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

windows user ,always wanted to try freebsd build a desktop with kde4 for office work all work fine so well.
 
In October 2017 I started to use FreeBSD on my notebook, made the full turn by also installing it on my daily used desktop in the beginning of 2018. I only use it at home.

Migrated from Linux Fedora 27, because the i386 version was said to be phased out as with a lot of other Linux distro's, but my 2010 Asus Eee netbook still works and I want to keep it -- don't waste a working computer.

I made the complete switch when I discovered the beauty of FreeBSD: well documented, only install what you need, and friendly helpful people over here.

-- This month is my 3rd anniversary with FreeBSD and I'm ever growing enthousiastic about 'our' OS. It Just Works, Robust, never had any issues.
 
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not new. started with linux/bsd from 1996 and have been switching between the two (redhat/debian and openbsd/freebsd) for some time now mainly due to linux being always updated faster than the bsd's. now everything seems to have come to an even playing field. also, i like the ports collection (but i think now there are other ways to install packages aside from the source and ports collection?) and how things are maintained/updated in FreeBSD.
 
I've been using Linux on the desktop since 1999. I was bored with Microsoft Windows and frustrated with the antivirus because it complained constantly that the program that I was developing had segfaulted. I formatted everything and installed RedHat 5.2. I moved on to Mandrake and tested other distros like Corel, Slack, SUSE, Debian, and Caldera before eventually settling on Gentoo.

In 2005, I switched to Mac OS X on the PowerBook G4 with 2GB RAM, FW800, DVI, and an amazing keyboard. Apple was truly ahead of the competition. I eventually upgraded to the Macbook Pro, but was never as impressed like I was with the PBG4. Since Apple's recent style of innovation is to remove functionality, I jumped ship in 2016 and came back to Linux, but this time on Debian testing on a ThinkPad P50. It's great to be back, but now I'm looking for something more fun and interesting.

I've been keeping an eye on FreeBSD for many years now, for desktop use, checking in every few years. I used to manage FreeBSD servers for an Ohio-based hosting company in the early 2000's so I was already familiar with the OS. Now that KDE Plasma 5 is here in addition to ZFS, it's a no brainer. I'm currently dual booting Debian buster and FreeBSD 12.0-BETA2 while working on my plan to move entirely to 12.0-RELEASE.
 
Or we can use your idea, if easier.
This is indeed easier. I have no idea where the old thread went, I'm afraid it got deleted quite rigorously. Changed the title a bit, thread is now sticky too.

So, thanks to ikbendeman for starting it. I now present the "Introduce yourself" thread 2.0. Posting an introduction is not mandatory but it's definitely appreciated.
 
I've been using Linux on the desktop since 2011,got introduced by the FOSS club at university. Worked as system admin for more than 3 years with DB2 and Oracle databases on LUW. Took a break from full-time employment and did my master for 2 years. Meantime the sysadmin world changed and few months ago started working full-time again as DevOps Engineer. In the project, i have got introduced to FreeBSD as we mostly use freebsd for all our development. This forum is helping me daily. I am quite fresh and excited to learn more.
 
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I'm a migrant from systemd land (CentOS, Debian) and crossing the border to FreeBSD land. Please don't shoot!

"Absolute FreeBSD" book, 3rd edition is underway for winter reading.
 
One remark to those posting here (and elsewhere on the forum) - we are an international community.
Example: Me stating that I have an education from TUBS will not tell you much, you may even think I have a degree in totally useless bull ahem 'droppings'.

But it is in fact one of the oldest and finest technical universities here. So please be a bit more verbose because we do not share the same background.
 
Good idea to resurrect?
No! I thought it would be interesting to see why people started using FreeBSD but introduction threads are useless clutter filled with "I'm so happy" and "Welcome!!!!" commentary that it makes it pointless. I was thrilled when the other one went away but, as Dutch told me once, it helps keep such clutter out of the other threads.
 
I am Linux User since 2003. Starting with SuSE I moved to Kubuntu in 2007 and went to Arch in 2012. Last year I started to look around for something new, as I want some "fresh food for my brain" and eventually get rid of systemd.
Now I'm playing around with 11.2 on a virtual box and a workstation. It surely will take some time until I am familiar with the system but it is rewarding to get through the learning
curve.

Best regards
Stephan
 
Been a Linux user for nearly 20 years. I did have a small FreeBSD stint in there for about 6 months and still no clear understanding of why I left and went back to Linux. I have certainly used every major distro on distrowatch, plus too many other small ones to list. Since Linux was my first foray into into open source and the freedom it represents (from other major OS vendors), I loved it and embraced it wholeheartedly. As of late, the Linux camp seems fragmented, plus a few other things have happened in the past few years which have soured my Linux experience, namely the perception, on my part I am sure, that Linux has gotten overly complex and way too much like Windows.

I truly appreciate that FreeBSD is a complete OS, built by a team of folks, and not a collection of separate projects cobbled together. Not to disparage Linux, but FreeBSD seems cleaner, smoother, hard for me to describe. Anyway, I gave FreeBSD a go again a couple of weekends ago, and got everything working perfectly as my sole desktop OS. One issue remains but after extended discussions here and much Internet research, I believe to only be solvable by new/different hardware.

I will not go back to Linux. I don't need to: every piece of peripheral hardware I have works, and I specifically buy hardware that is Linux and Unix friendly. I don't use Windows at all at home any more because I simply chose not to. I have zero dependencies on it.

All I know is it feels very good to have FreeBSD as my desktop OS, and to be learning how it works, fixing or adjusting things on my own (or from help here), and simply enjoying using my computer.

Doesn't get any better than that!
 
FreeBSD for me is well structured, it separates applications from the system (/usr/local) and even allows more separation of different services (jails). pkg and ports are a very easy to use and allow flexibility. I'm now looking into things like synth and using a basejail to simplify my recurring tasks. I also appreciate the philosophy of having one tool do one thing well.

Before I was using debian, but switched when systemd was introduced. I'm using FreeBSD for two home servers mostly for file storage.
 
Started on IT back on the 80's, when PC wasn't around. Got my hands on my first one (see my avatar) when was a senior in HS. Programmed in z-80 assemble, moved to fortran on main frames, than Cobol 74, back on PCs on dBase, Clipper, Cobol 80. Implemented a 100 dial-up lines ISP on a 64K link with my backbone, running slackware (22 floppies install I think).
Today just a PIT user of FreeBSD, trying to make things work and disturbing the forum a lot.
Out of IT for 30 years now, so lots to catch up @ home just for pleasure ;)
 
Happy Halloween, folks!

I'm from Prague, but originally was made in Ukraine. Got MSc in Astronomy from the Centre for Astrophysics and Supercomputing, Swinburne University of Technology. Now working as a founder and the CTO of a small satellite telecommunications company. We expand the frontiers of the Internet to very remote areas and help people connect around the world.

I've started on ZX Spectrum, but my Unix life began with Linux 0.99. Got hooked on FreeBSD since 9.0 due to various reasons. Mostly, I really liked the coherence of the system, traditionalism, documentation, the file system hierarchy and the Beastie. FreeBSD has everything I am looking for in a Unix OS for servers. I try to deploy FreeBSD everywhere I can in my company, mostly for serving files and web, and for monitoring purposes, and we've used it to optimize satellite traffic, however, some of our admins also like to deploy Linux boxes, which is perfectly fine with me.

The biggest usage of FreeBSD comes with that we are shipping small devices to all the remote sites connected via satellite, through which we can diagnose network problems, do M&C stuff, setup VPNs, shape traffic, and so on. We have hundreds of small x86 headless FreeBSD boxes deployed in very remote places in the world - from Amazonian rainforests and tepui mountains to deserts like Sahara. We're planning next installation beyond the Arctic circle next year.

I switched from MacOS to FreeBSD on my main laptop this fall when I've finally made it to look and feel like a Mac. More on this can be found on my personal page. I am proud of starting my day with a cup of coffee and the Beastie. I miss some of the applications but overall, enjoy many other benefits, such as the flexibility to choose my own hardware, and the fact that I know what exactly is going on inside my laptop. Some of the free software replacements I found much better than commercial paid ones.

In the spare time I enjoy listening to music of all sorts from dub and experimental techno to Beethoven sonatas, a little bit of DJing, and reading on Eastern philosophies and whatnot.
 
blackhaz Not that I'd necessarily endorse switching back, and am personally much more comfortable with FreeBSD, did you ever try using pkgsrc on your OSX? I had fairly good results with it, but it's been along time since I've had an apple machine to play with... which is mostly what I feel like that OS is for ;)
 
badbanana If you have linuxulator enabled, you can use linux binary installation programs; it's also possible to install using .deb, .rpm, etc., as well. There are tools in the ports tree to make this easier if you don't want to do all the work manually, I believe. Why you would want to, outside of special applications for enterprise or something, I'm not certain but that's why the system lets you customize.
 
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