Which ISO should I choose? (BSD newbie) reddit / freebsd ---------------------------------------------------------------------- OakArtz · 2022-06-19 08:54 Hey folks, so I'm a 3rd semester applied CS student with a love for Unix and operating systems. In my first semester we had to locally setup a network between 3 VMs 2 FreeBSD and one Arch, This was my first point of contact with FreeBSD and why my interest in Linux was reignited. Now I want to test out if I could daily drive FreeBSD on my laptop (all I really need is my Jetbrains Suite and a browser on there). I tried looking at the [download page](https://download.freebsd.org/ftp/releases/ISO-IMAGES/13.1/) for FreeBSD 13.1 and there appears to be a bunch of different ISOs for amd64. Which of them is right for me? For now I'd like to try it in a VM and later use it on actual hardware, if it fits my needs. :) I hope the FreeBSD is welcoming and if I remember correctly the documentation is pretty great! Cheers ---------------------------------------------------------------------- rykolepl · 2022-06-19 09:10 Memstick.img when using USB drive for installation. .iso when using optical drive for installation. Preferrably download compressed (.xz) images, then decompress them locally to save bandwidth Difference between bootonly, disk1 and dvd1 is how many sets are on installation media. Same goes for memstick and mini-memstick. If you will want to install set that is not on install media, installer will prompt you to configure network and download it for you. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- OakArtz · 2022-06-19 09:26 Alright thank you! Back then we were given a preconfigured iso, I assume actually installing FreeBSD isn‘t as straight forward as just having a graphical installer, huh? I‘m looking forward to tinkering around with it :) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- justwannasaythat1 · 2022-06-19 09:35 >This was my first point of contact with FreeBSD and why my interest in Linux was reignited. To be sure, FreeBSD is not Linux. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- OakArtz · 2022-06-19 09:37 Yeah I‘m fully aware! Just said that we used both Linux and FreeBSD in that course. And I was one of the most active students and talked a lot with my tutor and he sparked my interest in linux again. Maybe should‘ve phrased that more clearly :) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- rykolepl · 2022-06-19 10:14 > I assume actually installing FreeBSD isn‘t as straight forward as just having a graphical installer Actually, it is, lol. But installer is text-based, not actually graphical. Just like debian text installer. And there is no "install me desktop environment" button like on debian. Installing manually (using CLI, without installer script) is basically: - partition disks - install bootloader - format partitions - mount partitions - extract base.txz and kernel.txz ---------------------------------------------------------------------- OakArtz · 2022-06-19 10:15 So basically very similar to an arch installation? ---------------------------------------------------------------------- rykolepl · 2022-06-19 10:22 If you want to go the manual way, then yes. Which I wouldn't recommend unless you know what you are doing. Installer is easy enough to use, before I automated my installations it took me 5 minutes to install. Outcome of using installer is "base" system. So, complete installation without any packages, and without any DE. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- OakArtz · 2022-06-19 10:35 Alright thank you, actually there are some archinstallation scripts so it may not be too far off. How bare is it after an installation? Will networking be included or do I have to configure that myself? Also, does FreeBSD also include most of their drivers in the kernel, like Linux does or do I have to manually install them as well? I assume most of the DE‘s that are available on linux will be available on FreeBSD too, huh? ---------------------------------------------------------------------- rykolepl · 2022-06-19 10:48 Networking will be included, sshd will be included (~~but disabled by default IIRC~~ it's enabled by default), most drivers are included. If any device that you have (most notably wifi cards) doesn't work out of the box, it will probably not work at all. It's worth googling then, because changing 1 option may fix it sometimes. Some DEs don't work, some have missing functionality, some work. For example KDE works but many options in settings don't work (adding users for example). If you aim for something like i3, it will work fine. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- OakArtz · 2022-06-19 10:59 Alright thanks, that‘s nice to know. One of my dirty secrets is that I have never used ssh. I‘ve grown accustomed to using QTile as my Window Manager and I think it‘s available for FreeBSD as well.. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- mfjurbala · 2022-06-19 11:34 I tried the arch installer a couple times and for me it was buggy and didn't work right. The FreeBSD installer uses dialog so it's like a curses interface I think. I seem to have good luck with most things but to install FreeBSD I've only had to type a hostname, hit enter like 10 times, then follow the prompts to add a user. I'm not sure if this was answered but after install it's just a console. You might want to use pkg to install drm-kmod for some graphics drivers. I've used mostly XFCE and KDE, like others have said some small things don't work quite right but in general you probably won't notice a big difference from linux. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- OakArtz · 2022-06-19 11:39 Alright, so it‘s just like arch where you end up with a terminal. One of the main differences may be that I‘m used to using systemd now, which may make enabling services on freebsd feel a bit unfamiliar ---------------------------------------------------------------------- mfjurbala · 2022-06-19 11:47 Yes, it's similar in that way. A slight technical difference would be that arch has a bunch of core utilities installed from the base? Metapackage I think? In FreeBSD, most of that functionality is in the base system by default, you can't accidentally remove something. Check out the [handbook ](https://docs.freebsd.org/en/books/handbook/config/#configtuning- starting-services) section 12.4. Our way of doing things is different than systemd but pretty simple. Basically add what you want to a file to start it at boot. Or use the service command to start it while the system is running. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- OakArtz · 2022-06-19 11:58 Alright thank you! How up-to-date is freebsd? is it more like arch where everything is bleeding edge or does it compare to debian where packages may be old but super stable or is it in between? :D ---------------------------------------------------------------------- mfjurbala · 2022-06-19 12:15 Probably in between but you can move towards either side. Check out [freshports](https://www.freshports.org/) to search for ports (what packages are built from). [section 4.4.2](https://docs.freebsd.org/en/books/handbook/ports/) explains how to use latest or quarterly packages. If you need something more specific you can build ports yourself. It's in git now and there's build tools to help manage versions and build environments. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- tiny_humble_guy · 2022-06-19 12:15 I used .iso file on T-flash card (with help of card reader), it works well. Also I chose "bootonly" iso file. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- tiny_humble_guy · 2022-06-19 12:16 I used .iso file on T-flash card (with help of card reader), it works well. Also I chose "bootonly" iso file. I just installed freebsd yesterday. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- grahamperrin · 2022-06-19 12:56 Purposes of the file types are outlined at however this is **not** comprehensive: * it's commonplace to write things such as `-disc1.iso` to a USB flash drive instead of a CD – and so on. > … For now I'd like to try it in a VM At and under there are virtual machine images. These are limited to UFS. Better to begin with an empty disk image, then choose ZFS when installing. If you'll use VirtualBox: * can get KDE Plasma up and running for you with minimal fuss * I might repost what's there to Reddit, with a little more detail. > and later use it on actual hardware, … Anything particular in mind? ---------------------------------------------------------------------- rykolepl · 2022-06-19 12:57 It might have worked for you, I once tried booting .iso from usb drive on laptop and it didn't work (went to loader, got error before loading kernel). memstick worked right away. IIRC this was in 12.1 or even before 12. Maybe something changed since then, maybe it's hardware specific. But anyway, memstick.img is there for a reason. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- grahamperrin · 2022-06-19 13:06 > sshd will be included (but disabled by default IIRC), No, sshd is enabled by default. Please see ---------------------------------------------------------------------- grahamperrin · 2022-06-19 13:18 > How up-to-date is freebsd? Three branches: 1. `CURRENT` 2. `STABLE` 3. `RELEASE` – visualised at . Of the three, RELEASE is easiest to update. Some people are unnecessarily alarmist about `CURRENT`. Whilst it *is* bleeding edge, it's also more than stable enough for everyday use in some cases. I'm an everyday user of `CURRENT`, as is developer Cy Schubert. Cy pleads for people to not discourage use; and so on. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- grahamperrin · 2022-06-19 13:21 > … to install FreeBSD I've only had to type a hostname, hit enter like 10 times, then follow the prompts to add a user. … I nearly always specify more swap than is suggested by the installer. 16 G suits me. YMMV. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- mfjurbala · 2022-06-19 13:28 True, my laptop has 8G of ram and I dont do much compiling there. In my main vm I forgot that I specified 4G ram and during buildworld I got pretty heavily into swap. You probably should put at least some thought into what you will be doing. I like to take chances so things come back to bite me later. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- grahamperrin · 2022-06-19 13:30 > IIRC this was in 12.1 or even before 12. Maybe something changed since then, Much has changed, for example *UEFI boot is improved for amd64. …*; this is an understatement. IMHO it was a huge improvement. > maybe it's hardware specific. … Possible. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- rykolepl · 2022-06-19 13:38 Thanks for correcting me ---------------------------------------------------------------------- lenzo1337 · 2022-06-19 18:18 Just in case, but make sure you know the difference between release and stable as well. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- grahamperrin · 2022-06-19 19:31 > know the difference between release and stable as well. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- UnusualRelative8251 · 2022-06-19 22:39 Throwing away x-windows systems and GUIs on *NIX was the best thing i ever did for myself. SSH is so much faster and much more powerful.