[HN Gopher] FreeBSD 2020 Q4 Status Report
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FreeBSD 2020 Q4 Status Report
Author : throw0101a
Score : 89 points
Date : 2021-01-16 16:25 UTC (6 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (www.freebsd.org)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.freebsd.org)
| fwsgonzo wrote:
| I have a question: Let's say you compile FreeBSD yourself (or
| another kernel with 64-bit RISC-V support), and you decide that
| you don't want the C-extension (compressed instructions). Will
| you be able to switch this extension off without encountering any
| issues, for example with assembly? I have a feeling that you
| can't even write compressed instructions with assembly unless you
| hand-write the instruction opcodes yourself, so maybe it's not an
| issue?
| jeff-davis wrote:
| I thought they were the same instructions, just a more compact
| representation (that has a subset of functionality)?
| fwsgonzo wrote:
| They are, but there are some drawbacks: 32-bit instructions
| can cross page-boundries and 16-bit instructions makes the
| length of the instruction dependent on a bit-pattern instead
| of a fixed-width.
| the_only_law wrote:
| Is anyone aware of the status of support for 802.11ac?
|
| I really do like some of the BSD's but I always find myself
| having to purchase external wireless g/n dongles when I try to
| use it on recent machines. I recall a while back hearing that
| there was an effort to support it. I'd love to help too, but by
| the time I'd be able to familiarize myself with the FreeBSD
| kernel and various 802.11 standards it'd likely be finished lol.
| bowel wrote:
| At least for Intel support, look in the wireless update section
| of that page. You can even find out whom to contact if you want
| to help. :)
| the_only_law wrote:
| Oh whoops, somehow I completely overlooked that.
| gautamcgoel wrote:
| Anyone here use FreeBSD on the desktop? If so, what window
| manager and login manager do you use? Does Zoom work? I tried
| using Freebase a year or two ago and found it a bit painful, so I
| switched back to Fedora...
| cperciva wrote:
| I'm using KDE and sddm. Last I heard, Zoom works for video but
| not sound.
| ctas wrote:
| I'm also using FreeBSD 12.2 Stable with KDE and SDDM. The
| initial setup is pretty straightforward, but I agree that every
| now and then I it can get really annoying. Today I tried to
| install VirtualBox 6 and realised that it installed v5, even
| though v6 is already more than a year old. Even the ports
| included v5.
| drewg123 wrote:
| My desktop is a Threadripper 2990WX running FreeBSD-current
| with Nvidia graphics.
|
| Its pretty usable as a desktop. I recently switched from
| KDE/Plasma5 to LXDE, mostly to avoid rolling-release related
| churn. Eg, I don't want my UI to change everytime I update
| firefox.
|
| I tried and failed to use it for Google Meet quite a while ago.
| The problem I had was something to do with the AMD USB chipset.
| I need to try it again.
|
| What doesn't work natively is anything with DRM. There are
| workarounds, like running Linux chrome in a linux jail (think
| WSL), or running spotifyd for Spotify.
| nix23 wrote:
| FreeBSD and i3...and i don't touch Zoom, but my D810 works very
| well as a webcam ;)
| adrian_b wrote:
| I normally use FreeBSD on servers, so I have little experience
| with desktops.
|
| Nevertheless, a couple of years ago I have used FreeBSD also as
| a desktop for some time.
|
| I have used XFCE, installed by compiling from sources, from
| FreeBSD ports, because that is what I use on Linux and I did
| not notice any problems.
|
| The desktop experience depends a lot on what hardware you have,
| because of possible compatibility issues.
|
| With an AMD Radeon GPU, I had some problems, I do not remember
| which. On the other hand, after installing an NVIDIA card and
| the NVIDIA FreeBSD driver, all worked perfectly.
|
| My camera was a Logitech, I think a C920, and that worked OK,
| both video and audio on FreeBSD.
| [deleted]
| [deleted]
| o33 wrote:
| I'm using FreeBSD on my laptop with i3 wm and no login manager.
| Zoom's sound doesn't work.
| gautamcgoel wrote:
| Do you use startx to fire up i3?
| [deleted]
| [deleted]
| znpy wrote:
| Didn't anyone else notice this? NFS over TLS ? Coult it also do
| tls client certificate authentication?
|
| EDIT: Apaprently yes, it can.
|
| This is a game changer... I'm looking forward to have this in my
| TrueNAS box.
|
| In the meantime... I might give FreeBSD another try.
| drewg123 wrote:
| It may be a while before it works on TrueNAS. NFS over TLS is a
| new feature for FreeBSD-13, as is kernel TLS We're still
| debating what to default ktls to (and have settled on "compiled
| in, but disabled via sysctl").
| cassepipe wrote:
| Wow. Some people still care about PowerPC. Can't wait to run a
| fully functionnal FreeBSD desktop on that old IMac G5.
| nix23 wrote:
| Sorry?! I buyd for lots of money my talosII, and yes i really
| care about powerpc and freebsd.
| spijdar wrote:
| As nix23 alluded to, there's two sides to this. FreeBSD will
| run on the G5, but the real target of this port is newer POWER8
| and POWER9 hardware, which is much more widely available than
| older IBM POWER gear, is modern, and is the fastest available
| platform you can run with no binary blobs in firmware, if that
| sort of thing bothers you. Or, if you just like the novelty.
| nix23 wrote:
| True, he is probably better served with netbsd i think?
| spijdar wrote:
| The last time I tried playing with older PowerPC Macs, I
| didn't have much luck with any of the BSDs. Linux's
| hardware support is just much better there.
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(page generated 2021-01-16 23:00 UTC)