many "click-and-play" skiddy tools that will support it. You might actually be safe!

Since I personally believe there is more to computing than accessing the internet, I would use it as my dedicated offline "Doom" gaming rig.

(... No, there isn't more to computing than Doom!)

Good luck to break in...
 
The chances of me doing anything with it is a lot smaller than the thing ending up in a landfill sometime. So should you find yourself around here some time some strange stranger might meet you someplace to give you this thing. ;)
 
I first installed Linuxmint 2 years ago and immediately switched to ArchLinux (yes, i had a LOT of time for myself) that I still use and really enjoy.

I had fun with Openbsd on old hardware.

Freebsd has very good support for Nvidia, so here I am. I hope it could be my only OS.

Wait...no, I need W$ for COD, Arma and Xplane, et merde!!

Also, I am trying to learn C, at least only to do something with my brain. It is really really fun, I strongly recommend you give it try, if I may.
 
Network Engineer, using Debian(LXQt) and macOS, but since the shell of Juniper JUNOS is FreeBSD (it is right?) I want to become comfortable with FreeBSD commands and tools.
 
but since the shell of Juniper JUNOS is FreeBSD (it is right?)
JunOS was built on top of a barebones FreeBSD 4.11 (just search for JunOS "Olive"). Although I imagine there's not much left of the original FreeBSD code nowadays, it does still have the "look and feel" of FreeBSD.
 
I've been using Linux for 20-years (ish) for materials physics computations. I've used Mandrake and RedHat but in the end settled on Debian which I really like. I started using FreeBSD on the side some years ago - mostly as a 0th-oder check that the software we develop is platform independent. The BSD side of me is growing though :).
 
Who's new to FreeBSD? Did you migrate from another OS and what was your reason?

Happy New Year!

I am a frequent user of this forum, but just recently registered. I know a little about BSD and I have been using FreeBSD since 2000 when I was in college. Prior to FreeBSD I was a pretty big fan of Slackware Linux after using RedHat Linux for sometime. Well, I should admit -- back in the mid-90s I was a bit promiscuous with Linux distros! About every other week or month I was trying whatever Linux distro I could get my hands on. But ended up sticking with FreeBSD for personal use once once I started college. My Unix professor was a big fan of FreeBSD and I too become one after taking a few of his classes.

I obtained my BSDA Cert from the BSD Certification Group back in 2008 and planned to take the BSDP to support the certification group, but I must have gotten side-tracked! :p

I used to ramble about my Unix/BSD adventures and other things on my blog, http://wellrounded.wordpress.com, but I also got side-tracked! After starting a family there was a cataclysmic shift in my focus! I took for granted all the free time I once had, staring at my monitor watching text after text fly across the screen and staying up all night into the wee hours of the morning. I really miss those days. But, I am looking forward to changing that and being more active when possible! :)

Hopefully this won't be my last post!


Cheers!
-Samuel
 
Hello and Happy New Year!

I just recently made FreeBSD my main and only personal operating system. I've been using Linux since about 1999 and while it was great for a bit, the code just kept getting thrown around by too many entities for my comfort.

I do security work and what initially drew me to FreeBSD was its jails feature. I started using it and it grew on me so much that it's all I use now(at home). It is highly configurable and easy to use at the same time. I'm in love!

See you all on the forums :)
 
Hi there!

I'm exploring FreeBSD as a primarily GNU/Linux user since 2002. I haven't had any negative experiences with the Linux-based distros or communities, but I've always wanted to try FreeBSD and figured it would make a great New Year's resolution to do so. Right now I'm running FreeBSD on a ThinkPad and a home server, but I think I will convert more of my machines over if the fun continues. I'm really enjoying ports, the great documentation, and the fact that FreeBSD is an entire operating system and with it the associated polish.

I look forward to interacting with all of you!
 
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