I'm new to BSD, should I start with NomadBSD? reddit / BSD ---------------------------------------------------------------------- InfinitelyManic · 2020-04-19 03:30 You should use a VM or spare equipment and try all the BSDs. That was the approach I used when I started learning GNU/Linux; I tried many distros. Years later, I decided to finally try a BSD. I first looked at FreeBSD, but then decided to install NetBSD; which failed, perhaps due to something I was doing wrong. Then I successfully installed OpenBSD and have been stuck there ever since. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- bdlf1729 · 2020-04-19 04:30 You need the convienence when first trying out all the different options, but after you've found a favorite you need to get rid of the convienence. Make it possible to go back in case of emergencies, but hold yourself outside your comfort zone long enough so that you can at least understand *why* things are different on the new system. Well, if you're anything like me, that is. Whenever I change OS's it's always happened by me trialing a bunch of different ones on a spare computer, then me picking my favorite and forcing myself to use it on my main machine for a month (grabbing a spare disk and replacing my boot drive with it). If I feel sore because I can't get some specific thing to work, then rather having to lift my computer out from under my desk, it's easier to look a bit farther for solutions. I came onto this habit when, after like the sixth time of trying out Linux without much real intent to stick with it, I nuked the Windows bootloader. A whole afternoon of trying to figure out how to recover it, and frankly I just needed to sleep -- but I always put a show on in the background to fall asleep to. And the next day I'd want to play a game to release some stress. And eventually I was going to want to listen to all the music I had saved on the secondary drive. The days passing while I worked to try and recover that partition, I slowly broke down all the barriers that had me stuck on Windows all those years. When I solved the partition recovery I immediately jumped back into my old install and started living there again; but it wasn't long after until I felt the urge to go back. > but then decided to install NetBSD; which failed, perhaps due to something I was doing wrong. Is this where I mention that I've never successfully installed NetBSD? I mean, I'm sure that installs of it exist, like, *somewhere*, but that's the only thing I remember from running half a dozen attempts of it. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- John_Lins · 2020-04-19 04:52 Good idea, but I have one more question about NomadBSD. It says it's a "System for USB flash drives, based on freeBSD" what does this mean exactly? I know it means it can be run from a USB, but what If I wanted to use it with just hardware. P.S. I will try out OpenBSD as well. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- InfinitelyManic · 2020-04-19 05:18 You mean if you want to actually install it permanently? Yes, according to the site, installing onto a HDD or VM is an option. See https://nomadbsd.org/handbook/handbook.html#hddinstall I would definitely set up a USB device and keep it with you everywhere you go. I've done some similar with small GNU/Linux distros like Puppy Linux in order to do data recovery or test hardware on other computers. I also keep several distros in my back pack. I generally use the CLI only. Since I am basically stuck at home, I may try NomadBSD next week to see how "light" it really is. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Plasm0duck · 2020-04-19 05:18 You should try FurryBSD. It's a great FreeBSD Desktop OS. Nomad is more to run on a usb stick. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- John_Lins · 2020-04-19 05:34 Oh ok, thank's for all your help! ---------------------------------------------------------------------- John_Lins · 2020-04-19 05:49 Thank you for that recommendation, I think I'll try FurryBSD ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Plasm0duck · 2020-04-19 05:53 I use it as my daily driver on my 27” iMac and haven’t looked back. It comes in 2 flavours, xfce and kde. But you can install whatever DE/WM you like. If you want a minimal system, I’d recommend go for the xfce flavour, install it, then remove xfce and install something like dwm, that’s what I did. Don’t forget to choose ZFS for your file system during partitioning and create a single disk pool and use encryption. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- kyleW_ne · 2020-04-19 09:34 Is there any benefit to using FurryBSD over vanilla FreeBSD with XFCE installed? ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Plasm0duck · 2020-04-19 09:39 Jus easier to install for first timers, also supports more hardware, for example. I could not get Xorg to run on my iMac with vanillla FreeBSD, but FurryBSD works perfectly. It’s pretty much the same as vanilla. Just has added support and fancy live setup ---------------------------------------------------------------------- kyleW_ne · 2020-04-19 09:49 Ok thanks. In that case my workstation will stay on 12.1 release then since it sounds like there is nothing to be gained from a switch to Furry. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- joscher123 · 2020-04-19 10:08 FuryBSD, not FurryBSD ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Plasm0duck · 2020-04-19 11:27 Thanks for correcting me. It’s been a long day ---------------------------------------------------------------------- FUZxxl · 2020-04-19 11:46 I've never heard of NomadBSD. Try one of the established variants or it's going to be hard to get any support. I can personally recommend FreeBSD and NetBSD. OpenBSD is interesting from a security point of view but otherwise fairly traditional. I would not recommend it to a beginner. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- typo180 · 2020-04-19 12:58 I thought there really was a “FurryBSD” and the OP was in for a surprise... ---------------------------------------------------------------------- TheAmazingJuicyBeast · 2020-04-19 13:02 I am still pretty new to BSD. Any reason you would use FurryBSD over GhostBD? May be a silly question but I was using GhostBSD for easy setup ---------------------------------------------------------------------- nielskob · 2020-04-19 14:05 I like FurryBSD better :D ---------------------------------------------------------------------- useunix · 2020-04-19 14:16 I honestly wouldn't bother with any of the BSD distros kind of like. Instead I can recommend you to do it the proper way. Depending on your specific needs, I would consider each of the 3 BSD OSes individually. FreeBSD is more gear towards storage, networking, firewall, isolation through jail and enterprise desktop. OpenBSD is more focused on security, code cleanness, and they are not afraid of breaking third parties softwares if those don't align with their security implementations, while NetBSD is primarily a research operating system with a particular focus on portability and embedded. Ultimately, if all you want is a desktop, they will all make a good desktop each at their own way. FreeBSD usually has the newest packages and overall newer hardware support, while if you happen to have a laptop compatible with OpenBSD, chances are you will boot straight into XFCE with S1 and S3 suspension and the rest of the hardware working out of the box. I have been using FreeBSD for the past 12 years, and used NetBSD on and off mainly on embedded devices. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- rehcla · 2020-04-19 15:08 So where are you coming from? ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Plasm0duck · 2020-04-19 15:28 FuryBSD is just as easy ---------------------------------------------------------------------- sunjay140 · 2020-04-19 15:35 Is that Octopi on BSD? ---------------------------------------------------------------------- [deleted] · 2020-04-19 16:48 owo *notices ur bsd* ---------------------------------------------------------------------- John_Lins · 2020-04-19 16:51 I've never even touched BSD, but I'm coming from Linux. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ctisred · 2020-04-19 17:00 Good point to note the 'distro' vs 'bsd os' distinction for those coming from linux. Agree 'bsd distros' are probably only useful for getting started/familiar with the system, after that the 'distro lag' would be more annoying than not. Also there are 4 BSDs really - DragonflyBSD is a 'real' BSD (e.g. does heavy development on base system) and not a 'distribution' as for it: primarily amd64 focused, fast/parallel, interesting features, but definitely not 'batteries included'. Ports are based on FreeBSD ---------------------------------------------------------------------- useunix · 2020-04-19 17:26 Oh yeah I accidentally skipped drsgonflybsd, my bad. Originally a fork of FreeBSD 4.8, but it became its own OS overtime, mainly due to HAMMERFS and few other unique features. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- rehcla · 2020-04-19 19:00 Whitch one? ---------------------------------------------------------------------- John_Lins · 2020-04-19 19:47 Linux Mint ---------------------------------------------------------------------- rehcla · 2020-04-19 20:42 Then I would suggest GhostBSD:) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- tertl8 · 2020-04-19 20:53 i like OpenBSD from a ideological POV but Ive actually gave up linux and bsd to go back to windows because of the tools available for making music and gaming. I feel like im wasting my hardware if I cant use the programs I want to use no matter the OS ---------------------------------------------------------------------- John_Lins · 2020-04-19 21:09 Ok, thanks I'll give it a shot. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- John_Lins · 2020-04-19 21:15 I get gaming, but what software did you need that you couldn't get on Linux/BSD that you could have gotten on Windows? And why didn't you just use a Windows VM or WINE? ---------------------------------------------------------------------- crocflamingo · 2020-04-19 21:25 I am a beginner to bsd and started out with dragonfly, I am very happy with it and recommend it. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- tertl8 · 2020-04-19 21:32 audio production software needs to be fast and low latency so it needs to be native software. the program i use is called Renoise https://www.renoise.com and it works native of linux but the plugins(software synthesizers) dont work on linux. could I make it work,...yes...i just like to play with things lime Serum https://xferrecords.com/products/serum and I dont want to deal with a compatibility layer. btw renoise is a really cool program for making music. you can download the demo for free and its not expensive to buy! ---------------------------------------------------------------------- John_Lins · 2020-04-19 21:43 Wow that's my 4th recommendation. I'm a big UI kinda guy, could you send me a screenshot of your DragonflyBSD? ---------------------------------------------------------------------- John_Lins · 2020-04-19 21:50 But if you run it in a virtual machine with equal RAM, video memory, CPU, ext. as the host machine then it will run natively to the VM, and the VM would have plenty of resources. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- crocflamingo · 2020-04-19 21:57 Dragonfly bsd doesn't come with any desktop environment if that is what you were expecting, I put bspwm on it. What operating system are you coming from? ---------------------------------------------------------------------- John_Lins · 2020-04-19 22:21 I'm coming from Linux Mint ---------------------------------------------------------------------- crocflamingo · 2020-04-19 22:27 I have never tried Linux mint, I use gentoo. What kinda things do you want? Like do you want something really really easy to use, or something with a ton of control? ---------------------------------------------------------------------- John_Lins · 2020-04-19 22:29 I just want something with a nice UI. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- crocflamingo · 2020-04-19 22:31 Check out r/unixporn I like dragonfly bsd and netbsd the most and I recommend them. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- John_Lins · 2020-04-19 22:33 Haha I love that subreddit. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- crocflamingo · 2020-04-19 22:39 If you are on x86_64 use dragonfly bsd, if you are on anything else use netbsd ---------------------------------------------------------------------- tertl8 · 2020-04-19 23:45 yes but running on a vm isnt natively, its in a vm and comes with inherent latency ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ocviogan · 2020-04-20 00:26 I've done the same thing. I still use Linux and BSD for hacking around with, but for serious work and productivity I stick my guns to Windows, it does everything I need it to and works well. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- John_Lins · 2020-04-20 00:55 I suppose that could be made up for with higher end hardware. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- tertl8 · 2020-04-20 01:27 yeah, i prefer my main programs to run natively. Ive been wanting to try Guix though ---------------------------------------------------------------------- tertl8 · 2020-04-20 01:28 youre still compromising the native speed and will have a noticeable delay. I do run openbsd and others in vmware thou ---------------------------------------------------------------------- John_Lins · 2020-04-20 01:45 Fair enough ---------------------------------------------------------------------- tertl8 · 2020-04-20 02:54 Before I went back to Windows, I had a nice vanilla Gentoo install that I was very proud of. 2 days to compile chromium is quite the experience lol ---------------------------------------------------------------------- tertl8 · 2020-04-20 02:55 I've been watching that hyperbola/bsd OS in the works ---------------------------------------------------------------------- GoldenDreamcast · 2020-04-20 04:19 I think GhostBSD has it too (called OctoPKG). ---------------------------------------------------------------------- crocflamingo · 2020-04-21 00:36 There is still a decent amount of latency, and higher end hardware costs a lot of money. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- John_Lins · 2020-04-21 04:16 I suppose so, but I assume that's only a problem if you're gaming. If your just doing thinks like audio/video/image editing, then It would be quite unnoticeable. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- terono · 2020-04-21 11:41 >You mean if you want to actually install it permanently? Yes, according to the site, installing onto a HDD or VM is an option. Se Installed the normadbsd system on a Toshiba USB memory 64 GB, the system performance is quite slow, the same goes for the rather slow installation. It does not reduce the display brightness resolution even if you try it manually from Display Setting ==>>brightness software. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- uninenkeiju · 2020-05-23 19:21 I don't do audio/video so I'm lucky in a way and can have non-windows as my main thing. I haven't used windows in years. I can't have Clip Studio Paint but oh well. I hope someday Krita surpasses it a nukes it from orbit, just like CSP did with Photoshop.