Ars Technica article on FreeBSD new user experience

[Rick Macklem]

Ed Maste <emaste at freebsd.org> wrote:
>Jim Salter has an article in Ars Technica discussing his experience
>with FreeBSD 12.1 as a desktop:
>https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2020/04/not-actually-linux-distro-review-freebsd-12-1-release/
>
>There are some points in there that might involve misunderstanding,
>but there are also a number of real issues raised about the experience
>a new (or newish) desktop FreeBSD user will have. It will be a good
>idea for us to examine these, and offer advice or corrections if
>appropriate, and otherwise look how we can improve the FreeBSD
>experience for new users.
Since this is a public mailing list, I'll repost here...

One thought here that I'll throw out (I have no idea if others have suggested
this before)…
What about creating a separate release for desktops/laptops that installs
X Windows etc from a simple installer "out of the box"?
--> To keep it simple, don't try to support all hardware, just stuff that is widely
      available and already well supported by the drivers in FreeBSD.
      Obviously amd64 only plus a few widely available display chip sets that work
      well, etc and so on...

If it doesn't support the hardware someone has, then they can go the regular
release/install route. (It would be nice to maintain an up to date list of what
hardware it supports, but it might be easier to just have it start up live CD
style and then see if the hardware it needs is there.
--> Sorry, can't do this display chipset to that sound chip or...

Just an idea, rick
ps: I am not volunteering to help do this. I run FreeBSD on laptop/desktop
      systems, but bare bones. No X Windows...