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FreeBSD 13.2

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Re: FreeBSD 13.2

#3

Post by ofalkaed »

gautamcgoel wrote: post #2

Does anyone here run FreeBSD on the desktop? If so, can you explain why you prefer it to Linux?

It is like linux if Canonical never happened, so like linux 20 years ago. The ports system is nice. FreeBSD is my fallback in case Patrick gives in to the changing linux world and I have to abandon Slackware or start learning OS stuff again. Biggest thing to know about it as a desktop, drivers get into the kernel much slower than with linux and some never get in, so like linux was 20 years ago.

Re: FreeBSD 13.2

#5

Post by codetrotter »

chungy wrote: post #4

I like Wireguard being in base now.

Nice! I’ve been running a WireGuard VPN for a few years now, to which my FreeBSD servers, my Linux machines, my macOS laptop and my phone all connect.

I use this VPN for internal traffic between my machines only. Not as a tunnel for Internet destined web client traffic.

I have set up my FreeBSD servers and my Linux machines to have sshd listen on the WireGuard address.

On my iPhone I connect to the WireGuard server that I run. Then I can ssh to all of my machines.

The machine that runs the WireGuard server to which all of the other machines connect, runs FreeBSD :)

Re: FreeBSD 13.2

#6

Post by blackhaz »

ofalkaed wrote: post #3
gautamcgoel wrote: post #2

Does anyone here run FreeBSD on the desktop? If so, can you explain why you prefer it to Linux?

It is like linux if Canonical never happened, so like linux 20 years ago. The ports system is nice. FreeBSD is my fallback in case Patrick gives in to the changing linux world and I have to abandon Slackware or start learning OS stuff again. Biggest thing to know about it as a desktop, drivers get into the kernel much slower than with linux and some never get in, so like linux was 20 years ago.

OMG - this is so true. Home sweet home. A few additional points:

- The hard separation between the base OS and user-installed packages that go in /usr/local - you can wipe the /usr/local and get back to the pristine state. Things don't get mixed.

- Better documentation, better man pages.

Whenever I log in to a Linux distro it feels like things are all in the wrong places. Hardware support is bad though, I wish hardware vendors would open source their drivers.

Re: FreeBSD 13.2

#7

Post by ken666 »

ofalkaed wrote: post #3
gautamcgoel wrote: post #2

Does anyone here run FreeBSD on the desktop? If so, can you explain why you prefer it to Linux?

It is like linux if Canonical never happened, so like linux 20 years ago. The ports system is nice. FreeBSD is my fallback in case Patrick gives in to the changing linux world and I have to abandon Slackware or start learning OS stuff again. Biggest thing to know about it as a desktop, drivers get into the kernel much slower than with linux and some never get in, so like linux was 20 years ago.

Have a look at void Linux. I was a long time freebsd user until I really needed some proprietary software (zoom) in the pandemic.

Switched to void and it is the same freebsd feeling, but with much better hardware support. And with my beloved ZFS!

Re: FreeBSD 13.2

#8

Post by voytec »

gautamcgoel wrote: post #2

Does anyone here run FreeBSD on the desktop? If so, can you explain why you prefer it to Linux?

Know the system better but as for preference - Linux is better suited for some tasks and I use both - FreeBSD as host with Linux VMs. Switched after 10+ years of using Apple products exclusively.

I've recently posted[1] my thoughts on commercial vs. FOSS-driven workstations.

One huge downside to FreeBSD on a workstation is the lack of modern WiFi support. Impatiently waiting for WiFi drivers emulated via LinuxKPI[2].

[1] https://wojteksychut.com/posts/work-tech-i-use-privately/

[2] https://wiki.freebsd.org/LinuxKPI

Re: FreeBSD 13.2

#9

Post by doublerabbit »

gautamcgoel wrote: post #2

Does anyone here run FreeBSD on the desktop? If so, can you explain why you prefer it to Linux?

Not Linux:

Linux feels clunky like a bunch of third party cogs all mashed together. Some with teeth missing some with too many. If it's not SystemMd taking over the whole startup of system services and needing its own DHCP server, it's then down to package manager's. Apt being replaced with snap, snap replaced by flat images.

Its divided and with no formality. Someone will create some new thing, I'll get popular, get introduced in to some distro, command others to use it and then end up being abandoned.

Linux is now in bed with corporate. The original idea was having a free alternative of unix and/or sort of fight against Microsoft. That's gone.

These are not all bad things, but turns the experience of Linux in to a mess.

For FreeBSD:

It just works, its solid, it bounces back. It has ZFS. Its Unix.

The kernel is as whole, its solid. Rock battle tested solid. Packages feel meshed correctly. Documentation is a single source.

Its just lovely to use and when you replace Linux for FreeBSD you'll feel a weight off your shoulders as your system will shutdown rather than systemmd displaying "Waiting 5minutes for X to shutdown". Have a great community which isn't divided by distributions.

Re: FreeBSD 13.2

#10

Post by cyberpunk »

> The mergemaster(8) utility has been deprecated and will be removed in FreeBSD 14.0

This is a bit of a bummer, though.

I did just try to use etcupdate for the 13.2-RELEASE upgrade and it hung forever trying to grep for something in /etc/default/devfs.rules, so I had to fall back on mergemaster again...

Oh well, maybe a clean install when 14 is out and it'll behave better.

Congrats on the release!

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