Workstation-BSD (was: Re: k3b again )

[Dieter]

>> I'm sorry guys but someone needs to say it, that moving to FreeBSD is a
>> masochistic ride into purgatory.

That sounds more like penguinix.

>> PCBSD is a pain as it pays no attention to the
>> partition table when installing, blatting itself over the largest
>> partition and ignoring the rest. And I think most people use the
>> largest partitions either as the home dir or as non system storage.

FreeBSD is Unix.  (Not imitation Unix like penguinix.)  Unix is a power
tool.  My table saw doesn't decide how wide to slice a board, I do.
My drill press doesn't decide how deep to drill a hole, I do.  I also
decide how big to make partitions and what data to put in which partition.
Automagic installation programs are for wimps.

> 2. FreeBSD wasn't designed with workstation use as a primary goal, that 
> has become much more popular in recent years, but, server use is and 
> probably always will be the primary focus.

Servers?  Toy servers might run FreeBSD, but real servers don't.  Real
servers come in multiple full height 19" racks, with 6 or 7 figure price
tags and run proprietary Unix.  Usually based on BSD internally even if
they provide a SystemV veneer for marketing.

So which BSD *is* designed with workstation use in mind?  Traditionally,
FreeBSD concentrated on performance, NetBSD concentrated on portability
giving the ability to run on everything but the kitchen sink, and OpenBSD
concentrated on security.  Well, NetBSD is starting to drop architectures,
and FreeBSD has big time performance problems.  (no NCQ support for starters)