Thinking of moving to FreeBSD from Linux

[kuroneko]

So I've been thinking of switching to FreeBSD on my desktop which is currently dual booting Windows and Fedora Linux. I like FreeBSD and I have used it in the past and I find it easier to use and understand than Linux but I'm not sure if it would work with my setup and I wouldn't wanna format and go through the whole install only to find out it just wouldn't work. So mainly I would need it to work with Blender (which would need to be able to make use of my GPU) and Krita and working with Secure boot and my video card which is an Nvidia RTX 4060ti. Would this setup work or it wouldn't be possible? I tried secure boot from the install disk and that didn't work but if I could disable it then make it work to then re-enable it later then that wouldn't be an issue. On Fedora I also struggled with the Nvidia driver while using secure boot but I made it work in the end. Would it be a good idea to switch or would my configuration not work? Does anyone else have a similar configuration?

 

[NapoleonWils0n]

the nv-slgrun package works with the nvidia 535 driver to provide cuda support for nvidia
but it doesnt seem to work with the nvidia 550 driver

 

[SirDice]

The videocard will work fine with the x11/nvidia-driver. I'm not entirely sure Blender will be able to use it fully though. And I'd leave secure boot off, it's still quite finicky on FreeBSD.

 

[kuroneko]

The videocard will work fine with the x11/nvidia-driver. I'm not entirely sure Blender will be able to use it fully though. And I'd leave secure boot off, it's still quite finicky on FreeBSD.

Is there any advantages secure boot gives you really? Or is it really almost useless and just there to add another layer of difficulty installing other OS that are not approved?

 

[kuroneko]

the nv-slgrun package works with the nvidia 535 driver to provide cuda support for nvidia
but it doesnt seem to work with the nvidia 550 driver

That's interesting, have you tested it? Have you tried it in blender? I have watched some of your videos on YouTube btw.

 

[SirDice]

Is there any advantages secure boot gives you really?

It prevents certain types of malware from being able to infect the machine. I don't mess around on dodgy websites, download and run dodgy software or do anything considered remotely risky. So I'm fine with having it off.

 

[NapoleonWils0n]

That's interesting, have you tested it? Have you tried it in blender? I have watched some of your videos on YouTube btw.

Hi Mate, i have tried the nvidia 550 driver with obs studio, ffmpeg and davinci resolve in a jail
and nvenc doesnt work with the 550 driver

but it does work with the 535 nvidia driver

other users have tried blender with the 550 driver and it doesnt work with cuda
but the 535 driver works

general/other - cuda no longer works on blender or ffmpeg with nv-sglrun

Hi, error with ffmpeg: $ nv-sglrun ffmpeg -i GOLDENEYE_t00.mkv -vcodec hevc_nvenc -acodec copy test.mkv hevc_nvenc @ 0xbd0cdade400] dl_fn->cuda_dl->cuInit(0) failed -> CUDA_ERROR_OPERATING_SYSTEM: OS call failed or operation not supported on this OS [vost#0:0/hevc_nvenc @ 0xbd0cda35380] Error...

forums.freebsd.org

 

[kuroneko]

Hi Mate, i have tried the nvidia 550 driver with obs studio, ffmpeg and davinci resolve in a jail
and nvenc doesnt work with the 550 driver

but it does work with the 535 nvidia driver

other users have tried blender with the 550 driver and it doesnt work with cuda
but the 535 driver works

general/other - cuda no longer works on blender or ffmpeg with nv-sglrun

Hi, error with ffmpeg: $ nv-sglrun ffmpeg -i GOLDENEYE_t00.mkv -vcodec hevc_nvenc -acodec copy test.mkv hevc_nvenc @ 0xbd0cdade400] dl_fn->cuda_dl->cuInit(0) failed -> CUDA_ERROR_OPERATING_SYSTEM: OS call failed or operation not supported on this OS [vost#0:0/hevc_nvenc @ 0xbd0cda35380] Error...

forums.freebsd.org

So blender does work with 535? I guess that's good enough for me. I'll just have to leave secure boot off and if I have a working driver on blender then that's perfect since that's what I really need and other things I can figure out. Now let's hope the install will go well.

 

[NapoleonWils0n]

You can lock packages so they arent upgraded

eg lock the nvidia driver to the 535 package

Chapter 4. Installing Applications: Packages and Ports

FreeBSD provides two complementary technologies for installing third-party software: the FreeBSD Ports Collection, for installing from source, and packages, for installing from pre-built binaries

docs.freebsd.org

pkg-unlock(8)

man.freebsd.org

i made a video about install freebsd 14 on a dell xps 15

and how to set up obs studio with nvenvc
the fix in the video for the nv-slgrun script is no longer needed

freebsd dotfiles

GitHub - NapoleonWils0n/freebsd-dotfiles-xps: freebsd dotfiles dell xps 15 2019

freebsd dotfiles dell xps 15 2019. Contribute to NapoleonWils0n/freebsd-dotfiles-xps development by creating an account on GitHub.

github.com

freebsd root files

GitHub - NapoleonWils0n/freebsd-root-xps: freebsd root dotfiles for dell xps 15 2019

freebsd root dotfiles for dell xps 15 2019. Contribute to NapoleonWils0n/freebsd-root-xps development by creating an account on GitHub.

github.com

freebsd bin

GitHub - NapoleonWils0n/freebsd-bin: freebsd home bin directory

freebsd home bin directory. Contribute to NapoleonWils0n/freebsd-bin development by creating an account on GitHub.

github.com

notes on github

GitHub - NapoleonWils0n/cerberus: cerberus code library

cerberus code library. Contribute to NapoleonWils0n/cerberus development by creating an account on GitHub.

github.com

 

[kuroneko]

You can lock packages so they arent upgraded

eg lock the nvidia driver to the 535 package

Chapter 4. Installing Applications: Packages and Ports

FreeBSD provides two complementary technologies for installing third-party software: the FreeBSD Ports Collection, for installing from source, and packages, for installing from pre-built binaries

docs.freebsd.org

pkg-unlock(8)

man.freebsd.org

i made a video about install freebsd 14 on a dell xps 15

and how to set up obs studio with nvenvc
the fix in the video for the nv-slgrun script is no longer needed

freebsd dotfiles

GitHub - NapoleonWils0n/freebsd-dotfiles-xps: freebsd dotfiles dell xps 15 2019

freebsd dotfiles dell xps 15 2019. Contribute to NapoleonWils0n/freebsd-dotfiles-xps development by creating an account on GitHub.

github.com

freebsd root files

GitHub - NapoleonWils0n/freebsd-root-xps: freebsd root dotfiles for dell xps 15 2019

freebsd root dotfiles for dell xps 15 2019. Contribute to NapoleonWils0n/freebsd-root-xps development by creating an account on GitHub.

github.com

freebsd bin

GitHub - NapoleonWils0n/freebsd-bin: freebsd home bin directory

freebsd home bin directory. Contribute to NapoleonWils0n/freebsd-bin development by creating an account on GitHub.

github.com

notes on github

GitHub - NapoleonWils0n/cerberus: cerberus code library

cerberus code library. Contribute to NapoleonWils0n/cerberus development by creating an account on GitHub.

github.com

Yeah I watched the video about the dell XPS, thanks for all the information I’m in the install right now and hopefully everything is gonna work with no issues. I’ll report back once I’m done.

 

[NapoleonWils0n]

give me a shout if you get stuck or have any questions

 

[kuroneko]

give me a shout if you get stuck or have any questions

So I still tried out 550 and as expected they didn't work but I downloaded 535 and when I run make it says it's not supported on FreeBSD 14.x, is it supported on 14.0 and no longer supported on 14.1?

I downloaded the drivers from Nvidia's website also as I couldn't find 535 as a package, only 470 as older than 550

Update: I managed to get 535.183.01 from the site and it works but I still need cuda now

 

[NapoleonWils0n]

i was using the 535 nvidia driver on freebsd 14.0
on 14.1 there isnt an nvidia 535 package

the latest version is 550 and then 470

Yes Master ? pkg search nvidia
libva-nvidia-driver-0.0.12     NVDEC-based backend for VAAPI
linux-nvidia-libs-550.54.14    NVidia graphics libraries and programs (Linux version)
linux-nvidia-libs-304-304.137  NVidia graphics libraries and programs (Linux version)
linux-nvidia-libs-340-340.108  NVidia graphics libraries and programs (Linux version)
linux-nvidia-libs-390-390.154  NVidia graphics libraries and programs (Linux version)
linux-nvidia-libs-470-470.161.03 NVidia graphics libraries and programs (Linux version)
nvidia-driver-550.54.14        NVidia graphics card binary drivers for hardware OpenGL rendering
nvidia-driver-304-304.137_10   NVidia graphics card binary drivers for hardware OpenGL rendering
nvidia-driver-340-340.108_4    NVidia graphics card binary drivers for hardware OpenGL rendering
nvidia-driver-390-390.154_1    NVidia graphics card binary drivers for hardware OpenGL rendering
nvidia-driver-470-470.161.03_1 NVidia graphics card binary drivers for hardware OpenGL rendering
nvidia-drm-510-kmod-550.54.14_1 NVIDIA DRM Kernel Module
nvidia-drm-515-kmod-550.54.14_1 NVIDIA DRM Kernel Module
nvidia-drm-kmod-550.54.14      NVIDIA DRM Kernel Module
nvidia-hybrid-graphics-0.6     NVIDIA secondary GPU configuration - Optimus Technology support
nvidia-hybrid-graphics-390-0.6 NVIDIA secondary GPU configuration - Optimus Technology support
nvidia-secondary-driver-550.54.14_1 NVidia graphics card binary drivers for hardware OpenGL rendering on secondary device
nvidia-secondary-driver-390-390.154_1 NVidia graphics card binary drivers for hardware OpenGL rendering on secondary device
nvidia-settings-535.146.02_1   Display Control Panel for X NVidia driver
nvidia-texture-tools-2.1.2     Texture Tools with support for DirectX 10 texture formats
nvidia-xconfig-525.116.04      Tool to manipulate X configuration files for the NVidia driver
nvidia_gpu_prometheus_exporter-g20181028_20 NVIDIA GPU Prometheus exporter

have you installed libc6-shim

sudo pkg install libc6-shim

then run

nv-sglrun nvidia-smi

Yes Master ? nv-sglrun nvidia-smi
shim init
Thu Jun 13 00:39:20 2024
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| NVIDIA-SMI 550.54.14              Driver Version: 550.54.14      CUDA Version: 12.4     |
|-----------------------------------------+------------------------+----------------------+
| GPU  Name                 Persistence-M | Bus-Id          Disp.A | Volatile Uncorr. ECC |
| Fan  Temp   Perf          Pwr:Usage/Cap |           Memory-Usage | GPU-Util  Compute M. |
|                                         |                        |               MIG M. |
|=========================================+========================+======================|
|   0  NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650        Off |   00000000:01:00.0 Off |                  N/A |
| N/A   42C    P8              2W /   50W |       0MiB /   4096MiB |      0%      Default |
|                                         |                        |                  N/A |
+-----------------------------------------+------------------------+----------------------+

+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Processes:                                                                              |
|  GPU   GI   CI        PID   Type   Process name                              GPU Memory |
|        ID   ID                                                               Usage      |
|=========================================================================================|
|  No running processes found                                                             |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+

even though cuda is listed in my output nvenc encoding isnt working with the 550 driver with obs and ffmpeg

 

[kuroneko]

i was using the 535 nvidia driver on freebsd 14.0
on 14.1 there isnt an nvidia 535 package

the latest version is 550 and then 470

Yes Master ? pkg search nvidia
libva-nvidia-driver-0.0.12     NVDEC-based backend for VAAPI
linux-nvidia-libs-550.54.14    NVidia graphics libraries and programs (Linux version)
linux-nvidia-libs-304-304.137  NVidia graphics libraries and programs (Linux version)
linux-nvidia-libs-340-340.108  NVidia graphics libraries and programs (Linux version)
linux-nvidia-libs-390-390.154  NVidia graphics libraries and programs (Linux version)
linux-nvidia-libs-470-470.161.03 NVidia graphics libraries and programs (Linux version)
nvidia-driver-550.54.14        NVidia graphics card binary drivers for hardware OpenGL rendering
nvidia-driver-304-304.137_10   NVidia graphics card binary drivers for hardware OpenGL rendering
nvidia-driver-340-340.108_4    NVidia graphics card binary drivers for hardware OpenGL rendering
nvidia-driver-390-390.154_1    NVidia graphics card binary drivers for hardware OpenGL rendering
nvidia-driver-470-470.161.03_1 NVidia graphics card binary drivers for hardware OpenGL rendering
nvidia-drm-510-kmod-550.54.14_1 NVIDIA DRM Kernel Module
nvidia-drm-515-kmod-550.54.14_1 NVIDIA DRM Kernel Module
nvidia-drm-kmod-550.54.14      NVIDIA DRM Kernel Module
nvidia-hybrid-graphics-0.6     NVIDIA secondary GPU configuration - Optimus Technology support
nvidia-hybrid-graphics-390-0.6 NVIDIA secondary GPU configuration - Optimus Technology support
nvidia-secondary-driver-550.54.14_1 NVidia graphics card binary drivers for hardware OpenGL rendering on secondary device
nvidia-secondary-driver-390-390.154_1 NVidia graphics card binary drivers for hardware OpenGL rendering on secondary device
nvidia-settings-535.146.02_1   Display Control Panel for X NVidia driver
nvidia-texture-tools-2.1.2     Texture Tools with support for DirectX 10 texture formats
nvidia-xconfig-525.116.04      Tool to manipulate X configuration files for the NVidia driver
nvidia_gpu_prometheus_exporter-g20181028_20 NVIDIA GPU Prometheus exporter

have you installed libc6-shim

sudo pkg install libc6-shim

then run

nv-sglrun nvidia-smi

Yes Master ? nv-sglrun nvidia-smi
shim init
Thu Jun 13 00:39:20 2024
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| NVIDIA-SMI 550.54.14              Driver Version: 550.54.14      CUDA Version: 12.4     |
|-----------------------------------------+------------------------+----------------------+
| GPU  Name                 Persistence-M | Bus-Id          Disp.A | Volatile Uncorr. ECC |
| Fan  Temp   Perf          Pwr:Usage/Cap |           Memory-Usage | GPU-Util  Compute M. |
|                                         |                        |               MIG M. |
|=========================================+========================+======================|
|   0  NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650        Off |   00000000:01:00.0 Off |                  N/A |
| N/A   42C    P8              2W /   50W |       0MiB /   4096MiB |      0%      Default |
|                                         |                        |                  N/A |
+-----------------------------------------+------------------------+----------------------+

+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Processes:                                                                              |
|  GPU   GI   CI        PID   Type   Process name                              GPU Memory |
|        ID   ID                                                               Usage      |
|=========================================================================================|
|  No running processes found                                                             |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+

even though cuda is listed in my output nvenc encoding isnt working with the 550 driver with obs and ffmpeg

Ok so I need to install 14.0?

 

[kuroneko]

Yeah I don't think I'll be using FreeBSD on desktop just yet from what I've been trying. I hope that there will be better support for FreeBSD in the future. I really like that OS.

 

[richardtoohey2]

Yeah I don't think I'll be using FreeBSD on desktop just yet from what I've been trying. I hope that there will be better support for FreeBSD in the future. I really like that OS.

I don’t use FreeBSD for desktops but going by the number of posts on these forums it’s definitely doable but Linux gets a lot more resource and focus in that area. So depending on your workload and essential applications - FreeBSD desktop might not be the best fit. Good that you’ve tried it and given feedback.

 

[msplsh]

Unversioned pkg strikes again!

 

[RhfUsQnPbC]

On FreeBSD 14.1-RELEASE, blender can start with the local build of libc6-shim and port x11/nvidia-driver (nvidia 550), but blender cannot find CUDA still.

 

[vermaden]

So I've been thinking of switching to FreeBSD on my desktop (...)

Disable Secure Boot and all the rest will work.

 

[balanga]

Disable Secure Boot and all the rest will work.

Is this a BIOS setting?

 

[Alexander88207]

Is this a BIOS setting?

Yes, it is an BIOS/UEFI setting.

 

[USerID]

Never used the secure boot offered by a PROPRIETARY BIOS manufacturer. LibreBIOS and hardware are another matter - there are no bookmarks there. I don't understand what is hidden behind the "Secure Boot" option. Maybe this is another "Pegasus" from "Apple"... I don’t hang around all sorts of ill-fated places related to crypto exchanges. In these dumpsters you can easily turn your PC into a mining point. That's why I left Linux. There is a site where I read tons of information on miners specifically for Linux. Plus one more reason - systemd. For me, as a system administrator, FreeBSD is much more attractive, but why should you switch from Linux if you are a designer-developer (Blender-Krita) in the field of applied arts and everything works well - I don’t understand yet... make a working packet filter (pf) with an attack detector (snort) based on FreeBSD or quickly set up OPNsense (based on FreeBSD), and sit behind it as if behind a stone wall.

 

[shkhln]

Yes Master ? nv-sglrun nvidia-smi
shim init
Thu Jun 13 00:39:20 2024
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| NVIDIA-SMI 550.54.14              Driver Version: 550.54.14      CUDA Version: 12.4     |
|-----------------------------------------+------------------------+----------------------+
| GPU  Name                 Persistence-M | Bus-Id          Disp.A | Volatile Uncorr. ECC |
| Fan  Temp   Perf          Pwr:Usage/Cap |           Memory-Usage | GPU-Util  Compute M. |
|                                         |                        |               MIG M. |
|=========================================+========================+======================|
|   0  NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650        Off |   00000000:01:00.0 Off |                  N/A |
| N/A   42C    P8              2W /   50W |       0MiB /   4096MiB |      0%      Default |
|                                         |                        |                  N/A |
+-----------------------------------------+------------------------+----------------------+

+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Processes:                                                                              |
|  GPU   GI   CI        PID   Type   Process name                              GPU Memory |
|        ID   ID                                                               Usage      |
|=========================================================================================|
|  No running processes found                                                             |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+

even though cuda is listed in my output nvenc encoding isnt working with the 550 driver with obs and ffmpeg

That was fixed a month ago.

 

[NapoleonWils0n]

nv-sglrun nvidia-smi

does list cuda in the output
but there still seems to be an issue with the 550 nvidia driver with obs, ffmpeg, blender not working with nvenc and cuda
and downloading to the 535 driver is no longer an option because that package isnt available anymore in the 14.1 repo

 

[RhfUsQnPbC]

nv-sglrun nvidia-smi

does list cuda in the output
but there still seems to be an issue with the 550 nvidia driver with obs, ffmpeg, blender not working with nvenc and cuda
and downloading to the 535 driver is no longer an option because that package isnt available anymore in the 14.1 repo

550 nvidia driver works with ffmpeg now, no CUDA with blender