# Thinking about FreeBSD 10...



## nbittech (Nov 1, 2013)

I've been considering installing FreeBSD 10 on my ThinkPad, as it is Beta 2, and reasonably stable now (so I've heard.)  Impressions, problems?

But I do want to know a few things first;

Does pkgng work yet (repos available?)

Does anything not compile with Clang (base system, basic desktop apps?)

Is KMS support working at all (have Intel GMA video?)

Are there any major changes in getting everything working?

I don't have to have ZFS, or all the bells and whistles, I just want a basic desktop that works, (OpenBox, panel, icons, etc.) Might consider XFCE, if it actually works without headaches, (which it didn't to my satisfaction in earlier releases.)

I know I can always just install it and see for myself, I just wanted to know where the potholes in the road are so that I can avoid them, and I wanted to give others the chance to share their expeareance as well.  I have well supported hardware in FreeBSD 9x, (ThinkPad x200) working video and wireless, power management functioning, etc.  So things are under control for the most part.

I know that I am basically asking if everything that is new in version 10 actually works, but I am also curious in how the user expeareance differs from 9x, and if people are enjoying using it. Is anybody unhappy with it? I would like to know that too.

Enjoy the fresh, new-and-improved FreeBSD 10!


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## wblock@ (Nov 1, 2013)

My notebook with FreeBSD-10 works, and runs xfce fine, with Intel KMS.  But then, xfce works fine on FreeBSD 9, too.  What problems did you have?

The pkg repository was just announced.

There were problems compiling some ports the last time I tried, but there has been a lot of work going on.  It still may take a while for all the changes to be ironed out, and FreeBSD 9 will be easier to deal with for a while.


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## xibo (Nov 2, 2013)

I don't use 10 on my notebooks, but I have some desktop workstations running it.

*Does pkgng work yet (repos available?)*
It already works... a lot better than pkg ever used to, in fact. I'm using pkgng on my 9-STABLE machines, too, though I'm using an own repository. FreeBSD doesn't have an official pkgng repository yet AFAIK though there is http://pkgbeta.freebsd.org/
Probably it will be CNAME'd to become the official repository with the release of 10.


*Does anything not compile with Clang (base system, basic desktop apps?)*
The base system can be built with clang ever since 9.0. Most ports build/work fine with clang, and those who don't will automagically be built by gcc instead.


*Is KMS support working at all (have Intel GMA video?)*
Limited. Modesetting works, framebuffer access and XVMC work and there's even OpenGL 3.0 support, but terminal mode cannot be restored nor can the driver module be unloaded.


*Are there any major changes in getting everything working?*
BIND, Perl5 and CVSup were removed from base and GCC isn't in either by default, which means more ports to install (and BIND might need it's configuration files to be modified).
Subversion became part of the base system though, so we can checkout the FreeBSD source without having to rely on any port again.

You will also have to bootstrap pkgng before installing any ports, which means running "pkg" before you can get started.


*I don't have to have ZFS, or all the bells and whistles, I just want a basic desktop that works, (OpenBox, panel, icons, etc.) Might consider XFCE, if it actually works without headaches, (which it didn't to my satisfaction in earlier releases.)*
I use only KDE these days on every system, but half a year ago one of my boxes could run XFCE on pre-alpha 10-CURRENT. I don't think it's broken now, as a breakage of things concerning XFCE (unless it's a ports one) would likely break KDE, too, which it doesn't.

*I know that I am basically asking if everything that is new in version 10 actually works, but I am also curious in how the user expeareance differs from 9x, and if people are enjoying using it. Is anybody unhappy with it?*
VirtualBox which has been funky for ages (dbus issues, refuse to start if theres a non-ascii character in any pathname in the home directory or the current working directory, permission issues, ...), but now on 10 it's completely broken (4.2 segfaults, 4.3 doesn't build), which might be a blocker.

That said, I'm quite happy with 10-STABLE so far, it's a lot more stable than 9's BETAs or RCs were... though I would really like to be able to run non-BSDs (i.e. Windows) in BHyVe next.


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## wblock@ (Nov 2, 2013)

The announcement of the new pkg repository: http://lists.freebsd.org/pipermail/freebsd-pkg/2013-October/000107.html.


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