Old raspberry pi ( 2011.12 ) modell B

M

Michael_l

Hi all!

I have an old raspberry pi modell B ( 2011.12 ) and wanted to see if I can install FreeBSD on it with a very lightweight GUI on it. I'm thinking of testing ICEwm. Anyone that has had any success withg that setup? Will it work?

I'm not the best with FreeBSD but I manage to change the language at login and setup the wifi dongle successfully. Also install through the ports. Feeling quite proud actually. Mostly thanks to excellent information found in this forum and also the handbook.

When I went on to try to install a couple of things through pkg then alot of what I needed could not be found. Thing like "icewm", "slim", "xorg" so all of this needed to be installed through ports instead. Perefctly fine by me but it takes alot more time of course.

I've scouted the internet for information and found out that this old unit would work with FreeBSD version 13. So thats what I went with.

So will it work? Anybody got any experience?

I know this will not be the fastest setup (OBVIOIUSLY!). Its just a fun project to be able to learn more about this OS.
 
Ohh forgot to ask!

To update the repository I write:
pkg update -f

but if the actual repository "source" needs to be updated - how do I do that? It seems strange that packages like "xorg" etc. would not be a part of a repository? Or is this done automatically or is there a commandline to have the OS "search" for a newer one?
 
Hi,

Your device RPI1 if I am not mistaken is ARMV6 which falls in support Tier 2 for 13-RELEASE and Tier 3 for 14-RELEASE.
Basically FreeBSD support is divided in 3 categories from fully supported to less supported respectively Tier 1, 2 and 3.
As I understand this, a full support for binary package, via pkg, should be expected only for support Tier1, therefore Tier 2 and 3 aren't as good as Tier1.

If you want to get more details you can read this:
docs.freebsd.org

Committer's Guide

Introductory information for FreeBSD committers
docs.freebsd.org docs.freebsd.org

Also take note that 13.5-RELEASE will be End Of Life soon, 30 April 2026.
www.freebsd.org

FreeBSD Security Information

FreeBSD is an operating system used to power modern servers, desktops, and embedded platforms.
www.freebsd.org www.freebsd.org

TBH if you want to run BSD on old devices then NetBSD is probably your best bet, because most ARCH are supported, RPI1 included. Lot of binary packages are available via pkgsrc, cannot tell for sure you'll find all you seek though but it's pretty decent.

I am not a pro, so may be wait for someone who has a different opinion on all of this.
 
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