(For desktop BSD users) Why did you choose BSD? What did motivated you to do that? Were there any troubles? reddit / BSD ---------------------------------------------------------------------- I_didnt_I_wasnt · 2021-10-06 19:34 I was introduced to Linux in 1996. I understood the potential of such a system very fast, but I found difficult to learn a system which was growing so fast. There were the 3 major distros at the time (Red hat, Slackware and Debian) and they all have 3 very different ways of doing things. Also every release was like a new thing. The default installation (all I could do at the time, because I was a n00b) was completely bloated with things I could not make sense of (like IPX protocol stack, wtf?!). Couple of years later I was introduced to (Free)BSD. It was pretty well documented. Default installation was minimal; so I could differentiate between OS and applications. I wanted to understand what IS Unix per se, vs. what can you all do with it... The installation manual used to be stupid safe. Never got into troubles. Today, more than 20 years later, same commands, same philosophy. Very stable. This stability is what I was searching for. Why I got off of BSD a lot of times was because HW support. It is always behind Linux (at least for my use cases). Other than that, I think is the best for starting, or for doing very serious work, that should really work for 20 years. For everyday use, maybe linux fits better the bill (again, at least my use case). ---------------------------------------------------------------------- vermaden · 2021-10-06 20:23 This is my road that lead me to FreeBSD system: https://vermaden.wordpress.com/2018/09/07/my-freebsd-story/ ---------------------------------------------------------------------- qci · 2021-10-06 21:54 I found two of my programs in the FreeBSD ports collection. I read the project license and found it reasonable. I can't remember any troubles. There have been some bugs that were annoying through the years, but on average, I've been happy so far. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- gumnos · 2021-10-06 23:01 The main driving factors: - no `systemd` (I was a long-time Debian user where `systemd` just kinda took over everything and lots of other little deprecations of standard utilities just made it feel less and less like home) - ZFS. Having had several drives die taking data with them (thank goodness for backups), I'd find it hard to trust my data to any file system that didn't have self-healing and block-level checksumming. The transparent compression is just frosting on that cake. Additionally, being able to stack it on GELI for full-disk encryption (I hope to move it to encrypted ZFS datasets in the imminent future) - jails. They hit a sweet spot for me. Not as heavy as full-blown VMs (I can run dozens without issue on a low-end laptop), and not as baroque as Linux containers/cgroups/Docker/kube/whatever It hasn't been without troubles. - for some reason my brightness controls don't seem to work to dim my monitor - headphone cutover doesn't happen automatically when I plug them in (other OSes properly shut off the speakers and pipe the audio to the headphones) - getting the camera working was a bit more challenging But overall, I've found the transition worth it. The system feels much more like home to this old-fart *nix-user. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- DamienCouderc · 2021-10-07 11:46 Nobody can't tell you what will be your experience with one of the BSD. So don't waste your time and start to test it yourself. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- sparc64_ · 2021-10-07 13:24 I had an old ~~386~~ 486 in the late-90s and FreeBSD ran better than any of the linux distros I had tried. Inexplicably I also had access to a DEC Alpha and Sun Ultra 1 at that time, and FreeBSD ran on those really well. Tried out OpenBSD back in 2.x after I got a ThinkPad and just sort of kept it because I got out of IT/tech and didn't need a computer for anything other than writing or just tooling around. Still running on my eeePC and the same old ThinkPad. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- shellmachine · 2021-10-07 15:49 Well my first FreeBSD desktop machine was I think FreeBSD 4 or 5. Even back then what I valued was pretty close to what it would be today: simplicity, correctness, grand and helpful user base, good documentation, stability, and, I admit it, the feeling of running something "different" than most people while having close to no problems doing so. FreeBSD has always been a GREAT operating system for desktop installations, even though it might make some problems on laptops depending on the hardware. But yup, overall a great operating system for desktop computers if you ask me, the simplicity and usability is just superb. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- theRealNilz02 · 2021-10-07 16:29 I use FreeBSD mainly because my companys Servers have it installed. This gives me the ability to Test Things on my Desktop before making Changes on the Servers. Also Network config is so much easier on FreeBSD than in Linux and I Like its small Footprint. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- IanArcad · 2021-10-07 18:55 I think laptops are an issue for FreeBSD - I tried it late last year on my new HP laptop and had problems with both wifi and the Fn keys (brightness, sound, etc), while Linux (KDE Neon) had no issues at all. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- FUZxxl · 2021-10-07 19:21 I moved to FreeBSD because I didn't want to deal with systemd and lost my files 3 times to btrfs. FreeBSD meant that I no longer had to deal with this shit. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- [deleted] · 2021-10-08 06:30 [removed] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- -kilix- · 2021-10-08 09:45 Wow, three times? Might as well use fat16 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- FUZxxl · 2021-10-08 09:47 Thankfully I had good backups, but I didn't want to repeat this experiment again. There was also a nasty kernel bug with reflinks at the time, randomly crashing my server every time cp(1) was executed. It really was not a good situation. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- _supert_ · 2021-10-10 11:20 - zfs zfs zfs - same environment as my server ---------------------------------------------------------------------- thedaemon · 2021-10-10 20:44 I started with redhat 5.2 as my first alternative os to Windows. I am also a hobbyist animator and saw The FreeBSD beastie. John Lasseter from Pixar fame drew it. That piqued my interest. I got into it and it felt better to me. I like the way it works and it's stability. It makes a great file server too for me. I run 3d software Blender and my Wacom tablet works. It does everything I need. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 250nm · 2021-10-16 02:14 Around 2010, I started to get into modern nix systems since the Windows 2000 install on my 1.9GHz P4 desktop was really starting to show its age. Ubuntu 10.04, while an excellent OS, had a lot of problems on that machine, so I decided to try out one of the BSDs and landed on NetBSD. I eventually got a faster computer (a whopping 3GHz P4 with, get this, *hyperthreading*!) and switched to mint. It wasn't until about three years ago that I started getting back on the BSD train with FreeBSD, though I'm planning to try out OpenBSD soon. Between systemd and the increasingly obtuse, bloated, buggy, and flat-out badly designed nature of a lot of Linux distros, the level of thought and care that goes into all of the modern BSDs is very refreshing. The online documentation you get with the right package selections (the full handbook and extensive notes for your BSD, right there on your machine without needing to hop on the 'net!) and the ports collections (for that inner Gentoo itch) are also something you really don't get anywhere else. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- NoseWalrus · 2021-11-03 01:35 I'm not a sysadmin or otherwise an IT professional. I'm just a guy who likes playing with computers and has been using desktop Linux for going on 15 years now. Ever since hearing about BSD's, the philosophy and structure appealed to me. I love the way systems are managed in BSD world. It makes sense. Settings and options are not buried in menus or managed through a dozen different tools. Everything is where you expect it to be once you understand the structure. Being able to add comments to the config files is so helpful. I can very quickly remember how/why I did what I did every time I need to make an edit. Also, the documentation is fantastic. The FreeBSD Handbook is one of my most visited sites. I had some issues with hardware support years ago when I first attempted getting OpenBSD set up on my laptop. These issues were entirely on me. I expected my linux experience to directly translate to the install/setup process of OpenBSD. After spending some time with the OpenBSD FAQ, FreeBSD Handbook, Absolute OpenBSD, AbsoluteFreeBSD ~~I have no more issues~~ I have fewer issues (there is always more to learn). It's worth mentioning that my use case isn't exotic. I mostly just browse the web, email, and listen to music on my laptop. It's nice using the same OS on my laptop that I have running on my home servers as well. It keeps me from forgetting commands and such. I do still use and like desktop linux. I've hopped through the major distros over the years and ended up sticking with Fedora (for now) for my gaming computer. I like using linux. I like using BSD more.