What BSD do you all use for your desktop computer? reddit / BSD ---------------------------------------------------------------------- RenritsReddit · 2017-12-25 00:37 Just wondering, as I've heard FreeBSD and OpenBSD are more suited for use on servers. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- o_bem-te-vi_belicoso · 2017-12-25 00:55 I have used FreeBSD for about a year, up until about a year ago, on my old laptop. The only trouble I had was that I never got suspend working, with or without an X session (I recall once or twice I was able to resume cleanly w/o X, but never consistently). Before I used to use Arch Linux, nowadays I'm on Xubuntu (I try to minimise configuration, and make it easily reproducible). If the situation with suspend/resume ameliorates, I will just return to FreeBSD w/o giving it a second thought. I haven't had time to try sth. like GhostBSD though. Wrt OpenBSD, I tried it, but it won't work fine on any random computer. They don't support all that much drivers, you should buy a computer *for* OpenBSD, especially if it's a laptop. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- FUZxxl · 2017-12-25 00:57 I run FreeBSD on all my devices except for one box and some retro computers. My experience has been very good so far. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- piglit3 · 2017-12-25 01:06 netbsd on everything I own. I have some weird preferences that make me prefer it very strongly. I really like building everything from source, inspect & modify it at will, and giving that up feels weird. It's also really simple and I understand how it works on a level that I don't have with anything else. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- rhavenn · 2017-12-25 01:10 FreeBSD is fine as a desktop. It just takes a little more work than something like Linux Mint to setup. Think Arch or Debian console installer. My primary workstation at work and home is FreeBSD with Nvidia cards. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- rectagonal · 2017-12-25 02:22 I switched to NetBSD from Gnu/Linux for everything as of this past June. I really like PkgSrc and have a couple of odd architecture devices and I like having the same environment across all of them. Portability is also something I really value too having lived through a painful ppc/x86 transition once. I dont know id recommend it for someone with zero *nix experience but it was very well documented and an easy transition fot me. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- midgaze · 2017-12-25 02:30 FreeBSD. ZFS rules. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- iluminae · 2017-12-25 03:00 FreeBSD at work, at home I pick a new one every so often since it's basically a thin client. Currently on openbsd, may change to dragonfly soon. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- SoloBSD · 2017-12-25 03:01 HardenedBSD on my laptop and one of my cloud servers. ZFS and Security rules! ---------------------------------------------------------------------- mastrsushi · 2017-12-25 03:04 None, BSD belongs on the type of computers that don't have monitors. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- icantthinkofone · 2017-12-25 03:17 My company of 14 years has been using FreeBSD as our workstation software on 10 developer boxes. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- yourhelpfulfriend · 2017-12-25 03:45 OpenBSD. Simple, stable, secure, with Lots of good, current desktop software available as packages. I've got a GNOME 3.26 set-up. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- dlangille · 2017-12-25 03:55 OSX ---------------------------------------------------------------------- BumpitySnook · 2017-12-25 06:43 FreeBSD. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- losthalo7 · 2017-12-25 07:01 I'm in the process of switching my desktop from Debian to NetBSD right now, having used NetBSD on a shell account at [SDF](http://www.sdf.org) for over a decade. Thus far I'm liking pkgsrc. :-) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- wezm · 2017-12-25 08:09 Been running FreeBSD with GNOME on my desktop for a few months without issues. It’s installed on a ZFS pool comprised of 3 SSDs. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ehasting · 2017-12-25 08:30 FreeBSD ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapo_Rouge · 2017-12-25 08:31 The PS3/4 and Nintendo switch would like to disagree :) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- jaypatelani · 2017-12-25 09:01 Can't suggest one.. Because allBSDs are super strong and coherent for daily use and for development also.. Use all and decide for yourself :) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- xstasi · 2017-12-25 09:04 OpenBSD. Love the philosophy, the simplicity, security and code quality. It's true that the hardware support is limited, but I don't mind: the laptops that can run OpenBSD also happen those I would buy anyway, the thinkpads. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- phessler · 2017-12-25 11:28 OpenBSD, for almost 20 years now. I've mixed in OSX and Windows a few times, for work purposes. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- UnaClocker · 2017-12-25 15:20 Darwin. 😉 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- daemonpenguin · 2017-12-25 15:56 If you're going to run BSD on a desktop machine, then I highly recommend running a flavour of BSD specifically designed for desktop computers. GhostBSD, for example, which uses FreeBSD technology at its core, but provides a friendly installer and automatically gets up a desktop environment. TrueOS is a bit more cutting edge, but does approximately the same thing, setting up a desktop for you automatically. By contrast, if you go with OpenBSD or FreeBSD, then you will need to set up your desktop environment manually and you won't have user friendly networking tools by default. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- floatboth · 2017-12-25 16:11 FreeBSD -CURRENT of course :) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- floatboth · 2017-12-25 16:11 > the situation with suspend/resume - turn off the TPM in the firmware settings - try 12-CURRENT with `drm-next-kmod` GPU drivers ---------------------------------------------------------------------- jggimi · 2017-12-25 18:22 OpenBSD for at least 15 years. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- sheenashaw · 2017-12-25 18:23 That is just plain BS, I would say it works on pretty much any amd64 or x86 machine. But video will not be accelerated on latest gen hw. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Shejidan · 2017-12-25 19:10 Additionally the Macintosh, iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch, Apple Watch, and Apple TV also disagree. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- o_bem-te-vi_belicoso · 2017-12-25 20:26 I guess you're responding about OpenBSD. Well my totally subjective observation was that on the three laptops I tried it in the last couple of years (a Compaq Presario, an old Asus, a rather recent Asus), the necessary wi-fi drivers were absent. And as I couldn't have used my laptop perennially connected to ethernet, and couldn't find a supported USB modem in my country (just importing one would be too expensive to just try an OS), it was a no-go for me. On all of these laptops both multiple GNU/Linux distros and FreeBSD worked fine. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- o_bem-te-vi_belicoso · 2017-12-25 20:29 Thanks, unfortunately I can't try these nowadays. But certainly will in the coming weeks. One thing I'm ignorant about is, is -CURRENT stable enough to not require frequent reboots and/or debugging? ---------------------------------------------------------------------- floatboth · 2017-12-25 21:50 Yeah, it's very stable. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- waitman · 2017-12-25 22:19 most of my daily use computers run FreeBSD. I have had the best experience with Nvidia graphics and qualcomm atheros wifi cards. (unless its usb wifi, go with a realtek chipset) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- kcuf · 2017-12-25 22:29 FreeBSD on desktop and server for the past 10 years. Usually mac for laptop. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- rehcla · 2017-12-25 22:33 12 years Fedora... Since 2 years OpenBSD / TrueOS... and happy:) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- RenritsReddit · 2017-12-25 22:50 You dual boot OpenBSD/TrueOS or have two different machines? ---------------------------------------------------------------------- rehcla · 2017-12-26 00:36 Seperate machines But my serious stuff is all done on the OpenBSD Station... It's very stable and reliable, even on current! It's really a nice Desktop (in my case MATE) with everything available I need for daily office work and multimedia.... TrueOS serves me for printing cause I couldn't get my LaserJet to work with Open BSD and to play around with the latest FreeBSD stuff:) Both BSDs have a welcoming support community in IRC ( OpenBSD) and Gitter or Discourse (TrueOS). ---------------------------------------------------------------------- rectagonal · 2017-12-26 02:40 Just a fellow SDF user who switched from Debian to NetBSD this past year chiming in to say your not alone. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Sensucht94 · 2017-12-26 08:16 DragonflyBSD on Desktop and FreeBSD on laptop. NetBSD on Rpi3 :) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Sensucht94 · 2017-12-26 08:44 did you give Pure Darwin a try by the way? ---------------------------------------------------------------------- losthalo7 · 2017-12-26 20:26 Hello. :-) There's a learning curve to be sure on the system setup side, like anything, but not as bad as I'd feared. It's *nice* having a system that the output of 'top' doesn't scroll right off the screen as soon as you've booted. Debian (and most Linux distro's I expect) are becoming so complex that no one knows what's under the hood. Whereas one of the things I liked about Debian (back around 2000 when I started with 'Slink') was that I could grasp what a lot of the parts did even if I didn't know the code underneath. I compiled kernels and compiled programs from source in /usr/local and had fun because when I searched for a HowTo it actually told me "how to" and wasn't one of a hundred different forum posts - that might or might not work. I feel like I have a little bit of that simpler HowTo culture back, along with improvements the NetBSD folks have been steadily making. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- scottro11 · 2017-12-27 19:23 In theory, OpenBSD usually works better on a laptop, the reasoning being that more of its developers use it as their laptop system. I use FreeBSD on a couple of desktops with NVidia cards, and it's fine. There are a few things that don't work, such as Google Hangouts,TeamViewer, VMWare VCloud director console, but most things are fine. Laptops are another matter. Both FreeBSD and OpenBSD are behind Linux in wireless card support--for example, neither can do 802.11ac with an Intel 7260 dual channel card, FreeBSD's video drivers usually require CURRENT to get decent performance on an Intel video card for any laptop less than 3 years old. OpenBSD's iwm driver wouldn't connect for me (again, the 7260 Intel card) to a hidden network. Many of the annoyances are minor and easily fixed. The wireless card speed is only going to be noticeable, for example, if you're transferring moderately large files. For everyday browsing, including streaming a youtube video (they won't do Netflix) you won't notice the speed difference. At this point, I use them because I like them, rather than any real advantage to using them. My laptop use of them though, is mostly as a thin client to vpn into work and ssh to servers, or to use the browser to work with some of our various web apps. I can also use either one, easily, to play video, send email, almost all of what I would do with a Linux laptop (save for some of the things mentioned above, VCloud, TeamViewer, Google Hangouts and a few others.) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- RenritsReddit · 2017-12-28 01:12 So, OpenBSD will probably be a no-go on my newest Ryzen 5 1600 rig with a AMD Radeon RX 580, huh? It's too bad, I'm really interested in playing around with it. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- mastrsushi · 2017-12-28 01:49 Wow proprietary products that contribute nothing to the upstream project. Sounds promising! ---------------------------------------------------------------------- JonathanZP · 2017-12-30 12:37 If you're not concerned about dual booting you could just use an HD 6450 instead of the RX 580. That should be okay. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- gloomyquazar · 2017-12-30 17:47 I use custom FreeBSD built using following script https://gist.github.com/kpect/c1a103bd0b0294e7e966243c694ed156 for my T430 laptop and home desktop ---------------------------------------------------------------------- MaoTseDamnSon · 2018-01-04 05:32 FreeBSD on my desktop, OpenBSD on my laptop (Thinkpad X240) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- tidux · 2018-01-10 07:14 Run it in a VM. For something with that much GPU, OpenBSD on bare metal is sort of a waste.