FreeBSD: My Thoughts

[@JazzRastaf]

I use FreeBSD as a server OS, with ZFS. Lets me sleep peacefully. Love especially the clear directory structure and the POLA principle. Major system upgrades without anything breaking.

[@YeWison]

Yeah, the ZFS is very awesome I can confirm :)

[@astralnut6313]

Love ZFS file system it is the best. I used it when using Solaris but Oracle fouled Solais up.

[@SmallSpoonBrigade]

It's good, just not for use with SSDs.

[@eurisillo]

​@@SmallSpoonBrigadewhy shouldnt be used with ssd?

[@seedymac]

I have great appreciation for FreeBSD, I have learned much by comparing the PF firewall in FreeBSD to other firewalls in Linux, like iptables/netfiler, firewalld, etc... It is also a great playground to learn ZFS. My problem is the hardware support, it is getting better, but not quite there yet! Thanks again for a great Video!

[@YeWison]

I had that same feeling as well, especially the WIFI support, sometimes it seems not gonna happen....., at least many Broadcom BCM chipsets are isolated even I've already use 13-current. But the other side is good news for the GPU support looks better than the WIFI. If you have to have the BCM WIFI support, try OpenBSD which got a bit more to support WIFI by the 'bwfm' module, man.openbsd.org/bwfm But I compared the FreeBSD and OpenBSD, it seems FreeBSD (with native ZFS support) is better than OpenBSD, especially as a Desktop version.

[@NitroNilz]

OpenBSD gives a much smoother experience on laptops than FreeBSD in my experience. ZFS on one disk in a laptop I can live without.

[@Becoming-Human]

Would love to see a "how-to" covering FreeBSD, with the install/configuration of Sway, Waybar, and (choose a Display/Login manager that works with Sway: Ly, SDDM, LightDM, GDM, or something else not listed here). Excellent video and I look forward to more FreeBSD content! Thank you.

[@hexearth8258]

Great video. Most people watch and don't comment, but comments are so good for creator's feedback that I might just start to comment on your channel and a few other, like DJ Ware channel.

[@SoopaPop]

I just watched this after FreeBSD installation video. This one was equally informative. It seems like the major difference if I were to swap from Debian to FreeBSD would be the init and services systems, but no major day-to-day functionality change compared to my current setup. Thank you, even though the review was positive, it made we realize that FreeBSD is likely not an OS I will try soon; maybe I would if I were to get a new computer.

[@YeWison]

The real feeling for me about the different between BSD and Linux is the package management is SO different! I love Arch and use Arch for daily programming OS without any problem. But the BSD's 'pkg' is super STRONG than the 'pacman'. Basically, I can say that: YOU CAN USE 'pkg' to rollback whatever you had installed without worry about the rubbish, that's totally different from Linux, try, then you can feel that:)

[@SmallSpoonBrigade]

@@YeWison That's partially because pkg is well-designed, but it's also because the base system is separate from the installed packages. I have uninstalled everything following an upgrade to the OS so that I could reinstall from scratch as there are a few packages that involve kernel modules and sometimes I forget that I have things installed that I don't really want or need. It's probably possible with Linux, but due to the lack of separation, a lot more care is needed.

[@delowanfocus]

Subbed after 1min. Good presentation of the OS, straight to the point. I tried to install it on an old thinkpad, but i had problems configuring the wifi. I should give it another try on my ESXi. I liked the philosophy behind the freebsd better than linux. It’s a shame that it’s not more popular (and more hardware supported), it could give linux a run for it’s money. ;)

[@eflinux]

Thanks!

[@dmiracle74]

Great video. I've tried GhostBSD and it was very good. I need to try FreeBSD again. The last time was version 10. I am also trying Void Linux. It has been great. Takes some to configure but the end result is stable and fast.

[@eflinux]

And I need to try GhostBSD, thanks for sharing Dale!

[@SmallSpoonBrigade]

It should be, it's mostly just FreeBSD with a desktop environment and some other quality of life improvements. Personally, I've got no use for it, I've been using FreeBSD for decades and so configuring a new install from scratch takes little time. But, I do think that options like GhostBSD are great for people who are new and don't have specific wishes for how the system should work.

[@ngtube9]

Thanks, I use FreeBSD on my PCs and Laptops, and installed it on the servers at the institute where I work. I like it very much :) I know some things are not available, but it is really rock solid :) But nevertheless if some things are not there I will not change. Thanks again for your video :) Norbert :)

[@tedboggs4569]

"There's no systemd" SOLD!

[@mareksicinski3726]

?

[@yasseral-harbi2553]

😂

[@thomasboneck8775]

@@mareksicinski3726 systemd is redhats attempt at screwing everyone.

[@guyincognito5663]

I’d bet at least half of upvoters hate on systemd because they heard it’s bad😂

[@zethcader6478]

Someone tell me why systemd is so hated?

[@MeWantHoneycomb]

Most folks don't know it, but Win10 and all Linux distros include a nasty conduit layer that works in tandem with Minix/TeeOS (AMT, ie intel management system). FreeBSD is the only OS that does not cooperate with it. You can be certain that the NSA isn't logging your keystrokes if you use FreeBSD ;3

[@kichini275]

😳

[@diortemrepus5729]

I would love to see an install video using a system hardware install, not inside VM. Getting this to work with Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070 has been a headache. And the handbook is so behind with the Nvidia support. Everyone can run it on AMD and VM, but Nvidia makes you work for it.

[@florinsx]

Install the CURRENT(13) branch for better hardware support. I've been using a CURRENT full port installation(portmaster) for a month on a Thinkpad X1 Extreme and it's been great. ZFS and boot environments have changed my life. It's also a good process to learn more on how the OS functions. For those afraid of running bleeding edge you could use the STABLE(12) branch instead of RELEASE(12.2), but so far I haven't had any problems with my installation. ZFS snapshots and boot environments make messing up your system virtually impossible anyway. I've also moved from X11+Xfce to Wayland+Sway. Downsides: there's currently no 802.11ac support yet, and if you have a Broadcom wifi card you may be in for a surprise(Installed it on my workstation first but I couldn't attach any driver on BCM4360, even though the same chip in Macbooks seems to be supported by bwn). For whatever reason Sway doesn't run if you install the nvidia proprietary drivers, however it works fine with only the integrated card ones(graphics/gpu-firmware-kmod + graphics/drm-current-kmod + x11-drivers/xf86-video-intel).

[@eflinux]

Thanks, I’ll try out 13 soon.

[@toohard00666]

my journey starts from arch linux to void linux ended up in freeBSD it feels so nice & solid!

[@b_urak5773]

Same but the problem is my perfect built-in realtek wifi card which is not supported by freebsd. Probably I will spent my time to port driver into freebsd. By the way, freebsd feels really light-weight on my useless laptop

[@gauravshah89]

My journey started from Windows to Ubuntu to Arch to Freebsd.

[@amarmisra9582]

Installed in VMware workstation, when you covered Freebsd installation, enjoying this and familiarizing with it...Good experience till now..

[@eflinux]

Great to hear!

[@AutumnWind92]

Same here, tried to install it as a main OS but im using only wifi and it doesnt recognise my wifi thingy.

[@taidee]

I will try it out at some point, it looks nice. Of course I will try it on the side, won’t disturb my Arch/Qtile install 😅

[@socvirnylestela5878]

btw i plan to switch to freebsd because i want a new fresh start because of boredom. thanks for the videos, i think im going to switch. the documentation and the handbook is very nice :D EDIT: I have heard that allowing persistence for doas is not recommended according from the devs of doas

[@DrD6452]

I just upgraded one of my desktop PC's to FreeBSD from Windows 10 and it is absolutely awesome. I've been using OpenBSD on servers for years and Windows with its asinine stupidity of breaking something every time it updates finally drove me to my breaking point. I should have made this move years ago.

[@abobader]

Nice video, btw for doas, it cam be customize to do anything you like :)

[@eflinux]

Thanks, I found that out later and added the note in the video description.

[@busancun]

The biggest issue of FreeBSD is its poor support to the hardware, even the old hardware, let alone the latest.

[@eflinux]

Yep, agree.

[@TheBlueThird]

Agreed. That's the only thing keeping me from using it full time.

[@ecerejo]

I love FreeBSD but to use it as a desktop can be frustrating, the packages are not kept up to date and many are not even available for FreeBSD, the ports system is bigger and there is more choices but it takes forever to build the software due to amount of dependencies and they tend to break. For example in the ports there about 3 versions of node, some applications require the newest version and other packages require an older version like vscode which requires yarn-node and this one requires node12, it's a complete mess because you can't install 3 versions of node and vscode will never compile. Installing node12-12.20.0... pkg-static: node12-12.20.0 conflicts with node-15.5.0 (installs files into the same place). Problematic file: /usr/local/bin/node *** Error code 1 Stop. make[3]: stopped in /usr/ports/www/node12 *** Error code 1 Stop. make[2]: stopped in /usr/ports/www/yarn-node12 *** Error code 1 Stop. make[1]: stopped in /usr/ports/devel/electron7 *** Error code 1 Stop. make: stopped in /usr/ports/editors/vscode Ports is very poorly managed and this a big problem because it makes it very hard to run freebsd as a desktop.

[@MrChelovek68]

Broth,every server os should be putched before it becomes desktop system

[@syrefaen]

I tried it on my desktop, with zfs, xfce and nvidia card. Worked fine, I used it for two weeks now there is Gentoo on that drive :-). If you use to moutch linux programs it gets annoying. I will defensively try it again at a later time.

[@cosmicvoid2207]

The Intel graphics drivers are apparently flawed in version 12.2 though.

[@mattk6343]

just build them from ports and it's done.

[@SmallSpoonBrigade]

Anything with a kernel module may require compiling from source. I had a similar problem recently with a module not working correctly until I compiled it from ports.

[@DannyMexen9]

Is there no way to configure doas persistence?

[@eflinux]

I couldn't find a way, and didn't want to take too much time with it.

[@RoboNuggie]

Persist is not available on Linux or FreeBSD with DOAS I'm afraid....only OpenBSD.

[@SmallSpoonBrigade]

You're not supposed to use doas or sudo on a *BSD system. It's expected that you'll use permissions for that. Either group permissions to allow the account to do it directly, or user permissions and su to the appropriate account. It's much more secure, especially with improperly configured sudo installs where you're basically now root for as long as you want to be root.

[@tralphstreet]

What are the benefits of BSD over Linux?

[@elonlothbrok5991]

what are the benefits of Linux over Windows?

[@MrG0CE]

IF IT CONSUMES EVEN LESS RAM THAN LINUX AND HAS THE PYTHON-ASTROPY PACKAGE, I MIGHT GIVE IT A TRY !!

[@RoboNuggie]

I'm a bit late to this, but yes, it does have Astropy... py37-astropy-4.0.1,2 and py37-astropy-helpers-4.0.1

[@FourOf92000]

OKAY, GOOD TO HEAR YOU FOUND THE TOOL THAT BEST SUITS YOUR NEEDS !!

[@alexstone691]

About the laptop, you could use legacy boot and not need the driver?

[@satnamchanian]

I am trying to setup FreeBSD but WIFI does not work on my Dell G3 machine, I dont have options to add wired connection.. Any recommendations?

[@eflinux]

This article can help you out: docs.freebsd.org/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/config-network-setup.html

[@satnamchanian]

@@eflinux - Thank you so much, let me try this.

[@folksurvival]

Thank you.

[@eflinux]

You're welcome!

[@sharktooh76]

you forgot it's "secure by default" (well... not properly... but OpenBSD is...) there was also a freebsd derivative that was named TrueOS (original name was PC-BSD). It was a pre-configured freebsd for desktops. sadly it was discontinued. An alternative TrueOS that's still alive, is GhotsBSD

[@eflinux]

Thanks for sharing Francesco!

[@jaypatelani]

@@eflinux also you might like HelloSystem ISO based on FreeBSD

[@nightwolf1966]

How would you compair Freebsd to Arch?

[@defnlife1683]

Love it.

[@kimtaiferragamo]

can you show us how to setup bluetooth speakers on freebsd

[@scottfranco1962]

Any recommendations for a FreeBSD distro that already has the graphical desktop installed?

[@seanpaul7069]

GhostBSD comes with Mate.

[@karandeepsingh4994]

Can u make a GPU passthrough guide in arch/manjaro so we can use windows at native speed.... I hope you see this because there are not good guides on it!

[@eflinux]

I wanted to do this for a while and I might next year when I'll have a little more time. Thanks!

[@karandeepsingh4994]

@@eflinux oh thanks... I hope to see it soon

[@nejathakan5521]

Thank you so much for the clear instructions and tips. My Problem is the german localization in Xorg. I tried the handbook but still could not get it configured. I installed gnome and still no german keyboard :-) Can you explain how to do it properly? Thank you in advance *cuddle*

[@eflinux]

You should be able to change it in the Gnome settings.

[@ShiggitayMediaProductions]

I love FreeBSD, but I can't run it fulltime because it doesn't have a first party Discord client, (and currently there's no native support for my Intel ARC A770 GPU... I could run it with "Linux" compatability mode, but I'd rather not)... There are Electron wrapper'd versions that run "natively", but it doesn't allow for screen sharing during a call with audio, of which I use very often with my friends when watch partying TV shows or just in general sharing my screen with audio to mess around on KZbin or what have you. I do have it (FreeBSD) installed on a MiniPC I got (an ASUS PN50 (the AMD Ryzen 7 4700U version, as there's also an 11th gen Intel version) with a 256 GB NVMe SSD with 64 GB of RAM) and it runs KDE 5 Plasma effortlessly. I might use it as my travel PC for when I have a hotel room and I want to not use my laptop for everything, but we'll see what I do with it. I had an Intel NUC back in like 2014 or so that went unused and I ended up selling it, but the ASUS PN50 isn't going anywhere. I like having an x86 box to use for testing stuff before commiting to using it on my main system. Once the aforementioned (major) hindrances for me are resolved I might consider dual booting between Windows 11 and FreeBSD on my main AMD Ryzen 9 3900X system also with 64 GB of RAM, but that'll take some time, and I'm okay with that. Also before anyone asks me why I have/need 64 GB of RAM in my systems it's so my builds last longer between upgrades. I don't do any heavy video editing, 3D modeling, PC gaming etc (of which my hardware certainly could handle to an extent), but I like having some overheard for the future. ANYWAY, FreeBSD is awesome and I look forward to seeing it evolve and support my hardware (natively) in hopefully the not too distant future. Great video, Ermanno!

[@MyReviews_karkan]

Tried it once on my laptop. It was nice, but I was never able to get the wifi to work. Back to Linux I went.

[@yasagarwal859]

Timeshift gone red or marked can u give alternative

[@eflinux]

For backup or snaps?

[@yasagarwal859]

@@eflinux snaps though i use snapper but for home directory i use timeshifton my second pc

[@eflinux]

The Timeshift developer recommends BackInTime.

[@yashagarwal8342]

@@eflinux k The above commenter and this account is same. The above is my school id

[@GooogleGoglee]

Arch forever! Keep it simple!

[@eflinux]

Always!

[@mattk6343]

you can keep it simple with FreeBSD too, it's simpler/less bloated than Arch.

[@jeremyjohansson3445]

@@mattk6343 What e.g.?

[@FourOf92000]

@@jeremyjohansson3445 _insert systemd meme here_

[@technoWZ5598]

Indeed, it is an amazing and immutable operating system, but because of how much complexity is involved when using it, I can safely say that I will never use FreeBSD as my main system, I will only ever use it in virtual machines, and test out various things developed for FreeBSD. As an alternative BSD, OpenBSD is much easier, because it has a basic GUI, and it is very well known for being locked down and secure, so if I had to run any BSD, I would use OpenBSD. FreeBSD is great, but it's not for the average person.

[@GRINGOf10]

I woder if this will wrk good on my macbook air 13

[@eflinux]

Which year is your MacBook Air? I am pretty sure it is going to require some drivers tweaking.

[@GRINGOf10]

@@eflinux its a 2012 a1466... also a question if you don't mind.. since freebsd uses pkg, can it install mac pkg files? thanks for everything, your channel is fantastic and I've learned so much from it.. so much appreciated from Mexico

[@eflinux]

Thanks! I'm afraid install Mac pkgs will not work.

[@GRINGOf10]

@@eflinux ok thanks.. do you know anything about Alien? I read a while back it will make .pkg work in linux?

[@eflinux]

No, sorry, I don't know anything about that.

[@haythamkenway1561]

hello , how did you get Desktop ? freeBSD is just a command line

[@eflinux]

You can check this out: kzbin.info/www/bejne/oYvciGqlnqaprNE

[@SmallSpoonBrigade]

The usual way is to boot the system log in and then type startx, but there are a couple of ways that can automatically start the window manager for you at boot. There's also options like GhostBSD that are basically just FreeBSD with quality of life improvements like this built in and some minor tweaks to other things as appropriate.

[@AzizUchikiraChan]

Still waiting for your void linux video :)

[@eflinux]

Coming soon :)

[@eflinux]

This time the traditional way.

[@brandonphilander661]

Me too.

[@dalekrebs]

Many people say FreeBSD is not a distribution... that is INCORRECT! Look at it's name BSD -Berkeley Software Distribution. FreeBSD is a distribution of BSD. While true it is not a GNU/Linux...it is still a distribution.

[@SmallSpoonBrigade]

That's not true. The reason why they refer to Linux distributions as distributions is that they're all sharing the same kernel, they just vary a lot in terms of what programs they distribute with it. As far as FreeBSD goes, it's not 100% compatible with the other flavors and there's been no attempt to guarantee compatibility. In most cases, it's close enough, but anything that interacts with the kernel or system libraries may not work as intended without patches and most software available on other flavors is available on FreeBSD.

[@TheDukeOfZill]

It's a good OS that can overtake the home user market easily, but the effort isn't there yet. Almost all of my programs (except for Adobe creative cloud apps, even they be pirated) work on it. If Epic Games could work on it, that'd seal the deal (kingdom hearts). I think the most difficult of my programs to make work on there would be hasp protected software (EasyToy/PatternImage). Someone would have to really crack the hell out of it before I got it permanently working on there.

[@SmallSpoonBrigade]

Why would anybody want Adobe apps on FreeBSD? The professionals mostly use Macs anyways and aren't going to be happy with anything less than 100% compatibility for professional rasons. One of the reasons why Linux is regressing is that it's focused far too much on chasing Windows and not enough on the quality of the product. It's a shame that it's fallen so far over the last 10 years. It used to be a much better OS.

[@fieldlab4]

Linux is the new kid on the block ;). 20 years ago there was no comparison. Except maybe Slackware.

[@yashagarwal8342]

I like freebsd but I do not like a think of freebsd the it has issues with my wifi. I recommend to use linux zen on arch for stability

[@anonymousghost5384]

Good OS But great video

[@eflinux]

Thanks!

[@folksurvival]

It's not a distro.

[@anonymousghost5384]

@@folksurvival yes sorry i was worng thanks for your feedback let me edit that

[@celestialadministration]

Openbsd thoughts?

[@sabestek8896]

was using TrueOS aka PC-BSD before it got discontinued. FreeBSD is rock solid , secure and robust ! FreeBSD is under the hood of macOS - why you think it's a stable OS duh. /bin/usr since FreeBSD 8.4 peace ✌

[@nathanruben3372]

there is nothing spicial about it, just builtin zfs support.

[@javiermar2000]

Hi :D

[@TheSulross]

A heritage back to authentic Unix - instead of a Unix poser

[@jimbakerforlinux]

FIrst view!

[@Michael19830106]

BSD slices? Seriously? They are dead. Use GPT.

[@SmallSpoonBrigade]

Yes, you can use them, but you're definitely better off with GPT as they do the same thing, just much, much better. The main point of BSD slices was to allow for more filesystems than what MBR disks allowed. But, there's little point in that as GPT allows more partitions than you're likely to be able to make use of, and it allows for many more options for aligning them than MBR did.