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You can order a DVD from FreeBSD Mall and not have to download anything - just see how it works. Since they are currently offering both 8.2 and 9.0, you can get both in DVD form and do an experiment of whether it's smooth to update from the former to the latter w/o re-installing. I'm not sure whether DannyO above used CLI or other utilities while doing those upgrades, so it would be interesting to know whether it can be done, particularly since the experience may vary b/w PC-BSD and FreeBSD. At least for software installations, from what I've read, PBI eliminates the need to go through the CLI, but it was not clear whether PBI is also used to upgrade the OS itself, as opposed to just installing software packages.

On a separate note, I'd be curious as to how the experience varies b/w various FreeBSD distros - PC-BSD, DesktopBSD, GhostBSD and so on.

We were walking in the mall in Orland Park, IL so just for fun we go into the apple store and change the back grounds on about half a dozen laptops to the microsoft logo, and the homepages to microsoft.com. Yes we are all nerds.

Fuck you, you're not nerds. Astroturfers and stupid MS-fanboys maybe, but you're not nerds. Go buy yourself a decent operating system.

Where does Linux fail where BSD succeeds?

For some people it's the licensing (BSD vs GPL). For others it is the coherence of the system (how many places hide an IP address in Red Hat?). For others, it is a question of style (BSD vs AT&T type Unix). For some, its functionality (I always liked the way the BSD _______ command worked). From some, it's the simple Joy of BSD, or the McKusick - take your pick. For some, it could be the approach taken to a particular problem taken by one of the BSDs, such as the continuous OpenBSD code audits. For some it might be a particular platform maintained as part of the main distribution. For some, it may be the continuing BSD innovations. For some it might be the counter-culture aspect BSD in the Linux world. Plenty more reasons that people could have, including: Linux - 5 letters, BSD - 3 letters. Do the math.

You could say that the only truly popular Unix desktop is Apple's Macintosh running OS X.
Mac OS X: What is BSD?

What's The Greatest Software Ever Written?

OpenBSD FreeBSD NetBSD PC BSD

FreeBSD Mall BSD Magazine

To each his own.

Several WPA variants (as both a client and host AP) are supported, just not added to the handbook. Since hostapd and wpa-supplicant are brand-new with this release, the docs still need some work. A work-in-progress version is available at http://www.freebsdmall.com/~loader/en_US.ISO8859-1 /articles/wireless/article.html

What a terrible parent post! If you really can't download the ISO copy and burn it to CD by any mean, here is the place that you shop:
FreeBSD Mall
At least they DO support the FreeBSD development community financially.

While you're there, check out the plush daemon. Your girlfriends will love it :D

Software is released that someone has obviously put a lot of time and effort into, and within five minutes of the story on /. someone's posted torrent links.

I agree with you. Buy the CDs/DVDs and support the project.

Please don't download FreeBSD but prefer to buy it on CDROM, preferably from FreeBSDmall.com, which is linked from FreeBSD "Getting" page. This way you can support FreeBSD. Another way to help the project is to donate money.

As a long time FreeBSD user and supporter, it should be noted that many of us support the effort with our auto-subscriptions, where we pay $25 for each new release. On many of my servers I'm still running old versions, and I'm aware that I don't need the CDs for the latest versions mailed to me, but this is my way of supporting their efforts by kicking back money each time they have a major release. I urge all FreeBSD users to subscribe and provide the project with a solid source of recurring revenue that helps keep their project going.

While the funding drives are helpful, it's important to give the team a more substantive commitment and ongoing revenue they can bank on. It's a small price to pay. Subscribe and make a difference!

Why are we looking to an "organization" (aka, corporation) to bail out FreeBSD? Why not have individuals contribute? I sent $100 to the FreeBSD Foundation via PayPal this morning.

$100 is nothing to "pay" for the dozen or so releases I've used in the past four years. I also subscribe to FreeBSD releases, even though I might never remove the wrappings from the CD cases.

I know the FreeBSD community will step up to the plate in the last 10 days of 2004 to help the FreeBSD Foundation meet the IRS' tax rules.

Helevius

the whole point of a RC is to find and fix bugs. hence the name "release candidate", not "release". there is no definitive number of RCs before a final release.

and if downloading and burning 1.1GB is too much of an effort, why don't you just pre-order 5.3? you don't have to worry about how many RCs there are and you'll be giving back a little. then again, you are complaining about wasting 2 CD-Rs, which costs less than the amount of change i have on the floor of my car...

Nonetheless, there are people out there who will sell you FreeBSD or the Brooklyn Bridge.

Like here?

besides which it's not like you don't get all the ports anyway, you just have to wait for them to download and compile, which may not be trivial for things like KDE, but out of the 9000+ ports, the vast majority take just a few minutes to install on a modern machine. it's just a 'make install' away.

I'll recommend something cute. Ya know all those beanie babies? Well, something along those lines:

FreeBSD Plush Daemon

Or, if you must and he's much more of a linux geek:

Tux Stuffed... Thing

But really, I've been reading and seeing things about useful or even presents in general. Since when is Valentines day about spending money on people? It would seem the marketters really are having an impact.

When I want presents, though, I want something I'm going to use. I don't want something I may use once or twice and then will shove out of the way somewhere and that I would feel guilty about throwing away... useful, so I can think of where it came from often and it's never "in the way". It's only in a convenient location.

-DrkShadow

I think I will spend my vouchers on official CD sets of Slackware and FreeBSD

Though we're talking about Linux distros, I would like to mention that FreeBSD is available on DVD in addition to the regular CD set. Here is a link to FreeBSD 5.1 on DVD.

That's not true. While I'm not a heavy gamer, I have a number of games going on my FreeBSD system. I DO know of people playing Unreal Tournament 2003 on FreeBSD systems though. My games include: FlightGear, Abuse, Cube, Falcon's Eye, FooBillard (beautiful!), FrozenBubble, glTron, as well as SNES games through emulation. And that's just a tiny number of the 576 games currently in the ports collection.

>> It cannot be used by my grandma.

> That's true.

Says who? I could set up a FreeBSD box that my grandma could use. She couldn't admin it any better than she could a Windows system though. If something broke with Windows or FreeBSD, she'd still be calling me. So what's the diff? "Hey grandma, to send email click here, type here, then click there." The simplest user is sufficiently abstracted from the OS enough that they are the BEST candidates for alternative OSes. And if you're going to stick a total newbie with something that they're going to call you everytime they have a problem on, why not give them something that doesn't crash all the time?

> That's true. The only graphical user interfaces for FreeBSD are those based on X11--including the atrocities KDE and Gnome. These are nothing more than curiosities.

While I suppose it's true technically, I don't see it as a bad thing. In fact, when it comes to servers, it's a good thing. And when it comes to desktops, choice is a good thing. Does it really matter that one team makes the OS and one team makes the GUI? They work well together, and countless people like myself use them. Do you complain about Windows because it doesn't come with a word processor? No, and if MS tried to bundle Word w/ Windows people would cry foul. So take that to another level. Just because some people can't fathom an OS and the GUI being separate, doesn't mean it's not a good idea. I don't want a GUI on the server, and I like having choices about what window-manager or desktop-environment to run. Yes, KDE and Gnome are pretty resource-intensive. So use xfce then... it's pretty slick. I happen to like Gnome, but I've used KDE too and I'm actually running xfce4 right now just for fun.

> That's true. FreeBSD is not for people who want to buy a support contract.

Wow, that is so not true I begin to wonder if you're a troll. Did you even bother checking the website before making that claim? Or about about here?

> That's half true. You do have to compile everything; that's what the "ports" system is.

That's 100% not true. FreeBSD gives you choice. If you want to compile, you can build ports. If you want to install precompiled binaries, you install packages. Once installed, they are registered in the database (with their dependencies) the same way and are managed in the same manner. A little reading of the FreeBSD ports and packages system would be in order.

I'm hoping you're not a troll as some of your answers were correct. However some are quite wrong.

... And that attitude and/or belief is exactly why Linux will ultimately fail.

Like it or not, people need money to survive. Free spirit is one thing, but keeping something entirely free as in beer will ultimately kill it as the people behind it will have nothing to support their continued existence.

I dislike Microsoft as much as the next guy, but I realize that if I want viable alternatives, I have, or at least should, pay for them to show my support and to put food in the developers' mouths. That's why I buy every new version of Libranet Linux, and that's why I have a subscription to FreeBSD releases on CD via the FreeBSD Mall.

in a way they are this should explain a bit.

.

XP Home: http://shop4.outpost.com/product/3063039
XP Pro: http://shop4.outpost.com/product/3063019

Apple doesn't do "upgrade editions". Every time they sell a copy of their OS, they sell it as a full retail purchase. It's a bit of a bummer, but considering that their full retail price is a little over half what XP Pro full retail costs, and less than twice what XP Home Upgrade Edition costs, (XP Home is so neutered! Who'd want it?) it's clear that OS X is a bargain.

And, mais bien sur, Mandrake Linux, a worthy competitor to either one, is available for free download or $54 for the Powerpack Edition 7 CD-ROM set or 1 DVD-ROM set. Red Hat, for those who are conscientiously objecting to anything French, can be had without support in the basic pack for $40. For those who don't like Mandrake but do like KDE, SuSE is at the exact price point.

There is also ample evidence, even without MacOS X's liberal use of the codebase, that BSD isn't dying, exaggerated reports to the contrary.

The various CD's you buy are generally identical to the ISOs you download. If you want to support the project, it is recommended you buy from one of the vendors who supports the project. I have subscriptions with both FreeBSD Mall and BSD Mall (Part of Daemonnews).

Other options are listed in the Handbook.

I definatly recommend downloading rather then buying from people like cheapbytes.

-- Brooks

Probably not as pissed as the FreeBSD folks would be because you're wasting their precious bandwidth by downloading successive ISO images, instead of learning how to use CVSUP, or buying CD's.

Yes. It's called the FreeBSD Toolkit, and can be found at the following address: http://www.freebsdmall.com/cgi-bin/fm/bsdtool?id=Z jIbzhtY&mv_pc=21. This box contains most of the source archives ("distfiles") you can use locally for compiling the Ports (put them in /usr/ports/distfiles).

- Murray

FreeBSD has had "official" CD sellers for a damn long time. Just flip through freebsdmall's history list and see how long they've been selling them for. Oh, and I hate to break it to you, but FreeBSD's been sold in chain-stores like CompUSA for quite a while too.

Now, had anybody (the original submitter, or the Slashdot staff) actually bothered to read this, they would've noticed that it said that this is Daemon News' first time carrying official FreeBSD CDs. Which isn't true either, based on the Daemon News online store, but hey. This is Slashdot. What do we care about actual fact?

I mean, geez. Come on, Slashdot staff, can't you actually take 30 seconds and read the @#$#ing article you're posting?

If you really want a CD, go to BSD Mall and buy a cd there. You may pay a little extra, but you are supporting the development. Of course, if you just want to try it for the first time and don't want pyhsical media or upgrade, then cheapbytes is a good choice.

(The one thing that the FreeBSD team isn't amateurish about is gay sex. It's well known that several prominent former CSRG workers take it up the ass as often as possible, and their "users group meetings" are held in highway washrooms. The fact the FlamingBSD is based in San Francisco is further proof that FreeBSD is the OS of choice for queer nancies. Finally, while I despise Christians, I will note that the BSD mascot is reminisent of an evil deity who Christians believe homosexuals will meet in the afterlife.)

OpenBSD isn't much better. I find it highly amusing that a uniprocessor server OS can exist in the year 2001, but I guess that OpenBSD's five users have their reasons. Theo "The Rat" de Raadt is a well known bitch/asshole, which is why he was kicked off the NetBSD core team. (NetBSD has always taken a firm stance of bitches/assholes, and The Rat's bitchiness/assholery was not not tolerated once it was discovered.) Also, The Rat's anti-US sentiments leads many to believe that he was behind the recent World Grave Center "incident."

Last, and definitely least, is NetBSD. While their hardline anti-Rat policy is to be commended, NetBSD is a joke. It's great that they've managed to port their outdated UNIX-wannabe to everything on the planet with a circuit board, as well as some citrus fruit, but such portability has no practical application when viewed in light of performance, scalabilty, stability, and software support that are even outdone by FreetofuckmenBSD.

In short, *BSD is dying. I hope that these "Antiamerican Megafags" learn the truth and are anally sodomized in the butt by their competitors. Indeed, they must be in a poor position already, to have considered using Cheap Software in the enterprise.

Thank you.

-- The_Messenger
the_messenger@evilemail.com

I have found that several Linux distros are designed to be more of a "desktop" OS

Then step right up and go an get the FreeBSD for the Desktop!
FreeBSD for the Desktop

Since BSD is more of a server operating system

Really? Then can you explain this product?
FreeBSD the desktop version

FreeBSD is a pure server OS.

Really?

BSD Desktop edition
BSD Desktop Edition - Includes FreeBSD, The Complete FreeBSD Book, ApplixWare Office Suite 5.0, and Partition Magic (Special Edition)

Now that you know that BSD is a desktop OS, you don't need to run Linux, do you?

Check out this thread on Apache usage in the pr0n industry (the logic being that pr0n sites take way more hits than "normal" sites), and try this article on Yahoo's experience on traffic/load balancing on BSD. Oh yeah, there's this article on why the pr0n industry uses BSD and not M$. "Welcome to Earth - A subsidary of Microsoft"

When I see kids waving their Nokia phones with the Nike swoosh as the operator logo (in icelandic, scroll down for picture), and think they are soo cool and then think that some poor kid has spent minutes drawing the logo, I feel a bit depressed. Now, I dislike Nike, and wouldn't be cought dead wearing clothes with their logo on. (Or any garments producer logo) but on the other hand I wear my Linux/BeOS/FreeBSD t-shirts proudly. Does that make me a hypocryte? I think not. I have a Toyota t-shirt which I only wear at home when no-one sees :)
It's a sad, sad world we live in...and I need my coffie
J.

If anyone is *not* in a hurry, goto FreeBSD Mall and fork out some $ and buy the disks. A little support is A Good Thing(tm). Maybe I'll get the 3.4-R before Corel sends out the disk I ordered from them. -d

I thought this was on topic. When one is a confused young lad, there's nothing like the mall to check outfly members of the gender one prefers.

A few other good sites, are Daemon news, for all sorts of info on the *BSDs, and FreeBSD Rocks for FreeBSD information, and FreeBSD Zine for more information, and finally, to buy your own cuddly daemon, FreeBSD Mall. George

The .ISO image is in the directory above the link posted in the article, so before people post asking where it is, the .ISO is in here. Only disk 1 of 4 is available as an .ISO from the main FreeBSD FTP site (Walnut Creek), as the README.TXT states:

This directory contains FreeBSD installation ISO images (the 1st CD out of every 4 CD set from Walnut Creek CDROM). This should be enough to install the full operating system, though if you're looking for the full experience or wish to support the project through your CD purchase, please see http://www.freebsdmall.com. Thanks!

If you must have the entire 4 CD set for free, I'm sure that the usual suspects will have .ISO images of all 4 CDs soon. However, if you use it, you should support good software with your purchase.

Aside from the system design, one thing that really impresses me with FreeBSD is its spectacular documentation. Nearly every aspect of the OS is documented in manpages or in The Complete FreeBSD book.

Standard answer is, "almost every book about Unix". FreeBSD is, of course, BSD. BSD books apply.

Check out http://www.freebsdmall.com, though. There is a book session there. I find it a little bit incomplete, but it's a good start.

Also, check out The Handbook, on http://www.freebsd.org/handbook/index.html . It can also be downloaded in a number of formats, including pdf and ps, at ftp://ftp.FreeBSD.ORG/pub/FreeBSD/doc/.

Finally, http://www.freebsd.org/docs.html has everything (if you want to know what I mean by everything, check it out :).