What would be a good linux alternative similar to freebsd? reddit / freebsd ---------------------------------------------------------------------- lordpissalot · 2020-10-02 13:50 Just started using freebsd on my desktop, and while i'm very happy with it so far i realised there's no steam client available, which is kind of a massive drawback for me. And as far as i've been able to find there's no way to make it work. So i was thinking i'd use freebsd as work environment and have a linux install for games. What would be a good alternative? ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Invertonix · 2020-10-02 14:05 Well if youre particularly fond of bsd you might look into void linux. There seems to be a consensus that it feels like a bsd despite being based on the linux kernel. Debian for stability, support, and semi outdated but good documentation. Arch for minimalism and ease of customisation. Good documentation too but its in a wiki and not handbook style. Gentoo for maximum configurability. Portage is exceptional and the documentation is similar in quality to debian in my limited experience. Depends on your usage. For gaming Manjaro on arch seems to have the best community support or ubuntu on debian seem to have the best official support for gaming. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- reavessm · 2020-10-02 14:16 Gentoo was made by the same guy that made freebsd I believe. If you use ports in BSD, then Gentoo's portage system will make a lot of sense ---------------------------------------------------------------------- aeadio · 2020-10-02 14:20 FreeBSD wasn’t made by _a guy_. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- reavessm · 2020-10-02 14:29 You're right. My b. Daniel Robbins was just a FreeBSD dev but wasn't a creator ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Obsessive-_- · 2020-10-02 15:20 a woman?! ---------------------------------------------------------------------- anarchyisthekey · 2020-10-02 15:30 I’d recommend Manjaro. It is based on arch. Everything works out of the box, but if you want customization you have all the options. If you want gaming and are already going for a multiboot keeping a Window$ partition is also an option. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- nodate54 · 2020-10-02 17:09 Pop OS is a good choice if a gamer. Has Nvidia support which isn't that great on other distos. Apt package manager. It's my daily driver and have zero issues with it. I don't game though ---------------------------------------------------------------------- MeCrumbly429 · 2020-10-02 17:16 I would recommend CRUX. CRUX is a source based distro similar to BSD in that it used BSD initscripts and has a poets system. What makes it unique is that it’s base packages are binary, but the rest of the system has to be compiled. (You can recompile the kernel of you want to.) it also has a Curses-Based menu for installation of base packages. CRUX is the distro that inspired Arch Linux (don’t believe me? Check Arch’s website). I STRONGLY suggest you give it a try if you are interested in a combination of gentoo and FreeBSD. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- meatmechdriver · 2020-10-02 17:17 FreeBSD has a binary compatibility layer for linux, it pains me when people say "linux has X but FreeBSD doesn't" just because X is a binary not available in source form. Steam on FreeBSD via linux compat has been done before, and even talked about here: [https://www.reddit.com/r/freebsd/comments/4wogbh/s team\_on\_freebsd](https://www.reddit.com/r/freebsd/comments/4wogbh/st eam_on_freebsd/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- tuanhtrng · 2020-10-02 17:26 Linux from scratch. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- hamad_Al_marri · 2020-10-02 17:40 void linux ---------------------------------------------------------------------- keybwarrior · 2020-10-02 17:48 Void Linux is the closest to BSDs imo ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 6502zx81 · 2020-10-02 19:23 I didn't try it, but Slackware might be worth a look. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ZarK-eh · 2020-10-02 19:32 I saw no answer, but a reference to steam on freebsd which doesn't work. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- UnsubstantiatedClaim · 2020-10-02 20:04 Slackware ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Darwins_accomplice · 2020-10-02 20:40 If you're not gonna \*BSD, then give Slackware (current branch) a shot. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- j0e74 · 2020-10-02 21:06 Arch Linux... Void Linux... Great distros. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- meatmechdriver · 2020-10-02 21:24 OP stated no steam client was available for FreeBSD. I corrected that statement. Please work on reading comprehension. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- nightblackdragon · 2020-10-02 23:03 This layer is not perfect, it doesn't implement all Linux system calls yet so not every Linux binary will work. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- meatmechdriver · 2020-10-02 23:41 Sure, of course it isn't perfect. But that doesn't imply that by default a binary won't work. Also, the more people use the compat layer, contribute to it, and report bugs, the better it will be and we can all avoid the cult of Linus more consistently. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- scratchifoo · 2020-10-03 01:25 Hello, Steam on FreeBSD is coming along. Use this: https://github.com/shkhln/linuxulator-steam-utils There is a pkg and port for linux-steam-utils too, but the git repo is more up to date. Not all the games work, but a lot do...has Proton support too. Check the game compatibility page on the github wiki. But if you insist on Linux, go Gentoo. If you like freebsd ports, you'll be right at home with Gentoo's portage. Steam works great on my Gentoo desktop. Enjoy! ---------------------------------------------------------------------- glued2thefloor · 2020-10-03 04:47 Did you try running it on FreeBSD? This requires that Linux compatibility be set up first, but it does seam possible: [https://github.com/SteamOnFreeBSD/SteamOnFreeBSD](https://github.com/ SteamOnFreeBSD/SteamOnFreeBSD) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- masterblaster0 · 2020-10-03 07:11 I've read of people running Steam via Wine if that interests you. Otherwise Void or Project Trident (based off Void but with ZFS setup out the box etc) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- nightblackdragon · 2020-10-03 13:19 That also doesn't imply that some binary will work without problems. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- sem3colon · 2020-10-03 21:42 arch isn’t exactly minimal ---------------------------------------------------------------------- [deleted] · 2020-10-04 03:07 [removed] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Xzenor · 2020-10-04 12:42 Windows. Get the full library of games at your disposal. Honestly. I love BSD and Linux but for actual gaming there's really only one operating system and that's windows. Anything else and you'll miss the boat on so so so many games that are only developed for Windows or console. This is not the fault of the operating systems of course but from the developers of those games. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- boleon_sn · 2020-10-04 16:59 Thats what I think, too. Why not using the tools that are most appropriate for a specific purpose. Why using a razorblade which you have to put together and sharpen first instead of a lawn mower to cut your grass field. I would use Windows just for gaming and at work (where I have to sometime), but for everything else the OS of my choice. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Xzenor · 2020-10-04 17:36 I'm too lazy to dual boot. I mainly use windows as a desktop for my gaming and my photo editing software (no Linux version available, so definitely no BSD version). Which is what I do most so it's a bit of a hassle to dual boot into another OS just for those other generic things. I use FreeBSD only for my servers, which are easily accessible with ssh. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- boleon_sn · 2020-10-04 19:53 Well, we have several computers/laptops at home, so no need for dual boot. ;-) But when you just have a limited number of hardware, then yes, I'd probably do the same. And in the end, a computer and an OS are just tools we use, nothing to fight about at all. Good relationships are far more important than having THE RIGHT OS on your machine... ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Bagginzes · 2020-10-05 00:16 I quad boot. Win 10, hackintosh, arch Linux and free bsd. Trying to make bad my daily but arch really is. I switch to win for games with friends but don’t have anything else on that drive. If you’re into gaming you’ll probably have a case that can handle the requisite drives and just move around when needed. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ffngg · 2020-10-05 17:31 Maybe they just don't like windows and want to minimize their usage of it. If most the games you like are playable on Linux or BSD there's no real loss in not using windows. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- boleon_sn · 2020-10-05 17:36 That's true, but many people talk about 'gaming' meaning the latest/greatest titles. Most of them are hard/not at all to get running on Linux/BSD. And, yes, it is absolutely no loss whatsoever in not using Windows. :-) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- meatmechdriver · 2020-10-05 20:13 If you cared to actually bother to follow the github link in the referenced post, you would see that someone else has already demonstrated working steam on FreeBSD 11, hence why I posted it. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- nightblackdragon · 2020-10-07 21:57 I'm not talking only about Steam. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- meatmechdriver · 2020-10-08 16:29 I don't care? ---------------------------------------------------------------------- nightblackdragon · 2020-10-09 21:02 Well, you don't have to. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- meatmechdriver · 2020-10-09 21:07 Well thank you for your permission. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- nightblackdragon · 2020-10-10 13:01 No need to be sarcastic. If you are fine with Linux compat in FreeBSD - good for you. But not everybody will be. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Holy_Pee_Shooter_PvZ · 2020-10-16 00:21 Agreed! debootstrap fresh install: 300MB, (200MB if zfs compressed) Arch fresh install: 1.1GB