Show Your FreeBSD Workstation (Specs + Screenshot)

Isoux

Isoux

Hi everyone,

I thought it would be interesting to have a dedicated thread where we can share actual FreeBSD workstations — not just hardware lists, but real systems that people actively use, along with a screenshot of the running environment.

Here is my current setup (screenshot attached):
FreeBSD 14.2-RELEASE (in the middle of upgrading to 14.3-RELEASE, as you can see in the terminal),
Intel Xeon E5-2697 v2 x24, 16 GB RAM, ATI RV515 graphics, and roughly 1 TB of disk space.

Feel free to post your workstation specs, desktop environment, terminal setup, storage layout, and a screenshot if possible. It might be helpful for new and experienced users alike to see what FreeBSD looks like in daily use.

Looking forward to seeing your systems!

Screenshot at 2025-11-19 21-42-18.png
 
CodeBlock

Thread 'FreeBSD Screen Shots'

Going to try to start a trend here ;), if this belongs in another subforum (like window managers), mods feel free to move it :).

I'm a member of the ArchLinux forums (used Arch before coming to FreeBSD) and monthly they have a screenshots thread which is neat because it gives everyone a chance to see some new window managers, configs, styles, themes, etc.

Basically what they do is post a screenshot (thumbnail usually linked to a bigger image) of their desktop, and usually talk about the config a bit. Some of them are quite interesting :).

So instead of our 17 or so window-manager...
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MSI mainboard, AMD Ryzen 9 5900X 12-Core Processor 3.7/4.8GHz, 64G RAM, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050
14.3-RELEASE-p5
14.3-RELEASE-p5
14.3-RELEASE-p5
2x 256G NVME as ZFS mirror for /
2x 256G SSD as ZFS mirror for /home
2x 1T SSD as ZFS mirror for miscellaneous

my workstation (scroll down)
Screenshot of my WM (fvwm2)

Plus:
My little server (NAS mostly)
ASUS board, AMD Phenom II X4 980 3.7GHz, 16G RAM, some passive cooled GPU to get a terminal in case
13.5-RELEASE
13.5-RELEASE
13.5-RELEASE-p1
9 HDDs providing 12.37T in mirrors, and raidz2
NFS, Samba, for backups, porn collection, and SVN-server

a Laptop (ASUS TUF505)
upgraded to 32 GB RAM,
WLAN card exchanged for an Intel (the former didn't work with FreeBSD)
1x 512GB NVME, 1x 1T SSD
synchronized with my workstation's home

and dust collectors:
three HP EliteDesk, one with FreeBSD 13.? for brute force experiments, one still may have some ancient ubuntu on it (not aware if there is still RAM in that thing), my fossil Commodore C64, (Amigas gone), and three RaspPis in shoe boxes.
 
I don't necessarily agree, after more than 40 years dealing with computers and about 30 in the industry I found that having a system with almost everything preconfigured for you is a nice touch.

That's why I use FreeBSD and KDE.

Code: 
pkg install kde sddm xorg drm-61-kmod
sysrc kld_list="i915kms"
sysrc sddm_enable="YES"
reboot

Done. Nothing more is needed. No fiddling with text files, all the apps are already there. Being in my late fifties I now appreciate those things.
 
Workstation running FreeBSD: I have one laptop HP Zbook 15 G3 and one desktop HP Z600. The desktop one is a dual quadcore Xeon X5570. Two screens wired on an Nvidia Quadro K2000. The Z600 was used for CAD/CAE, but I changed software (FreeCAD -> Alibre + Mecway) and I had to switch to another Z620 with Windows 10. The Zbook is used right now as a serial terminal via USB for my embedded hardware, a bit overkill, isn't it?

Desktop manager ? See by yourself:
2025-11-20-201933_2720x1024_scrot.png
 
doul said:
So I'm not the only one who puts a light behind the screens?
Click to expand...
Nope.😁
(That's why I control closely all my pix before I post them. Some have really sharp eyes and look very closely :cool:)
Oh! I better cleaned those ancient spiderstrings before I took the pic 😂 (I look so seldom behind the monitor.)
Another pic from my weird engineering forge *cough*:
backlight.jpg


First time I saw something like that was on an old TV-set from the late 70s (tube) my grandparents had, and was puzzled:
A light bulb mounted into the back of the TV? 🤪
Yes. To light up the wall behind it.

Later I learned: Too much contrast ain't good for the eyes. That's why many also adjust their DE/WM/xterm/editor... colorsettings: Permanentely black text ond white background ain't really that good. It tires your eyes quicker.
(I also attached a pinkish paper to the wall, and my WM's wallpaper is made of warm, orange colors. As a highly sensitive person I can consciously feel the effects colors can have on the temper.)

So, a pair of bi-pin sockets (G4, GU4, G23,... need to see what your do-it-yourself store offers; lamp and socket must fit, of course. WARNING! As long as you are not a certified electrician, just deal with max 12 V! Don't do such a stunt with 120...240V⚡! [Mine is 12 V]), some wire, and an old wall cube (output voltage must fit the lamp(s) [12 V] {see my post}), and some tinkering.

Of course there are infinite other ways to get a light behind the monitor and light the wall.
 
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