Best way to switch from Linux to BSD

[Doug Barton]

On 03/29/2011 12:32, Paul Schmehl wrote:
> That's how silly your argument is.  You can't do it, because FreeBSD
> does not have a system-installed desktop.  Even Xorg is a port.

It is in linux too, it's just that the various distros who focus on the 
desktop have bundled it into the default installation so when you 
install $distro you get a complete desktop environment from the 
beginning. If you look under the hood, you can see the individual 
packages that make up the "desktop."

For those arguing that FreeBSD is a great desktop OS, I would encourage 
you to spend some time using some of the linux versions mentioned in 
this thread. Or if you want to be really blown away just start with 
Ubuntu. For some of you, the first reaction will be "this is not what 
I'm used to!" but I encourage you to try and get past that, and look at 
things from the "average user's" point of view. Most computer users 
don't want to spend time fiddling with their OS, the just want to do 
their thing (web, mail, documents and spreadsheets being the vast 
majority of "things" they want to do). For those purposes a distro like 
Ubuntu completely blows FreeBSD out of the water in terms of coming out 
of the box in a fully functional state, and in terms of ease of use for 
maintenance, updates, etc. there is no comparison.

All that said, I personally have been using a FreeBSD desktop in a 
multi-boot environment for over 15 years, the last 10 have been 
primarily on -current. But I *like* to fiddle with stuff, fix/report 
bugs, etc. If you want to learn the OS, it's a great way to go. But 
that's why I asked Jason what his goals were in my first message. If 
your goal is simply to have a desktop environment that's easy to use, 
FreeBSD is not it. We need to be honest with ourselves about that if 
we're ever going to make progress on it.


Doug

PS, it would be really helpful if people could tone down the language a 
bit, and the vitriol a lot. Thanks.

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