What do you run FreeBSD on?

[drhowarddrfine]

poorandunlucky I don't know why you would think anyone here runs Windows with FreeBSD. Sure, some do, but many don't and have no reason to. The forum here is composed of mostly professionals as sysadmins and programmers using professional server hardware that is not designed for Windows but professional operating systems like FreeBSD.

As far as using FreeBSD for everything, I have used it on my workstation, servers and laptop exclusively since 2003 and would be embarrassed to stoop so low as to use anything from Microsoft which is a consumer oriented operating system that one would get at Walmart.

 

[uzsolt]

Two (a little old) laptops - general use.
One Raspberry Pi - print-scanner-torrent-backup server.
One old (about 15yo) machine: power on once per month, full rsync from two laptops.
Two VPS: 1vCPU, 20G: personal page; backup and git server.
One VPS: 4vCPU, 50G: poudriere - build some package with specific options; maintain/update some ports (it will replace two VPS, same parameter as above).

 

[acgissues]

Vultr Cloud Instance
- 1 VCPU
- 1GB RAM
- 25G SSD
- FBSD 10.3-R

Wondering about Vultrs's support for FreeBSD, since I'm looking forward setting up a VPS with FreeBSD.

Anyone else running it on a VPS at least mind sharing the provider, please.

 

[poorandunlucky]

https://www.powerpc-notebook.org/en/

That's kinda cool...

poorandunlucky I don't know why you would think anyone here runs Windows with FreeBSD. Sure, some do, but many don't and have no reason to. The forum here is composed of mostly professionals as sysadmins and programmers using professional server hardware that is not designed for Windows but professional operating systems like FreeBSD.

As far as using FreeBSD for everything, I have used it on my workstation, servers and laptop exclusively since 2003 and would be embarrassed to stoop so low as to use anything from Microsoft which is a consumer oriented operating system that one would get at Walmart.

Microsoft is able to orchestrate tens of thousands of people working together, and billions of users, who all, supposedly, experience awful problems with their operating systems.

Microsoft's support is probably as close you can find on Earth to the Borg Queen of Star Trek... It's not something that was inspired (copied) from a 70s university project, financed by a huge student body, it's original work created by an entrepreneur, who not only, admittedly, had the technical vision to foothold the future, but also the human vision... When computers began taking over, people were afraid for their jobs, there were lock-outs, strikes, that was the 80s. Microsoft became what it is today because William Gates, previously in partnership with Steve Jobs, promised, as an entrepreneur, to the people of Earth, that he would create jobs... And he did.

I will Never snob Microsoft, nor Gates, because they have accomplished more than I ever could dream of accomplishing, and no, I am not able to singlehandedly administer a network of Windows computers and servers... but it was never the point, was it?

Microsoft gave me a cool laptop my friends get hard on over, an Xbox, and even a phone who talks to me, writes accurately from my voice, and recognizes my iris in three dimensions.

FreeBSD... runs the North Korean defense network? Gives me autistic replies to forum comments? What?

No, I may not know what CDs were, but at least I can see the big picture, which most "technologically minded" people of past generations doesn't seem able to do, thereby the reference to autism.

I am glad, however, that you found your niche.

 

[drhowarddrfine]

Microsoft is able to orchestrate tens of thousands of people working together, and billions of users, who all, supposedly, experience awful problems with their operating systems.

And, thus, my point.

 

[ralphbsz]

Microsoft is able to orchestrate ... billions of users, who all, supposedly, experience awful problems with their operating systems.

And also billions of users who simply get work done, with little hassle.

For many years I had a Windows laptop for work. Why? Because in those days, my employers gave each staff member a laptop, and the only choice was x86 (not Mac). Initially, there was exactly one option for the operating system: Windows. Later, a second option was added, Red Hat. Those were the days when running Linux on the desktop was painful: full-function (corporate) E-mail programs didn't exist (so text-mode e-mail only), browsers had serious limitations (anyone remember xmosaic?), OpenOffice barely functioned, and was nearly completely incompatible with Office documents, so in reality, there was only one functioning option: Windows.

But to me, that was not a serious shortcoming. What do I need a laptop for? A few things: (a) read and write e-mail, with attachments, and with really strong search and filing capabilities (so alpine or mutt don't do it). (b) Process office files: documents, spreadsheets, presentations. (c) Log into real computers, which all run some Unix variant, via text consoles. (d) Run graphical programs that run on real computers, via Xwindows. So all I needed to do was to install a terminal emulator (I think putty was my choice), and some X server (don't remember which one, corporate had licenses for something that worked fine), and I was fully productive. Other than office documents (which get copied to real servers for storage), I did no work on the Windows laptop; it was sort of a thin client.

Actually, there is one real exception, namely a program that I actually run on the laptop which depends on Windows: MS Visio. It is still the gold standard for drawing programs for diagrams (not CAD, not image processing, but diagrams). I have enough stuff in Visio format, and enough accumulated Visio skills, that I still rely on it (never found a real replacement).

Now you ask: don't Windows machines get viruses? No, they don't. Corporate IT installs some virus scanner and firewall tool of their choice, it auto-updates, I'm reasonably careful, and the problem doesn't arise. Or you ask: isn't upgrading Windows hellish? Actually, most of the time its boring and a bit time-consuming (start updates, go to the cafeteria for a long coffee and chat with colleagues), but it just works. And roughly once a year, bring the laptop to the IT service desk, and ask them to re-image it with whatever the newest version is.

Microsoft's support is ...

First, the laptop nearly always worked. If it didn't, the problem was typically not Microsoft, but either hardware (call for service), or our own corporate software (the special VPN client, our own special e-mail), for which support comes from corporate. And if Windows really breaks: have the machine reinstalled. I never dealt with Microsoft support in my life, of about 15 years using Windows laptops.

I had Windows laptops from about 1995 to 2010, over 4 different employers. It wasn't pleasant, it wasn't my personal preference, but it was very low hassle, and I got work done. I finally switched to a Mac laptop once two things happened: (a) it was permitted and supported by corporate IT, (b) the compatibility problems between the Mac and the Windows version of MS office got resolved (so documents could really seamlessly be moved back and forth, without font changes that destroy everything), and (c) a laptop-capable virtual machine capable of booting some Windows became available so I can still run MS Visio.

Why am I telling this long story? Just to demonstrate that one can be a productive and satisfied user of Microsoft products. I'm not saying that this is for every use case, and for every user, but for a large set of them it works.

Now, in addition I usually had a work desktop machine (with a variety of operating systems: NeXT, Windows NT, HP-UX, Solaris, AIX, and Linux). And typically a bevy of servers (in data centers and labs) at work, always running some Unix variant (including Linux, but also commercial Unixes). And at home a wide variety of desktop and laptops, with Windows, MacOS, Linux, OpenBSD and FreeBSD as the OS. Even today, my wife (also a technical person) relies solely on Windows laptops (work and personal), while my college-age son and me use only MacOS for user-facing machines.

 

[poorandunlucky]

And, thus, my point.

Well I said that sarcastically/rhetorically, because if Winderps was so terrible... Microsoft just wouldn't be able to cope with it. They'd need hundreds of thousands of people to handle very basic end-user contact, essentially just acknowledging people's attempts at getting their attention.

And also billions of users who simply get work done, with little hassle.

Well you guys got me a bit wrong here, because I wasn't saying Microsoft and/or Windows is terrible... In fact, I think they're both awesome. The sheer amount of people using it, the variety of hardware, and the fact that it all mostly works out of the box for several years, unless you install dodgy software on it, or disable security features, or dig too far... It all works great, I think Windows is awesome.

I don't even think FreeBSD installs with 100% capabilities on 10% of systems people try to install it on... Not saying it's bad, but it's a bit comparing apples and bananas, y'know?

I used to keep Windows around for work, because I needed to use Citrix Receiver at times (IT subcontractor recommended that, I have no clue why), but now I just keep it because it looks clean and awesome in my environment... I spend a lot of my time playing with my xbone, and watching TV, and with Windows 10, I can open a remote xbox connection, and play games on my xbox from my computer, all the video processing is done remotely, and I just get an A/V stream, and send commands to it... If I open a remote desktop connection to my computer with my Windows phone, I can even play Xbox from my cell phone through two remote connections! : D

I don't "use" Windows mainly because of doctrine... I like the idea of a modular kernel, I like the idea that it's free, and that people, including myself, can contribute to it freely, and I like the fact that it's so raw, and close to the electronics it works on, and for... and I also don't "use" Windows because I don't understand it as well... It seems stupid, but I just don't... It's easier for me to write configuration files than it is to put checkmarks in checkboxes... Everything is also free, things are generally safe to play with, there's no ads, things are non-invasive, and in many ways it feels better, but it's got to the point where Windows also feels very good, but both are very different...

I might be able to play games on Windows, but I can't play with Windows... I can play with FreeBSD, and in return, I get a DNS server that reduces my latency in video games (I like to sit on a couch to play video games, rly...), I get a mail server, I get a VPN server for my cell phone, I get a whole bunch of things I can't really get with Windows...

I use GIMP and Inkscape on Windows, though... VLC, but to interface (read: interact) with most people, and be able to relate to them, I like to use Windows... Even if MacOS wasn't, in my opinion, somewhat immorally or unethically "stolen" from FreeBSD, I wouldn't like to use it because I don't like people who use (read: pray to) Apple devices. It's just easier to say "Hey, I found this trick and such on the computer" and interest, and keep my friends when I talk about Windows than when I talk about FreeBSD... If I talk about FreeBSD, I usually only end-up interesting fat communist wizards, or I end-up getting tossed in the same bin as them, and I just can't let that happen... I don't like fat people, nor communists, nor wizards, (though I am an independent anarchist)... srsly...

Anyway, I just admire Windows, honestly... The complexity of it is just phenomenal... Social, economical, geopolitical, military, temporary, the business relationships, the vision, perspectives, the possibilities, ... it's just all very impressive, and the result isn't so bad... If I run exclusively Microsoft applications, I have no problems, so I think most of the problems people have with Windows isn't with Windows... it's with the software they try to run on it, and it's not for the OS developer to write its OS to run particular software, it's to software developers to write software to run properly on an operating system.

Maybe people just have too much expectations towards Microsoft and towards Windows, and forget that, in the end, it's a fairly young enterprise, and they're just human like the rest of us... they're not gods, Microsoft isn't a god, no matter how many people consider Billy to be the prince of darkness...

Even if you compare Microsoft to Google... People might be happy at their novel devices working at all, and meanwhile, developers are struggling to have their apps with advertisement, microtransactions and "coin sinks" work on >specific hardware<... they have to test on virtually all the current cell phone models out there because ... because mystery. And Microsoft also caught-up to Google after they released online office productivity applications, just like IBM caught-up to Apple when they released the Yoga... I even use Bing today... I just couldn't keep encouraging software made by people who, at the office, chain their dogs to oversized kindergarten furniture. Bing shows me an awesome picture every day, Google just shows me its shitty logo... It tries to pass off as a glorious enterprise, but in the end, it buys a lot of companies, and closes a lot of the after extracting the technology from their employees. They probably even purposely engineer their image to inspire trust in future buyouts to minimize sabotage, and destruction of (intellectual) property, and purposeful plausible denial of knowledge.

Microsoft is a home-grown American enterprise, and they're a lot more glorious to me than Google is now... When I was a kid I used to love Google, I even wanted to have Google bedsheets (they make them), but now I keep my Xbox on so the Kinect can watch over me when I sleep...

I don't know... I just feel that saying that you don't use Windows because you can find it on devices sold at Walmart is kinda stupid, because that just shows how robust it is... I think it's admirable that it can run so easily on such a variety of hardware, and be used by such a large spectrum of people without real problems until some third party software comes screw everything up...

FreeBSD has difficulty keeping up... a few years ago, IX Systems had to hire someone full time to work on new display drivers for FreeBSD... I don't think that snobbing Windows users is going to help FreeBSD prevail, if you love it so much...

On a different note, I don't know if you guys know, but Microsoft is easing-up on UNIX... It's staying Microsoft, as is obviously shown by their development of PowerShell, but they're opening-up, and there's even a Win32 release of SSH developed by Microsoft themselves.

https://github.com/PowerShell/Win32-OpenSSH/releases

After running temporarily deactivating a security feature, and running the installation script, it installs two services, the SSH agent and the SSH daemon, along the binaries like ssh, sshd, sftp, scp, etc. I just put the binaries in C:\Windows\ssh and added that folder to my PATH environment variable, and I use SSH from PowerShell... : )

 

[forquare]

To me is seems that Google is to smartphones today as Microsoft was to desktops back in the late '90s/early 2000's; a range of manufacturers take the software and sell it atop hardware that is mostly but not necessarily 100% up to spec with odd bits of their own software stuffed on top which causes some issues. Desktops got more generalised, and in recent years Microsoft has softened.

Still their past monopolistic attitude leaves a bitter taste in my mouth, they seem well set up to ensure partners have a customer base to train, and these training companies issue Microsoft specific training, rather than broader computing concepts that can be applied to a wide range of software and give users a richer understanding. Why build in easy-to-use automation tools (like Apple's Automator.app), when a partner can pay you to certify their programme which will just about teach users to do a similar thing misusing a spreadsheet?

I've not used Windows in anger for so long that my mind doesn't gel with it anymore - having said that, the latest Windows Subsystem for Linux I've got on my Windows 10 laptop at work is helping.

Microsoft's enterprise/server solutions leave my mind boggling, they seem over complicated, or at least more obscure than they aught to be - perhaps I'd better pay ££££ one of their partners for some more of that training. And there are oddities that tell you Windows is a Desktop First OS, like the fact even Windows Server can handle no more than 26 drives.

Microsoft and Google share similar attitudes in my opinion. Microsoft brought out a brand new "open" format standard for Office, but then proceeded to break the standard within Office, and nobody could tell me how this new format was superior to the OpenDocument format, which other applications already used...
Google are perhaps worse, they've built Android on a set of open standards and slowly phased them out for its own closed standards (e.g. XMPP got kicked aside for Hangouts).
Then with both there are the privacy concerns...

Linux has systemD, need I say more?

Personally, I trust Apple with my everyday life (phone, main desktop). They used to do some interesting OS work, but they still have a healthy attitude to user privacy. They have always had an odd relationship with open source, but it's seemed fairly consistent.
Slowly, as it becomes ever more capable and I'm finding alternative programs, etc, I'm moving desktop activities to FreeBSD, my servers run FreeBSD. I don't use Google services, but DuckDuckGo for search, and I've used several different providers for mail (using my own domain name to lessen disruptions)

 

[Minbari]

A Lenovo ThinkStation C20 workstation (2 x Intel Xeon Hexa Core E5649) and on an old Asus X59GL laptop (Intel P8400).

 

[drhowarddrfine]

And also billions of users who simply get work done, with little hassle.

Thus my point. A consumer computer for consumers but "with little hassle" is far from true and, in a professional environment, Windows will cause more grief than anything else.

As a pointless example, the very large restaurant chain I'm with uses Windows as their POS system. The issues they have getting Windows to do the things that are easy to do on Unix/BSD/Linux are astounding and every update is fraught with fear of what will go wrong. Tech support gets overloaded with problems and even the Microsoft shop that programs it admits they wouldn't have the same problems on any other OS.

But arguing with some people defending this never gets anywhere and is OT for this thread so I'll stop now.

 

[Belial]

A dedicated home server, media streaming, backups etc.

FreeBSD 11.0-RELEASE-p9
Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU E5-2620 v3 @ 2.40GHz
32 MB ECC Memory
8 WD Red HDDs (3-6 TB)
GeForce GT 710B

This is my second FreeBSD installation. It replaces a computer that suffered hardware failure (blue smoke).

I started my FreeBSD experience with v8. After a hardware failure, when I realized how easy it was to recover my ZFS pool (with help from this forum), my next build HAD to run a FreeBSD system.

Only recently installed a Window Manager, i3.

 

[Deleted member 9563]

Thus my point. A consumer computer for consumers but "with little hassle" is far from true and, in a professional environment, Windows will cause more grief than anything else.

True. I dislike, and don't use, MS-Windows for various and sometimes just personal reasons which are of no consequence to others. However, to say that it "just works" is indeed a fallacy. My wife is far from being a beginner at computers and her recent brand new Laptop with Win10-professional on it took the best part of a day to set up. In fact Windows computers only come with the software available on the hdd, it's not actually installed. A blank computer and your average Linux distro on a disc would be a quicker install by far.

I agree with poorandunlucky in that it's an awesome system and many people are able to make it work well for them. But I don't agree that it's good enough. MS makes huge amounts of money and employs a lot of people. For the resources they have available, and the price they charge, I expect near perfect with almost no security problems. Shame on them that they're not doing that. The fact that open source operating systems can even begin to compete shows that MS is not doing the job we should expect.

Anyway, sorry to continue this fork of the thread. Carry on .....

 

[poorandunlucky]

Thus my point. A consumer computer for consumers but "with little hassle" is far from true and, in a professional environment, Windows will cause more grief than anything else.

As a pointless example, the very large restaurant chain I'm with uses Windows as their POS system. The issues they have getting Windows to do the things that are easy to do on Unix/BSD/Linux are astounding and every update is fraught with fear of what will go wrong. Tech support gets overloaded with problems and even the Microsoft shop that programs it admits they wouldn't have the same problems on any other OS.

But arguing with some people defending this never gets anywhere and is OT for this thread so I'll stop now.

Is it a SaaS? Essentially a small company that has one product and keeps pushing useless updates and essentially provoking failures to actively support clients to justify their monthly fees? I just can't see a POS system needing updates besides 86'ing the shrimp tartare...

A dedicated home server, media streaming, backups etc.

FreeBSD 11.0-RELEASE-p9
Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU E5-2620 v3 @ 2.40GHz
32 MB ECC Memory
8 WD Red HDDs (3-6 TB)
GeForce GT 710B

This is my second FreeBSD installation. It replaces a computer that suffered hardware failure (blue smoke).

I started my FreeBSD experience with v8. After a hardware failure, when I realized how easy it was to recover my ZFS pool (with help from this forum), my next build HAD to run a FreeBSD system.

Only recently installed a Window Manager, i3.

ZFS is indeed awesomeness in a can, but ECC, really? I would (I guess consider it, since I'm not buying hardware much) if the expense wouldn't be so much greater, especially upwards of 4 GB in high performance RAM... the price surge for ECC is just astounding... I guess because it's usually an enterprise solution, and enterprises can usually shell out the big bucks, but I'd still like to have that piece of mind, just because it's there, y<know, but I'm not sure if it does anything, really... like, just how many neutrons do hit your RAM chips in a day?

True. I dislike, and don't use, MS-Windows for various and sometimes just personal reasons which are of no consequence to others. However, to say that it "just works" is indeed a fallacy. My wife is far from being a beginner at computers and her recent brand new Laptop with Win10-professional on it took the best part of a day to set up. In fact Windows computers only come with the software available on the hdd, it's not actually installed. A blank computer and your average Linux distro on a disc would be a quicker install by far.

I agree with poorandunlucky in that it's an awesome system and many people are able to make it work well for them. But I don't agree that it's good enough. MS makes huge amounts of money and employs a lot of people. For the resources they have available, and the price they charge, I expect near perfect with almost no security problems. Shame on them that they're not doing that. The fact that open source operating systems can even begin to compete shows that MS is not doing the job we should expect.

Anyway, sorry to continue this fork of the thread. Carry on .....

What do you mean "comes only with the software that's on the HDD"? And what could've taken half a day to configure, Windows 10 can be left to install unattended, and it's very warm, and welcoming... Unless you have a 10 mbps link, installing everything you need shouldn't take very long...

I kind of understand your point when you try to correlate ressources with output, but it's just proof that resources aren't always the limiting factor, and I think it's interesting to try to see, or understand where the limiting factors actually are. : )

 

[Deleted member 9563]

What do you mean "comes only with the software that's on the HDD"? And what could've taken half a day to configure, Windows 10 can be left to install unattended, and it's very warm, and welcoming... Unless you have a 10 mbps link, installing everything you need shouldn't take very long...

It seems you misread or I was unclear - I didn't say "only". I said the software is on the HDD, meaning the OS, but it still needs to be installed. You can't just use it without clicking on a bunch of installation questions. I've done this for others when they gotten a new computer. This may all be easy and normal for you. But for people like me who aren't experts in Windows this takes a lot of reading of legal material and research on where to get the missing bits. Please note too that the OS doesn't come with an office suite! In this day and age an operating system is useless to most people unless they can create .doc or compatible documents - not to mention presentation software. That requires more research on where and what to buy and then install after that. From my perspective it looks like you are being smug when you say this stuff is easy. It is not. And it takes time.

PS: leaving it to install unattended sounds like something an old hand at this would do. The rest of us would likely wait for the next prompt.

 

[forquare]

I just can't see a POS system needing updates besides 86'ing the shrimp tartare...

Being a computer attached to a network, possibly with some requirement to hit the internet (banking?), I think I’d want to know that I had the latest security patches in place…

 

[drhowarddrfine]

Essentially a small company

It's one of the largest restaurant chains in the world with billions in annual sales.

 

[Belial]

ZFS is indeed awesomeness in a can, but ECC, really? I would (I guess consider it, since I'm not buying hardware much) if the expense wouldn't be so much greater, especially upwards of 4 GB in high performance RAM...

I paid for the hardware with Bitcoins purchased in 2013. The only store I know that accepts bitcoin is a computer hardware store. I didn't look at the price tag

 

[poorandunlucky]

It seems you misread or I was unclear - I didn't say "only". I said the software is on the HDD, meaning the OS, but it still needs to be installed. You can't just use it without clicking on a bunch of installation questions. I've done this for others when they gotten a new computer. This may all be easy and normal for you. But for people like me who aren't experts in Windows this takes a lot of reading of legal material and research on where to get the missing bits. Please note too that the OS doesn't come with an office suite! In this day and age an operating system is useless to most people unless they can create .doc or compatible documents - not to mention presentation software. That requires more research on where and what to buy and then install after that. From my perspective it looks like you are being smug when you say this stuff is easy. It is not. And it takes time.

PS: leaving it to install unattended sounds like something an old hand at this would do. The rest of us would likely wait for the next prompt.

oic... well for the legal stuff on Windows it's pretty much all the same thing, you can't use or redistribute the software without a valid license, even if the license is free, and you can't tamper with or reverse-engineer the software, either, which I think is a good thing because it kinda forces people to think for themselves... I have a similar clause in my license I use for "visible source" where you can read for educational purposes, but you can't copy or directly inspire yourself from what I made simply because I think people should understand what they do, and I even mention it's really to protect them more than my work. : )

As for office suite, well I hope you can at least appreciate the journey through a perhaps different universe, or at least get first hand experience with the current trends in software distribution and licensing... like Office is either a standalone product like it used to be, or a subscription-based service that integrates with other Microsoft products and services... It's pretty much the modus operandi for Windows binary software these days...

Being a computer attached to a network, possibly with some requirement to hit the internet (banking?), I think I’d want to know that I had the latest security patches in place…

I hadn't thought of that...

It's one of the largest restaurant chains in the world with billions in annual sales.

To me that just means more of less : P

I make a point not to ride other people's "success", though, and I don't associate with either individuals, groups, or other entities (besides a single person when forming a couple)... I believe that people can only ever stand with other people when you stand alone.

Still, though, because the restaurant sells a lot of food, regardless of the type of food, doesn't mean that the business that made their POS system has any other product, or even client in this case... In fact, it's even more common for small businesses to only have one product and one client if the client is big...

I paid for the hardware with Bitcoins purchased in 2013. The only store I know that accepts bitcoin is a computer hardware store. I didn't look at the price tag

bitcoins... If I hadn't bought drugs with mine, I would've been able to exchange a few hundred dollars for $250,000.00 : [

I'm still hoping luck will strike another way, though... I'm not sure I'd want to be a bitcoin billionaire... : \

 

[MMacD]

Firewall: Intel Atom D2500 running pfSense
Server-of-all-work: Supermicro A1SRM-2558F (Atom C2558), 16GB, 2x 3-way ZFS mirrors
General dev workhorse: Gigabyte AM3+ board (don't remember which) with an FX8320e cp and 32GB.
General w/s, dual boot with Win7 x64: Gigabyte AM3+ board with an Athlon 620e cp.

 

[scottro]

MMacD, is that a Siberian kitten? (Just asking, as my wife is allergic, and we were considering getting one since they're theoretically hypoallergenic-ish.)
Workstation, white box 8G RAM E-1230 Xeon, ZFS mirror
Home, Dell XPS-8900, zfs single ssd and a second large spinning disk for storage also zfs.

I also run it on several laptops but all are multibooting Linux. Various things don't work as well as they do with Linux, such as trackpad, wireless, and video on newer machines.
I'm not looking to get into flame wars on this--I don't use a mouse much so haven't delved too deeply into that issue. As for wireless, the iwm driver seems to not support 802.11ac so a transfer on the LAN that goes at 50MB in Linux goes at around 2-3MB in FreeBSD. As for video, my yoga2 Pro with Haswell only works, and not that well with CURRENT and drm-next, see http://srobb.net/freebsdintel.html for details. Lastly, transcoding with ffmpeg seems to be far slower than it is on Linux. I'm mentioning these things because some people may find it useful, not to take sides, or start a discussion on how Linux is bad. It's better at some things and FreeBSD is better at other things, in the same way that one can argue Windows is better for one's parents if one isn't around to help.

The laptops are
Older Thinkpad L420. Everything works out of the box in FreeBSD-11.x, I might have had to make entries to /boot/loader.conf for wireless.
Clevo barebones W24 EU. Had to make entries to loader.conf for an Intel 7260 card, otherwise all fine out of the box.
Asus UX31E (the first one). Works out of the box
Yoga2 Pro. Works, though not that well, with CURRENT, otherwise can only get vesa driver working. See abovementioned link. Came with an intel wireless which I upgraded to 7260, needed to add lines to loader.conf. With the two machines (the Clevo and the Yoga), wireless works without problem, but only at 802.11a, meaning slower speeds over LAN.

When I say everything works out of the box, I mean I startx, use wireless, and so on. Trackpad scrolling doesn't work on any of them. I've tried various solutions, but none worked on these particular machines, and as I usually use dwm or openbox with keyboard shortcuts, I make almost no use of the mouse anyway.

TL;DR
A couple of standard towers, everything fine
A few different laptops, mostly Ok, newer one needs CURRENT to get Intel video, Intel cards need lines added to /boot/loader.conf and only use 802.11a, trackpad works but scrolling and tapping don't.

 

[Phishfry]

I just can't see a POS system needing updates besides 86'ing the shrimp tartare...

I think you should check out the certifications needed for card processing.
https://www.pcisecuritystandards.org

The rate a merchant pays in processing fees is related to their security posture.

 

[obsigna]

Interesting that users are running so many FreeBSD desktop systems, since it seems to break with the common place that the main usage of FreeBSD is for servers.

I noticed the difference between the thread title "What do you run FreeBSD on?" and the poll title "What do you use FreeBSD on?" So it came to my mind, that maybe FreeBSD is running on many desktop systems for sort of curiosity, which are not actually being used heavily.

 

[scottro]

QCTM. (Quietly Chuckling To Myself). In my case with the laptops, definitely, and none are heavily used. The workstation at home is also not used that much, just laziness--I used to work at a CentOS shop and so had a CentOS server-cum-workstation and I'm lazy as far as moving it. I did, in part, choose it for storage, and need to add another large disk one of these days. So, yes, I confess that in part, I fit that category. And, of course, since I'm the one doing it, see nothing wrong with that.

At work, as this is mostly a FreeBSD shop, there's no real advantage to using it over Linux, but it gives me a non-essential machine to use for testing various and sundry things. It's used differently than the servers, but can sometimes let me know when an update might

 

[forquare]

So it came to my mind, that maybe FreeBSD is running on many desktop systems for sort of curiosity, which are not actually being used heavily.

In my case, most of my work is done on FreeBSD. Only Outlook, Office, and Skype (for IM and voice calls) usage really gets done on Windows. The desktop I've got FreeBSD runnign on at work serves as a dashboard for some lab metrics (running Grafana), as well as being a backup for my laptops FreeBSD VM (ZFS send snapshots), and a VM host itself (hosting CentOS on bhyve).

My home laptop is my main machine when I'm away from home, and my FreeBSD powered VPS homes a number of services (e.g. nextcloud, git repo, quassel-core) that allows me to access my stuff wherever I have an internet connection.

 

[MMacD]

MMacD, is that a Siberian kitten? (Just asking, as my wife is allergic, and we were considering getting one since they're theoretically hypoallergenic-ish.)

No, she's a Scots wildcat (f. silv. grampia). Skye (her given name) was born and raised in sanctuary because her people are nearing extinction in the wild. Partly it's because of habitat loss, accidents, and actually being intentionally killed (hard not to call that 'murder'), and partly because they willingly produce children with non-wildcat moggies when, as so often these days, they can't find another wildcat while in season.

From what I can read, it's a crapshoot whether a given Siberian is "less allergenic" for a given human. Which suggests that the only way to keep from breaking everyone's heart is to have a lot of close physical contact with many different individual adult cats before deciding whether it'll be okay to commit to one.