I have built a new PC a while back to replace my veteran dell optiplex, here are the relevant specs:
CPU: intel i7-12700K
MOBO: msi pro z790-p wifi
GPU: rtx 4060
Installation:
I used the bootonly.iso. During installation wifi worked for me. I had to restart multiple times because it timed out accessing freebsd main site. I chose a different mirror side and it worked after. I assume some issue with geodns but that is out scope for me.
Post-Installation:
Following docs I installed X, nvidia open source drivers (wiki), and kde de. After adding nvidia card to xorg config, on reboot I had ready system.
I was able to install: firefox, ffmpeg, llvm toolchain, helix editor, alacritty, krita, obs, and gimp. Minor annoyance is it took trial and error to figure out how to install clangd, clang-tidy, and more. All under llvm15 there was no hint it had those tools.
Firefox:
Youtube video/audio worked. However I had brief static noise in audio when resizing, moving, minimizing window. Only occured first time moving window, after subsequent moves it went away. Just minor annoyanace.
Wacom:
Did not work out of box. I found solution on wiki on how to configure. First attempt it did not work, I was having permission errors with webcamd and no clue why. I removed everything and followed again, but one key difference is I did not plug/unplug my tablet before a reboot, then it worked. Wiki page mentioned unplugging/plugging could cause problem, I belive it had something to do with that. But my tablet worked perfect and I noticed no difference.
NVENC:
Was not detected by OBS and didn't work in ffmpeg. Browsing forums there are users who have it working so I will need to attempt their solution.
CUDA:
I knew Nvidia provided no official support. Browsing forums there are working alternatives. I will have to see. But I'm curious why nvidia could not provide a blob.
I'm happy to say that for my personal pc where I do mosly drawing and some light hobby progamming, FreeBSD was a perfectly functional OS out of the box.
Why I choose FreeBSD? I have worked with it in VMs at work and I got caught by its simplicity and motto "the power to serve". So I decided to give it a try, and I will keep using it.
I think FreeBSD is a good OS if it works for users hardware. Linux has more support for obscure stuff, but I think FreeBSD works well with standard components.
