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They have only the necessities (KDE, Firefox, and a few others) installed by default, and downloaded packages have installers - you just run them and it installs with a wizard.

Every package is self contained - they all go in /usr/local/MyPrograms/packagename with all the required libraries, binaries, etc. Removing a package is as simple as removing that folder and the links, which is also handled automatically by a similar wizard.

I have reccomended it to a few people who are interested in beginning to learn UNIX OSes, and it works really well. They've all been able to figure it out really quick with no problem at all, and it gets them interested in free software.

There aren't a ton of packages avaliable yet, but the essentials are there and anyone can create new packages.

Indeed, the installation program is a real gem. I was hoping that PC-BSD would be as easy to install. Unfortunately, the installer crashed.

Who wants to use Linux anyway? Linux is shit.

BSD is a lot better. Anyone who knows what he's talking about must agree. Look at Apple.

PCBSD is the user-friendly (open-source) UNIX platform of tomorrow. Fuck Linux and its gayhole shit.

http://pcbsd.org/

"Personally, FBSD is one of those things I really wanted to like, but time and time again left dissapointed. That said, it's a *nix, so it certainly has it's good qualities ;-)"

Have you tried PC-BSD? http://www.pcbsd.org/
I'm not claiming it's any competition for windows, but it's fast approaching the friendliness of a lot of linux distros.

I was quite impressed. They seem to have made some major progress, and seem to be working and releasing at a brisk pace, and most things either "just work" or are configurable with a GUI.

Again, I'm not saying it's as polished as windows or even some of the more user-friendly linux distros, but it's worth a look. For many it may be a friendly enough desktop to consider as a combo desktop/personal server, with the *BSD server goodness mitigating some of the friendliness issues remaining.

I'm a linux-user with medium skills with linux, and had tried FreeBSD a couple times, but the initial learning curve was so steep to get a working and configured desktop that I couldn't afford the time investment.

I'm now happily multi-booting 2 linux distros, windows, and PC-BSD, and have enough of a leg-up to be able to explore and learn at an acceptable (to me) rate. My g/f even had me replace her linux/KDE desktop with PC-BSD, which shocked me...she's not a geek or even especially interested in OSs. She told me she just liked PC-BSD because it "felt more stable".

I hope the folks at PC-BSD keep up the great work they're doing in making FreeBSD easier for people not already well-versed in *BSD/UNIX to get a start with.

Hopefully that will help them through that critical initial period until they've gained enough experience, so they'll stick with it.

As to TCPA/TC, my past /. posts on that subject have made my feelings quite clear. It's *my* computer, I'll say what happens, thankyou.

If it ceases to be possible for this state of affairs to continue, then I have other interests and places to spend my money. Maybe some more vintage guitars/amps and EFF donations. :) Their loss.

Just my $0.02

Strat

Ubuntu : Debian :: PC-BSD : FreeBSD

• It wants a primary partition to install into. I remember this from my previous trial run with PC-BSD so what I did was boot from Knoppix and ran cfdisk to create a new 11GB primary partition (hda3) from the end of the disk forward. This will let me continue to add logical partitions for more GNU/Linux installs.
• Modified my grub.conf with the following:
  

  title FreeBSD
  root (hd0,2,a)
  kernel /boot/loader

• Modified my xorg.conf file with xorgconfig to get the display settings corrected for my E90f monitor (I like 1280x1024 but it was only going up to 1024x768)

The Michael David Install & Configure guide is even better then I thought! He's got a bunch of downloadable scripts that have made updating and working with the offical ports a cakewalk (and the scripts provide an easy template to follow when working with ports in the future).

Thanks to the PC-BSD folks and a nice outline from Mr. David, I am set with FreeBSD and all kinds of options to work with--all virtually pain-free!

There's nothing like doing to actually learn new things. In fact it's about the only learning methodology that really works for me.

http://www.pcbsd.org/ Is the desktop brand of FreeBSD, as they say on there page. I have nothing agenst *BSD, it's just Unix in my view and if has something that i need. I will use it in the end. Today i use Gentoo Linux without any problem.

PC-BSD is a GUI-centric version of FreeBSD (KDE) with a program installation system similar to Mac OS X (application folders).

I didn't want to use it at first because you didn't have control over partitioning in the first few versions.

Thankfully, they changed the installer so that you can partition and install over multiple partitions in the newest versions.

I'm going to install it soon as a server even though it's intended as a desktop. The reason is that, in my opinion, text-only administration of my server is way too much hassle, I've got better things to do than memorize dozens of text commands and their flags. On top of that, the installation of programs is easier and cleaner, even easier and cleaner than Windows.

I'm a visual person and handling my FreeBSD 5.3 install with text-only programs was not good enough, not enough feedback and not enough usability. I didn't have a good mental overview of my system with shell-only programs and everytime I wanted to do anything I had to consult the (excellent) FreeBSD manual. With Windows I could figure things out just by clicking around the GUI. GUIs can be seen as having built-in manuals in my opinion.

One thing that worries me is that I've been told that X is a big security vulnerability. Is KDE an X system? Is it open to attacks by default? It'd be great if someone can help answer. Thanks for helping out a newcomer.

With the comments about poor usability and friendliness as compared against windows and linux sure to abound, I have to put in my $0.02.

FreeBSD has taken some huge steps toward a more user/newbie friendly experience in recent times. I'm posting this from my significant others' PC, which is running PC-BSD, based on 5.4 RELEASE.

The funny thing is, she prefered PC-BSD over any of the linux flavors I've had her try (including Mandriva/Mandrake, Debian, Mepis, Knoppix, etc.) and even over windows.

She tells me she likes PC-BSD because it "feels" more stable and predictable to her, and after doing a windows install last nite (for games and the occasional MSOffice/OO.org compatibility/formatting hiccups), I gotta say the PC-BSD install (the installer is a nice graphical installer, with nearly everything being fine if one just accepts the defaults) is much faster with far less pickiness, and of course, only one reboot..at the end, into the new fully-installed and functioning system.

Windows failed to detect or set up the very vanilla Linksys NIC, and required significant (for a newbie) setup after the install to get a working internet connection. PC-BSD "just worked" in regards to the NIC, and most everything else, including sound.

PC-BSD also has a package system for software management, using ".pbi" pre-built packages as well as the FreeBSD "ports" system. The ".pbi" packages available are somewhat limited still, but does include some standouts, such as the java installer, which automates the java installation, which has been an issue for me with the various FreeBSD desktops I've tried.

OO.org 2.0 beta is also included, running in KDE 3.4.0. Guess I've rambled enough, just wanted to get the word out on PC-BSD for the FreeBSD-squeamish. You can check it out for yourself at http://www.pcbsd.org/ .

Strat

Try it out. You will be pleasantly suprised I think. I know I was. I've given up on so many previous attempts at installing FreeBSD, I've lost count...

PC-BSD got me to a functioning desktop in no time. And the nice thing is, the ports system is there. You can use PC-BSD's packages or you can use the official FreeBSD ports. Very nice.

I've just downloaded the latest version via bittorrent last night and being the responsible type I am still seeding--give it a spin and tell us what you think.

I think those days are over...

The PC-BSD project makes it a snap to install a functioning FreeBSD system. DistroWatch mentions a very nice step-by-step guide to installation process but really, you don't even need that if you are already handy at installing various GNU/Linux distros. (Although the guide does go into some custom configuration things that are useful/interesting.)

The torrent for PC-BSD is ready to roll, give it a try. Now there are no more excuses ;-)

I think those days are over...

The PC-BSD project makes it a snap to install a functioning FreeBSD system. DistroWatch mentions a very nice step-by-step guide to installation process but really, you don't even need that if you are already handy at installing various GNU/Linux distros. (Although the guide does go into some custom configuration things that are useful/interesting.)

The torrent for PC-BSD is ready to roll, give it a try. Now there are no more excuses ;-)

Installing is not a problem anymore. PC-BSD is FreeBSD underneath, which has the most easiest installation process ever!

Thanks, that was one of the funniest things I've seen today.

*BSDeeead indeed.

freebsd is hard to install ? , would you like a nice pretty gui installer for a os that is mostly installed on servers ? then here yo go http://www.pcbsd.org/

http://www.pcbsd.org/

There's a serious lack of information on that site. Like what the purpose of building yet another distro was, what need they were filling, other than learning to roll your own distro.

More power to them. I personally use MacOS X and FreeBSD daily. I consider setting up a Linux machine from time to time (okay mods, I'm not setting up flamebait here), but it gets to be a real turnoff finding a more or less 'standard' distro that isn't a pain to set up. FreeBSD isn't elegant at all (PC-BSD seems to be stepping up to fill that need nicely), but at least it's the devil I know (pun intended).

Gentoo and/or Debian based systems at least seem to be the way to go these days, but the every-increasing number of distros bugs me. Don't want to pick a distro only to find it discontinued and have to load a new one. :\

Why the GPL License for PC-BSD Installer?

All custom software developed for PC-BSD, The GUI Installer, Package Manager, Package Creator, were developed using the QT libraries. (www.trolltech.com) QT is one of the most powerful, solid C++ library sets available today, but it does not allow releasing under the BSD license, only under the GPL, or their own custom license QPL. For this reason, we have chosen to go the GPL approach. This was not intended to *pollute* the BSD license, just as a user running KDE on BSD doesn't intend to pollute the license either.

The philosophy is interesting. It's also the first instance of something that sounds cheesey but I'd love to tack on to XP when I tortured with that: The Eye Candy Meter

But, the question is what's it for? The key thing seems to be a great sense of integration, etc. But, as far as I can tell, most of the things that someone who wants a *nix with a gui are not there. I may have missed some included alternatives, but you'll do without:

• abiword/openoffice/gnumeric/koffice
• firefox/mozilla (it does seem to have Konqueror)
• mplayer
• apache/php/postgresql/mysql
• quanta
• gimp
• emacs

Ouch! I suspect you won't be using this to do office, web or database work for now. Complete package list/release notes here