FreeBSD- Worth a try?

[cloasters]

I keep hemming and hawing about FreeBSD. As a desktop OS, is it any better than Linux? Is dual-booting 98SE with it a PITA? Thanks.

[Superman]

No!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Don't do it!!!!!!!!!!!!

Can you say: "No 3D support, period!"

[Aedan]

Originally posted by Superman53142
Can you say: "No 3D support, period!"

Since when has OpenGL not been supported on FreeBSD?

AidanII

[Superman]

Originally posted by AidanII


Since when has OpenGL not been supported on FreeBSD?

AidanII

Oh coolness!!!! They have working nVidia drivers now!!!! Sweetness. Never mind

Last time I tried FreeBSD there weren't any working nVidia drivers...

[Aedan]

Originally posted by Superman53142
They have working nVidia drivers now!!!!

nVidia != 3D

or perhaps you've been too caught up in the marketing hype to notice?

AidanII

[Superman]

I'm pretty sure that was the sticking point when I was trying to install FreeBSD about 6 months ago.

[cloasters]

Even with the most up to date driver for a GF from XFree86.org, I've yet to see 3D work in Linux. Prob'ly cause I don't care enough about 3D in Linux to jump through the hoops.

Linux isn't for *gaming. Linux=suffering, as far as I can tell. Yes, you learn an amazing amount of what MS OS's hide from you, but you need to ask yourself: Is it worth it?

Oh pshaw! Time to reacquaint myself with the fun of Linux or explore *BSD. My neglect of the free and "free" *nixes is shameful.

Maybe a punishment fit for the endless list of criminal business practices of the Beast of Redmond will be visited upon that most honorable corporation. Then a resurgence of *nix fever will run rampant among geeks, to the cheers of dedicated geeks.

As the federel gummint is alleged to be pirating MS's software to the tune of billions upon billions of simoleans, it's perhaps doubtful that justice will be meted out in a fitting fashion.

Birds of a feather? Naah.



*It is for lots of people. Just not me.

[Superman]

Perhaps the reason that you didn't see 3D in Linux is that you'll need to get the GF driver from nvidia.com

And if Linux isn't for gaming, then I dunno if you're going to be very happy with a *BSD if you like gaming

[cloasters]

I think that I have gotten the proper driver from Nvidia, at least once. Maybe I'm wrong, but I simply can't remember 3D really working in Linux. I'm talking about what are now old distro's, it looks like the 3D sitch has really changed. If so, yay!

My PC knowledge, what there is of it, is very heavily weighted toward hardware. Software simply flummoxes me. I did have a go with Linux when v5.1 of Red Hat was new. And I did install it and ran it for a good while. Twern't no automagic installations back in the 1830's, btw. And I continued using Linux for at least two years.

I ran out of energy after studying the Mighty L for 16 hours a day for two months. I decided that I'd be a regular duuh user, rather than learn the true meaning of the fruit of Linus Torvald's brain, plus the thousands of extremely dedicated folks that build and add to the OS.

Whew! I was glad to let myself off of the "I must really understand this OS!" hook. Frankly, it's not easy! After actually buying(somewhat of a rare event. But you didn't hear that from me!)XP Pro, my guilt with liking an MS OS(again, a rare event) compels me to rededicate myself to the glory(and pain) of Linux.

Linux gets easier to install with nearly every new release. For an unknown reason, Mandrake decided that it didn't like me, my machines or the color of my eyes back in the v6.x days. This was again proved with v7.1. I thought I should be fair, and return the favor. Mongo not like Mandrake, nor Red Hat, by extension.

Yet Mongo loves SuSE, and the sentiment is mutual. As I'm not quite ready to learn the rigours of setting up a Server, I doubt that *BSD is all that useful. For now.

I do rabbit on.

[unclemojo]

I too get the same feeling, cloasters. Seems I want linux more than it wants me. I'm going the Red Hat route this evening. I've heard suse is nice, but I've only the 8.0 live demo that runs from the CD. Maybe the pld ftp agent will get fired up for another big set of downloads this evening. I'm not at all wanting nor ready to deal with having to manually config an OS I know jack about, so I'll be stuck in winders till I can game and manage my day to day crap without hitches on linux. (this could be several years I fear...)

[cloasters]

I find it hard to believe that modern Linux's are as easy or even easier to install than Windows. As long as we don't include XP Pro in the mix.

Yet you get at least ten times more applications with SuSE 8.0 Professional Edition than with XP Pro. And it costs $10 less than XP Home Edition. And you don't have to buy ANY hardware with it.

Every SuSE release since 6.2 has been easy to install. I don't mean "easy compared to skiing down Mt Everest," the OS is easy to install compared with 98SE or Win2K.

Most of us are so used to MS's OS's that we can't even dream of trying something that's new and different. There is a "trick" to installing and running Linux.

I spent many hours studying all I could about the OS. This prepared me for what installation was like. This was before I decided on a distribution. And no flavor of Linux was easy to install in the olde days.

They are easy now!

[unclemojo]

I've got Suse 8.0 lice eval (need to get the latest) It ran from CD, which threw me WAY off, then it dropped me to command line. No gui at all. I rebooted, in total fear of the blinking cursor and pulled the CD. Was greeted by my regular login window. I then became irritated about a 35 minute install that runs only from CD and begain a religious nuke and pave. In short, Suse scares me, but you seem to have a friendly knowledge, so it's back in the batting order. Right after this install of Red Hat..

[cloasters]

SuSE, at least the 7.0 Home use edition, is a bit strange. In that it wants to have a FAT32 partition to install itself on. Naturally, it changes the chunk of the FAT32 C:\ volume(partition), or drive that you allow it to have into 2 ext2 partitions and one Linux Swap partition.

I've started SuSE 7.0's installation after I paved the way for it by creating a ext2 partition beforehand. Nothing doing! It wants a FAT32 partition, period. As I wrote, strange.

I've found that the best way to install whichever flavor of Linux that you want to try is from a CD-ROM. Forget about ISO's burned to a CD-R/W. You can buy the *GPL edition(very few bells and whistles. Nonetheless, they work just fine)of many distributions for peanuts. Literally. Why not have a look at
www.cheapbytes.com ?

It's much easier to make a serious foray into Linux with a book or three within reach. It used to be said that "Linux for Complete Idiots" is better than "Linux for Dummies." Idiots and dummies are both about my speed, so I got the .."for Complete Idiots" book.

If you can only have one book to help you with Linux, Running Linux ,3rd(or newer) Edition, by Matt Welsh, et al is that book. From O'Reilly Publishing. It's an exceptional work, simple enough for dummies(that's me) to really understand. And it goes deeper into the answer of your question, too---only if you want to!

There's help for Linuxer's all over the Web, too. While I had visions of becoming Ace Linux, feared and respected around the PCing world, I discovered that this was a unrealistic goal-- by a light year or two! There's only one important thing to remember about Linux: Have fun with it. Seriously!


*GPL. You get the same distro when you DL an ISO. It's always better to have the CD-ROM, IMHO.

FreeBSD is a bit different. I'm told that an ftp installation is the best way to go.

[cloasters]

If I read unclemojo's post more carefuly, I'd have seen that he already has the Evaluation, licensed version of SuSE 8.0.
And it probably came from Cheapbyte's, too!

SuSE is more tight-fisted about releasing GPL versions of its OS than many other companies that put together Linux distributions.

I thought that the GNU Public License requires that Red Hat, Slackware, Whoknow's, ad infinitum make a GPL version of their distro's available to the public, for free.

Perhaps the free version isn't required to work right?! Anyway, you might find old versions of SuSE in ISO format--that work properly.
Yet who wants "old?"

I noticed that Cheapbytes still sells SuSE 8.0 in both the Professional and Personal versions. These are SuSE's official releases, which means that SuSE gets paid for its work. Funny, I've never seen a MS OS at Cheapbytes for $5. Can't even try before you buy. Tsk!

The 8.0 Pro edition was discounted $10 a few months back. Not now. If you buy it direct from SuSE, they gouge you for your state's sales tax. Naughty.

[unclemojo]

I'm not too sure where I got it, but I do know it scared me. RedHat goes in on Friday. I just hope I can get the hang of it. I'd love to get a laptop an nix the thing for strictly office and multimedia. God I can only dream it seems for now

[cloasters]

Linux is Linux is Linux, because Linus Torvalds still has the final yea or nay over the kernel. Nonetheless, different distributions get things done differently, and their desktops can look a lot different from each other.

It doesn't really matter which distro one starts with. Red Hat used to keep some files in non-standard places, I dunno if it still does. After you stick with it until you get a basic idea of WTH is up and down, you're encouraged to try other distro's. Otherwise, you can get trapped into using just one distribution, or "flavor" simply because you're used to it. Different distro's have different strong and weak points. None of them is perfect. Have fun!