How hard is freebsd to install?

[BritishNemesis]

Given my hardware in my sig how difficult is a free bsd install? I would like to run gnome and xfree86 as well of course. I've also got a number of freebsd questions that I can't seem to find answers to...

1. What packages come with Freebsd? OpenOffice.org? Gimp? Evolution?
2. How hard is it to migrate from Linux to Freebsd? Can it read my /home partition in ext3 format? Can it read vfat partitions?
3. What are the main differences between Linux and Freebsd?


Thanks guys! A lot of questions I know... just thinking about doing it over the christmas break...

[BritishNemesis]

oh and one last question....

Will it automatically set up a dual boot setup with my installed win2000 or will I have to do that myself?

[Hayl]

1. it comes with all the normal stuff that all the Linux distros have, or it has it available on ports

2. it uses a totally different file system than linux. yes, it can do vfat afaik

3. some of the commands use different flags. i remember trying to use ps -A and the -A was something different in bsd - the man pages help

4. i don't know about the dual booting. it probably does.

i installed it FBSD and got X working in about 5 minutes without reading any docs - it;s not a difficult system.

[BritishNemesis]

in terms of audio drivers/software does freeBSD use ALSA? Or is it on OSS? Or does it do its own thing?

[Hayl]

Originally posted by BritishNemesis
in terms of audio drivers/software does freeBSD use ALSA? Or is it on OSS? Or does it do its own thing?

it's its own kernel, none of its code is Linux code.

[Alex Cavnar, aka alc6379]

Originally posted by Hayl
3. some of the commands use different flags. i remember trying to use ps -A and the -A was something different in bsd - the man pages help

4. i don't know about the dual booting. it probably does.

3. It's ps aux in FreeBSD. :)

4. You can dual boot with FreeBSD. You can even install a FreeBSD boot loader that basically automatically configures itself. It reads the Partition IDs, and allows you to hit F1-F4 to boot the selected system.

Personally, I'd recommend using something like XOSL, or some third-party bootloader. The FreeBSD bootloader isn't that flexible, IMHO.

originally posted by British Nemesis
in terms of audio drivers/software does freeBSD use ALSA? Or is it on OSS? Or does it do its own thing?

Like Hayl said, it does its own thing. To elaborate, it uses the pcm driver. In order to get sound working in your FreeBSD system, you will have to recompile your kernel. Luckily, the FreeBSD handbook (http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/sound-setup.html) has a great section on how to do this.

Personally, I use FreeBSD as my day-to-day desktop. It has everything that a Linux distribution can have. Moreover, I like the way the rc.conf init scripts work.

<edit>: Also, FreeBSD can read ext2 partitions. Since ext3 is just ext2 with a journal, then it can do it. However, I don't think that it will actually use the journal. Be prepared to run fsck the next time you boot up your Linux install...

[bandwidth_pig]

I would just like to add that the FreeBSD kernel compile is so easy. I just went through this (for the second time in about a year) about a week ago for the very reason Alex mentions. I needed to get my sound card working. All I had to do was add:

device PCM

to my kernel file and I was there. From a install perspective, I myself think it's easier to setup than some of the Linux distributions out there. The vast number of software titles that have been ported over to FreeBSD means that much of the software you have come to love in Linux is also available in FreeBSD. Debian and FreeBSD. It just can't get much better in my humble opinion.

[Alex Cavnar, aka alc6379]

Originally posted by bandwidth_pig
Debian and FreeBSD. It just can't get much better in my humble opinion.

Word.

Last time I checked, I think that there's over 9,000 packages available through FreeBSD's ports system. That's right up there with Debian, which, IIRC, has around 10,000. :cool: