The state of FreeBSD desktop

What do you think about Desktop on FreeBSD?

  • 1. I use it, it works perfectly

    Votes: 38 55.9%

  • 2. I use it, but I suffer from missing software

    Votes: 9 13.2%

  • 3. I use it, but I suffer from missing drivers

    Votes: 11 16.2%

  • 4. I use it, but still there are some bugs

    Votes: 15 22.1%

  • 5. I use it, but have problems with its configuration

    Votes: 5 7.4%

  • 6. I can't use it, I don't know how to install/configure it

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • 7. I can't use it because of too many bugs

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • 8. I can't use it because of missing drivers

    Votes: 4 5.9%

  • 9. I can't use it because of missing software

    Votes: 4 5.9%

  • 10. I don't have any need for that, my computer sits *under* the desk

    Votes: 8 11.8%
  • Total voters
    68
I teach people to use it:

Every_Tear_Disappears.jpg


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Reactions: mer
The only problem in my case is lack of proper Bluetooth support. I have 2 bluetooth headphones. The first which I almost never use is a Bluetooth 4.0 and the second one which I want to connect with my FreeBSD desktop is Bluetooth 5.0

After a lot of effort and typing a lot of commands I was finally able to connect the 4.0 headset but unfortunately Bluetooth 5.0 is not supported at all.
 
To be honest, the FreeBSD "desktop" sucks for me. :'‑(

I use a Raspberry Pi 400 and i don't have sound. No hardware accelerated graphics. No WiFi.

Fortunately, i can use L*inux on which this all just works, just by changing the SD card.
 
eternal_noob said:
To be honest, the FreeBSD "desktop" sucks for me. :'‑(
Click to expand...
I am using FreeBSD on my desktop. At the moment I have no web cam installed but my plan is to buy one. I just searched about availability of video conferencing apps on FreeBSD and found none are available.

As I said I don't need video calling apps like zoom, skype, etc for now. But I don't think there's any alternative left for me but to move back to Linux once I need zoom, skype, etc.
 
jbodenmann said:
net-im/zoom, www/jitsi-meet, net-im/pidgin-skype, ...
Not to mention all the web-browser based solutions...
Click to expand...
Honestly I don't have much experience about video conferencing tools. I had used skype for a brief period like 10 years ago.
I almost never compile stuff. After reading your reply I searched for zoom and found this

Code: 
pkg search zoom
p5-Net-Z3950-ZOOM-1.30_3       Perl interface to the Z39.50 Object-Orientation Model (ZOOM)
xzoom-0.4                      Magnify, rotate, mirror the image on the X11 screen
zoom-1.1.5_3                   Z-Interpreter for X with full V6 support
zoom-video-conferencing-client-5.3.465578.0920_1 Zoom videoconferencing client (CAVEAT: Sound doesn't yet work)
If sound doesn't work its useless. I have zoom installed on my android phone but I never used their web interface. I know skype offers a web interface. If I am able to use both zoom and skype via Firefox then no issues at all.

The challenge now is to find a web cam which is atleast 720p and is compatible with both FreeBSD and Linux. I don't use Windows or Mac.
 
eternal_noob said:
To be honest, the FreeBSD "desktop" sucks for me. :'‑(

I use a Raspberry Pi 400 and i don't have sound. No hardware accelerated graphics. No WiFi.

Fortunately, i can use L*inux on which this all just works, just by changing the SD card.
Click to expand...
Same. I purchased a USB WiFi adapter which does work, but it feels very slow, presumably because the FreeBSD WiFi driver doesn't yet support some important speedup features in the wireless protocol.
 
Since the Raspberry Pi 400 has an Ethernet port, having no WiFi (except with additional hardware) is less of a problem.
The missing sound is the thing what disqualifies it for desktop use.
 
Thank you all for your participation. Now some explanations:
1. Poll can have maximum 10 questions, I couldn't add any more questions.
2. The "what" of this poll is community (statistical) view on FreeBSD Desktop, so more precise questions were impossible/not needed.
3. The (temporal) results:
27 out of 48 votes (56.25%) think it's perfect "as it is", so any change will be a change for worse.
There are 19 non-critical issues (39.6%) out of which the biggest problem are bugs 9 (18.75%).
2 votes (4.17%) have critical issues, that make FreeBSD Desktop unusable, but there are no critical bugs.
5 issues with missing software and 5 with missing drivers (each 10.42%).

Conclusion: FreeBSD Desktop works for 46 out of 48 cases (95.83%). If something needs to change, it's the way of handling bugs, it would make 75% of cases "solved". Of course, it is a small sample, but some trends can be already visible.
 
You might view some www.youtube.com/c/robonuggie channel videos about setting up FreeBSD desktop top with AWESOME, MATE, GNOME, KDE, XFCE4 desktop environments on the Pi 400 and Pi 3B+, also for FreeBSD x86_64 architecture.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ldov4l0n8dk
FreeBSD Desktop Part 1 or 4
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WuoMPP_178U
FreeBSD Desktop for Raspberry Pi 400 & 4B
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cx7_zvh-b6k
A Viable Alternative, FreeBSD 13, Not RPIOS on the Pi

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A Viable Alternative! - FreeBSD 13.0 not RPiOS on the PI ​

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m6kyOHsvrsg
FreeBSD 13.0 on a PI , Quick Look

Yes, getting HDMI sound or analog audio working on the Raspberry Pi 400, should be a priority.
I found on the Rapberry Pi 400, plugging in Logitcech H390 USB Headphones, just worked on FreeBSD 14.0 Current. There is NOT a driver for the USB dongle volume controls on this H390 Model and it does squeal cause the microphone is on. I am testing some config.txt file setups to activate the HDMI sound on the RPi 4B with 8 gigs of dram.
 
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