Using FreeBSD as Desktop OS

I'm enjoying Plasma 5 atm, so far so good :) some minor adjustments and it feels snappy.

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yuripv said:
I just sold my MacBook Pro 2017. Yes, initially everything looks great, the integration with iPhone is awesome, I miss that a bit, it's just those little things which make using it not worth the price.
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Hullo yuri,
Actually I agree with you. I have a MacBook Pro and it’s a completely unremarkable machine. Because it’s a desktop replacement, it is made to accommodate a Radeon Pro graphics card and some large and unnecessary speakers. I don’t like lugging it around. It’s currently serving as a crazily expensive charger for my e-cigarette.
The 12 inch MacBook is totally different, it feels like the future. It’s the thinnest, lightest full size computer I’ve ever used, it’s just a joy to use. Unfortunately I selected the Intel Core m3 CPU to keep the price down and the battery life up... this was a miscalculation because it cannot virtualise another OS on top (well you can but it’s a bit laggy).
I use the Pro for making music. macOS is the only Unix-like OS I’m aware of that has a decent DSP ecosystem. (I tried music production on Linux, the situation there is dire. LAME really AIN’T an mp3 encoder, it turns music into mush, as do 90% of Linux plugins).
 
Today on the flight back from Indonesia, I watched the original Jurassic Park. I was pleasantly surprised at the computer system that they used. The main system was supposed to be "UNIX" and it indeed was. It looked like it has CDE with the classic MacOS title bars on the windows. Also it was running on an Apple workstation.
 
Polyatomic said:
If my memory serves correct, the bar at the bottom of the screen and frames around
the terminal and browser tell me the desktop is Gnome 2.
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Well according to the video description, I believe that it is mentioned that it is. Gnome with Compiz.. I wish that there was a way to get Compiz and OpenBox working together.

I also found this... It looks really interesting.


However I would be truly content with a system that looks like what was there in the first Iron man.

 
knightjp said:
The main system was supposed to be "UNIX" and it indeed was. It looked like it has CDE with the classic MacOS title bars on the windows. Also it was running on an Apple workstation.
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Yep, it was IRIX (SGI's UNIX) and the DE was not quite CDE but it did share a modified version of the Motif Widget Toolkit which CDE was also based on. The DE was called IRIX Interactive Desktop (or Indigo Magic Desktop depending on the version).

You can run a fun clone in your browser here: https://www.jurassicsystems.com/
 
knightjp said:
However I would be truly content with a system that looks like what was there in the first Iron man.

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Says "Sorry, am I in your way?" to a robotic arm holding a soldering iron... like a boss.

Great. Now I need not only fight my disgust with this code base, but also my urge to go to the basement and dig up that DVD. Well done! ;)
 
Crivens said:
Great. Now I need not only fight my disgust with this code base,
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You're disgusted with FreeBSD? :eek::what::-/;)

As for Ironman, I already have a glass keyboard - "Bastron Glass Keyboard".. works well.
I just need the rest of the system. Previously I tried to get my glass keyboard to work with FreeBSD, but it wouldn't. I guess there was an issue with the driver. I don't see why considering its just a USB keyboard.

I think that I'm gonna wait until I'm able to upgrade Albert to MacOS Mojave and then decide whether I would like to go FreeBSD or not after that.

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While the interface possibilities of FreeBSD are limitless, the functionality also needs to be considered. What will I lose by moving to BSD. There will be something.

For instance, if I move to FreeBSD, would I be able to find a way to use my fav MacOS apps like Final Cut Pro, Logic Pro, Garageband, Photoshop and Illustrator.
I'm not a youtuber nor a content producer. But there are instances when I do need to create media.. I would like to know that Albert will still be able to do that...
 
knightjp said:
if I move to FreeBSD, would I be able to find a way to use my fav MacOS apps like Final Cut Pro, Logic Pro, Garageband, Photoshop and Illustrator.
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You won't be able to use Windows apps either. Why do you think you'd be able to use these proprietary, sometimes Apple specific, products on FreeBSD? Or Linux for that matter.
 
knightjp said:
You're disgusted with FreeBSD? :eek::what::-/;)
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No, work@homeoffice.
You know that when you have a constructor X::X(A foo,
B bar,
... )
having >100 lines in the class definition and double that in the implementation, because some of these things are also objects with long winded constructors, then...
And that is AFTER some serious cleanup...

Well you want to take a shower after touching this. [/rant]
 
drhowarddrfine said:
You won't be able to use Windows apps either. Why do you think you'd be able to use these proprietary, sometimes Apple specific, products on FreeBSD? Or Linux for that matter.
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That's not exactly true, you can use Linux apps, and there's wine for Windows ones; now the question is if there's mine (or how would you call it for Macos).
 
Some people seem to think that moving from one OS to another is rather simple. If you are a basic user who just, surfs the web, use social media like facebook, watches movies, etc., moving to another OS is easy. You just need to know the tiny limitations (if there are any).
Most Linux fanboys don't really get that there are other power users who have other needs that FOSS software won't really cut it.


Tools like Wine are getting better and therefore it is getting easier to port stuff from the Windows side. I had hoped that it would be easier to port stuff from Apple's lineup since their OS is POSIX based.

For me, I know what Albert is capable of right now. I'm just trying to make sure to Albert will be able to doing pretty much all the same stuff on BSD.

This is one of the biggest issues with running something like FreeBSD as a Desktop.
 
knightjp said:
Some people seem to think that moving from one OS to another is rather simple.
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Why would Apple make it easier for their customers to jump ship? The market for creative professionals is rather lucrative and Apple is all about vendor lock-in.

knightjp said:
Tools like Wine are getting better and therefore it is getting easier to port stuff from the Windows side.
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Sure but Logic Pro, FinalCut Pro and Garageband are not available for Windows. If i'm not mistaken, Logic Pro used to be cross-platform but Apple halted development after they acquired Emagic.

knightjp said:
I had hoped that it would be easier to port stuff from Apple's lineup since their OS is POSIX based.
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To be fair, POSIX assumes the intent of portability. Also the platform specific applications you previously mentioned are all closed source.
 
I spent about a year struggling with malfunctioning Linux “pro” audio software thinking what an enlightened GNUist I was. It’s not worth it. I know the FSF thinks that “no software at all is better than proprietary software”, but that’s just shooting your self in the foot. It’s true, some proprietary software IS exploitative... but some isn’t. The App Store model of selling in particular is much nicer than the license key model.
No-one is going to write decent digital signal processing software then publish it under the GPL or any other free license. Why? Because DSP requires post-graduate maths (unlike most programming where high school maths is more than enough). Who is going to study that long and that hard to work for free?
When you hear a mix you did on your MacBook Pro you realise you were right to “surrender your freedom” to Apple. IMO.
 
Okay i should probably have said “few people are going to write” such software and “its development will progress much more slowly”.
I’ve tried to make music on Linux and it’s like riding an angry camel, facing the wrong way, with your hands tied behind your back.
 
AlexanderProphet said:
No-one is going to write decent digital signal processing software then publish it under the GPL or any other free license. Why? Because DSP requires post-graduate maths (unlike most programming where high school maths is more than enough). Who is going to study that long and that hard to work for free?
When you hear a mix you did on your MacBook Pro you realise you were right to “surrender your freedom” to Apple. IMO.
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That was one of the things that I talked about in my article here... https://julxrp.wordpress.com/2017/07/31/linux-the-mac-man/
I don't know much about Open Source, FOSS, etc., I fail to see the incentive for anyone to spend hours on coding something and releasing everything for free; unless it is a hobby or something he/she really wants and needs.
I am glad that there some have done so and created spectacular stuff for FreeBSD and Linux. It is amazing what they have done.
 
Hullo again knightjp. I also endorse Linux whilst using macOS. I like the raw power and beautiful design of Linux. But sometimes it’s great to use something polished. You mentioned Apple’s “Pages” word processor in your blog post. That is a great example because when I first used it I was like “Wow, I can create an .epub without using the command line?!” It’s such a relief to just use your software instead of fighting with it.
I came to macOS by accident. I bought a MacBook Air with the intention of installing Ubuntu on it, but I thought “I’ll just play with macOS for a while and see what it’s like”... and I loved it.
Free software purists are like militant vegans inasmuch as they’re imposing something often quite horrible on themselves in pursuit of an impossible goal (being a self-determining computer user vs being harmless to animals).
(Not trying to offend vegans, I am one).
And you’re right, we should thank the Linux and FreeBSD developers... programming is really hard.
 
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