# Wanting to Know if FreeBSD Would Meet My Needs and Work With My Hardware



## tb58371 (Jan 10, 2021)

Hello everyone,

I'm currently a Linux user who is interested in FreeBSD. Didn't know that so many things used today are based off of BSD which is awesome. I'm thinking of switching to it full time but wanted to know if I can do the same things on my Linux machine. I run virtual machines with Virtualbox, play Linux native games on Steam and play older Windows games with Steam's Proton. I'm also curious if the hardware for both my desktop and laptop are BSD friendly as far as drivers and such go. I've posted the specs of both of my machines. I couldn't figure out exactly what thread to post this on since it contains two different topics in one post. Thanks for taking the time to read and address this!

*Model:* Alienware Alpha R1
*RAM:* 15.6 GiB
*CPU: *Intel Core i3-4130T CPU @ 2.90GHz × 4
*Storage:* 1.0 TB HDD
*GPU:* NVIDIA Corporation GM107M [GeForce GTX 860M]
*Network:* Realtek Semiconductor Corp. RTL8188EUS 802.11n USB Wireless Network Adapter

*Model: *Lenovo Ideapad 330-15IGM
*RAM:* 3.7 GiB
*CPU:* Intel Celeron(R) N4100 CPU @ 1.10GHz x 4
*Storage:* 500.1 GB HDD
*GPU:* Mesa Intel UHD Graphics 600 (GLK 2)
*Network:* Qualcomm Atheros QCA9377 802.11ac Wireless Network Adapter
*Touchpad:* Synaptics TM3336-001


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## matt_k (Jan 11, 2021)

your PC should be OK, but I dont see the QCA9377 of your notebook in the list of supported HW:









						FreeBSD 12.1-RELEASE Hardware Notes
					

FreeBSD is an operating system used to power modern servers, desktops, and embedded platforms.




					www.freebsd.org
				




I am not sure if FreeBSD is a good choice if you want to play games. I mean, AFAIK, some of them work, but it includes tinkering. If games are what you are primarily doing with your computer, then maybe try FreeBSD dualboot and check if you can make your preffered games work. You can always reboot and play a game or two and then reboot back. I started with FreeBSD dual booting, then after a few months I realized I never boot into linux anymore, so I dumped it.


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## drhowarddrfine (Jan 11, 2021)

The Qualcomm driver is being worked on as we speak.


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## phalange (Jan 11, 2021)

tb58371 said:


> Hello everyone,
> 
> I'm currently a Linux user who is interested in FreeBSD. Didn't know that so many things used today are based off of BSD which is awesome. I'm thinking of switching to it full time but wanted to know if I can do the same things on my Linux machine. I run virtual machines with Virtualbox, play Linux native games on Steam and play older Windows games with Steam's Proton. I'm also curious if the hardware for both my desktop and laptop are BSD friendly as far as drivers and such go. I've posted the specs of both of my machines. I couldn't figure out exactly what thread to post this on since it contains two different topics in one post. Thanks for taking the time to read and address this!



Here's the FreeBSD laptop wiki. 

You should make a live USB to test. You might also use a live GhostBSD USB; it's a quick way to get into a GUI and see if there are glaring driver omissions.

VirtualBox is great on FreeBSD, but it's still version 5.2 if that's a consideration. Steam and Proton I don't know.

You might also consider running FreeBSD in a VM in Linux as step one. I had good results running a stripped down Debian then loading a FreeBSD VM at boot, although I prefer bare metal.


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## Sevendogsbsd (Jan 11, 2021)

Steam is a non player without work. See this thread: Thread 72140/.


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## shkhln (Jan 13, 2021)

Gaming is very feasible as long as it's _not a laptop_. In other words, don't buy Alienware's crap.


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## aponomarenko (Jan 18, 2021)

See topic "How it fits BSD?".


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