Solved Ports - wow!

K

KenGordon

Gee...

I just finished installing the ports on my new installation of FreeBSD 12.0. It seemed to take forever.

I am having difficulty understanding just how many there are.
Amazing!!!

I can hardly wait to get my system completely set up and operational. I would love to be able to totally dump WinDOZE, but at this point, cannot see how I am going to be able to do that.

We'll see.

Ken Gordon
 
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Remember that FreeBSD also provides packages.
Rather than installing; i.e firefox via a port, a simple:

pkg install firefox

Will download the package and its dependencies and install it. Much faster than compiling *everything* from scratch.
(At first, perhaps use packages *or* ports rather than mixing them. Once you understand what is and isn't possible, then you can mix them a little more or use separate installation directories).

As for dumping Windows... what else do you use? Perhaps using VirtualBox (to virtualize Windows for the remaining software you use) is enough?
 
I use a lot of what I would term "technical" software: i.e. MMANAGAL antenna modelling software, an old version of GenericCADD, electronic schematic drawing software, some amateur radio software like FLDigi, AirMail (for digital radio work) etc.
Some of this can be at least emulated for Unix, but not all of it either.

FLDigi has a version which operates in Linux, and thus I would think also in FreeBSD, but some of the drivers for the external hardware does not, like drivers for my SCS PTC-II for instance.

BTW, and FYI, I have been an amateur radio operator since 1956. My call is W7EKB. Don't bother to look at my QRZ.com page: it is very out of date, except for the photo of the fat old operator there. You MAY be interested in visiting my website, www.w7ekb.com.

I really like Unix, BTW, although I was never very good at it. I first used FreeBSD to operate an e-mail and web server for my department at the University of Idaho until Computer Services finally took that job on. My first experience with Linux was with ver. 0.99. FreeBSD was faster and more secure. I also ran an HP-UX box for years.

Now, I would like to find a "pkg" list for FreeBSD somewhere...

Ken Gordon
 
Generic CAD we have 2 ports I use.
For basic 2D drawing I recommend cad/librecad
For 3D CAD drawing cad/freecad.
For schematics checkout cad/kicad
graphics/blender is also a good 3D drawing software. Very complex but capable.

Do notice that FreeBSD ports are segregated by categories.
For searching our vast selection I feel that freshports.org is well suited.
The basic search box criteria on the right is useful but ultimately the advanced search is the best.
Advanced searching using "long description" from the drop-down is what I use alot.

You can also use pkg search from the command line to search for software.
 
When you visit the freshports page for a port sometimes it can be outdated.
fl_moxgen for example shows a broken link for the program details.
A simple web search shows it is still alive hosted at another site.
sourceforge.net

KB1OIQ - Fl_MoxGen

Download KB1OIQ - Fl_MoxGen for free. Compute Moxon Rectangle antenna dimensions. Fl_MoxGen is a program which will compute the dimensions of a Moxon Rectangle antenna when given the desired frequency and diameter of the construction material (typically wire). It also generates PDF and xnec2c...
sourceforge.net sourceforge.net

Because DX'ers are a dying breed you will see some outdated links. The software still works but broken links for setup information.
 
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