# girlfriend using freebsd



## LateNiteTV (Jan 26, 2010)

i managed to get my hands on an intel core2 duo system for dirt cheap and asked my girlfriend if she wanted a new computer. she said yes so it's hers. i told her that i didnt want to cough up the money for windows, she didnt either, so i put freebsd on it. installed kde3 and gnome2. she likes it so far.
she likes the ports/pkg system too.

she knows virtually nothing about computers but got the hang of using pkg_add very quickly.

i taught her how to search the ports tree to find what she wants to install. so all is good!!

flash/java are working. 
who says that freebsd cant be a desktop system for the not so technically inclined?

good work freebsd team!


----------



## Beastie (Jan 26, 2010)

That's wonderful! Some people insist that the "average" Joe (and Jane ) can't work outside Windows. They don't know what they're talking about, clearly.


----------



## DutchDaemon (Jan 26, 2010)

Maybe LateNiteTV's girlfriend is not average?

*ducks*


----------



## SirDice (Jan 26, 2010)

An old Rod Steward track comes to mind.....


----------



## Ruler2112 (Jan 26, 2010)

Does your girlfriend happen to have a twin sister who isn't attached?


----------



## Eponasoft (Jan 26, 2010)

I had spoken of a system I was installing FreeBSD on in another thread here, which subsequently died though due to a hdd failure. I will reinstall it when the new hdd is installed. The person it's for is my wife's mother, who always manages to download legions of malware in Windows XP that no scanner can detect until it's too late. Said malware likes to spread across the network too, despite huge efforts to keep the systems locked down. With a FreeBSD system, that risk will be a thing of the past, since her system cannot be infected, and even if other Windows systems get infected with anything (highly unlikely anyways), hers won't get screwed again. It's just gonna be less of a nightmare to teach her to use KDE3 than it has been to continually repair the XP machines.


----------



## SirDice (Jan 26, 2010)

Eponasoft said:
			
		

> With a FreeBSD system, that risk will be a thing of the past, since her system cannot be infected, and even if other Windows systems get infected with anything (highly unlikely anyways), hers won't get screwed again. It's just gonna be less of a nightmare to teach her to use KDE3 than it has been to continually repair the XP machines.



While I understand where you're coming from and without taking the thread very off-topic (I'm guessing that price wasn't the only reason for the OP to suggest FreeBSD) I do like to warn :e

It's true our beloved FreeBSD cannot be infected with any known windows malware (Not counting VMs, wine, Xen, Qem etc). That means the chance of actually getting something is quite low. If you run that other popular OS from Redmond the chance of running something nefarious is quite high. 

However, it is quite possible to do those same dirty little tricks on FreeBSD (or any other *nix). And lets be honest it's mostly PEBKAC that triggers the malware. All you need to do is entice them to click or run something and they're pretty much done for. Contrary to popular belief you don't actually need root or administrator for a lot of dirty tricks. A zombie program is surprisingly simple. It's so simple you can run it on the nobody account and it'll still function properly. A normal user's account will do quite nicely :beergrin

Hopefully by making them use a different OS, which works similar but not entirely the same as what they're normally used to, they will also learn not to click or run everything you find on the internetz :i


----------



## ckester (Jan 26, 2010)

Beastie said:
			
		

> That's wonderful! Some people insist that the "average" Joe (and Jane ) can't work outside Windows. They don't know what they're talking about, clearly.



The only reason the average Joe or Jane coming from Windows would have problems using FreeBSD is that they're often unwilling to learn new ways of doing things.   If you're willing to take BSD on its own terms, it's easy to learn --- and a lot of fun.

:stud


----------



## Daisuke_Aramaki (Jan 27, 2010)

Nice. Mine saw the beastie console screensaver once and asked me if i could help her install it on her old laptop. we sat together one sunday and she was able to get it up and running quickly, selected programs and xfce desktop. 

since she wanted to get things done fast, she didn't warm up to the idea of ports, and it was always pkg_add for her. But upon explaining the advantages of using ports, she has started using ports. she was very proud of having upgraded her system from 7.2 to 8.0 without any help and not breaking anything. :e

Professionally she uses a Macbook pro with Leopard and doesn't want to tinker with it. She told me that using FreeBSD influenced her decision on buying a macbook.


----------



## LateNiteTV (Jan 27, 2010)

yeah its pretty cool.
she really likes the fact that she can make the desktop look like anything she wants. she installed xfce, openbox, windowmaker, and e16 last night and she was having a good time downloading all kinds of themes for them.


----------



## Pushrod (Jan 28, 2010)

This thread is useless without pics.


----------



## inurneck (Jan 28, 2010)

Beastie said:
			
		

> That's wonderful! Some people insist that the "average" Joe (and Jane ) can't work outside Windows. They don't know what they're talking about, clearly.



The public service announcement message here is to let you know that the average jane and joe are *LAZY* and want what they want when they want it.

They don't want to work for it. Or granted some truly don't have time, or the care. That's the only reason why bill gates is *rich, open source is fairly poor,* and people not only put up with but actually _*pay for*_ buggy piles of unreliable crap. 

What twists the knife more is that there's open source FREE software without viruses, ads or a hundred thousand programs running in the background, automatically and ultimately lagging the entire internet with botnets because they don't even take the time to click *update* on one of the 30 preinstalled programs like their antivirus.

 Nearly the only fruits open source gets is what they have created and the peace of mind from it. It's sad but I can live with that and I do. Let the lazy live with windows. I'll take broke and informed over rich and stupidity any day of the week. Now if you'll excuse me my pop-tarts are done and I am starving.


----------



## fronclynne (Jan 28, 2010)

I forced my girlfriend to use linux (well, ubuntu, actually), by (a) paying for the machine and (b) telling her, "here, use it.".  Every once in a while she'll ask, "How do I do _NNN_?"
I'll respond with, "Open a terminal . . ." and her eyes roll like a slot machine.  I think FreeBSD is a ways off.


----------



## Purple_Q (Jan 28, 2010)

inurneck said:
			
		

> I'll take broke and informed over rich and stupidity any day of the week. Now if you'll excuse me my pop-tarts are done and I am starving.



Damn straight! G'damn straight. That statement could not have been more concise, more accurate, any closer to hitting the proverbial nail on it's head. :beer

Respect!
  --Q


----------



## roddierod (Jan 28, 2010)

I had my wife and daughter using FreeBSD after I built the machines for them and installed KDE.

The only real problem was my wife likes yahoo games. I got the site working with FireFox, but every once and awhile some of the games on the site require a download which would be some windows exe. So I had to turn her machine back to windows. I even tried with OS X and the same problem.

My daughter wanted to play games so had to go back to windows.

Other than that, once setup and configured they never had issues with anything.


----------



## SirDice (Jan 28, 2010)

inurneck said:
			
		

> What twists the knife more is that there's open source FREE software without viruses, ads or a hundred thousand programs running in the background, automatically and ultimately lagging the entire internet with botnets because they don't even take the time to click *update* on one of the 30 preinstalled programs like their antivirus.


Read my commentary regarding malware. Read it again if you have too. Malware is quite possible on FreeBSD or any other *nix. And no, there's no root access required.


----------



## klanger (Jan 28, 2010)

My girlfriend had eeepc 1000HD with WinXP until it stopped running (XP). Then I've installed on her eeepc eeebuntu, and she was happy using linux until my router broke, and her wifi was very very slow (had to use macbook as a router and that was not well supported by linux operated eeepc1000HD...).

She changed her netbook for a eeepc 1000HE (9h on battery!) and I have changed my router for d-link (previous was "goldstar" linksys). So now, I'm waiting for WinXP to brakedown (should be in 1-2 months, since she isn't using any AV :e), and eeepc will again have linux, or maybe even freebsd (if it supports eeepc 1000HE hardware).

One thing is for sure - no WM such as fluxbox or tiling WMs are supported by "girlfriends". They hate (at least my gf) simplicity of boxs and tiling - WM must be bloated and beautiful 



			
				SirDice said:
			
		

> Read my commentary regarding malware. Read it again if you have too. Malware is quite possible on FreeBSD or any other *nix. And no, there's no root access required.



yeap, you can enter to MacOS X via safari.


----------



## SirDice (Jan 28, 2010)

klanger said:
			
		

> yeap, you can enter to MacOS X via safari.


Not just that. A lot of malware doesn't even abuse bugs in software. It just coaxes a user into running something.


----------



## Graaf_van_Vlaanderen (Jan 28, 2010)

klanger said:
			
		

> My girlfriend had eeepc 1000HD with WinXP until it stopped running (XP). Then I've installed on her eeepc eeebuntu, and she was happy using linux until my router broke, and her wifi was very very slow (had to use macbook as a router and that was not well supported by linux operated eeepc1000HD...).
> 
> She changed her netbook for a eeepc 1000HE (9h on battery!) and I have changed my router for d-link (previous was "goldstar" linksys). So now, I'm waiting for WinXP to brakedown (should be in 1-2 months, since she isn't using any AV :e), and eeepc will again have linux, or maybe even freebsd (if it supports eeepc 1000HE hardware).
> 
> ...



I used to have an EEEPC1000H. Such a useless piece of crap. I immediately sold it again. Of course it can run forever on batteries with such a slow performance.


----------



## klanger (Jan 28, 2010)

> I used to have an EEEPC1000H. Such a useless piece of crap. I immediately sold it again. Of course it can run forever on batteries with such a slow performance.



well sir, I'd disagree!

I had an opportunity to work on eeepc 1000HD (900MHz), 1000HE (1.66 MHz) and my own eeepc 900 (900MHz, 20 ssd, 1GB RAM) and I would never call them a "piece of crap".

It is not for all stuff, and I do have a 2 computer (macbook C2D 3GB RAM) to do some serious work, but eeepc is always with me (as my cell phone).


----------



## fronclynne (Jan 28, 2010)

*or openbsd & tinywm*



			
				klanger said:
			
		

> It is not for all stuff, and I do have a 2 computer (macbook C2D 3GB RAM) to do some serious work, but eeepc is always with me (as my cell phone).



Agreed.  Small, cheap, long battery life.  It's what portable computing should be.

I did briefly consider sticking her with gentoo & evilwm . . .


----------



## Daisuke_Aramaki (Jan 28, 2010)

fronclynne said:
			
		

> Agreed.  Small, cheap, long battery life.  It's what portable computing should be.
> 
> I did briefly consider sticking her with gentoo & evilwm . . .



My EEE1000H is my favorite  play toy. I have tried so many things with it. Tried most Linux distros, and lived with Sorcerer for a long time. Then it was BSD, of course started with FreeBSD, then played with OpenBSD. I even had a minimal Opensolaris on it for a while. Now it runs DragonflyBSD.


----------



## judyderkeithal (Feb 6, 2010)

lol that's pretty neat, maybe I can use the same tactic to convert my hubby


----------



## klanger (Feb 6, 2010)

Daisuke_Aramaki said:
			
		

> Now it runs DragonflyBSD.



How does it work?  Or, what part of eeepc hardware is supported?
Do you know any how-to about isnatlling DragonflyBSD on eeepc?


----------



## greyulv (Feb 10, 2010)

Klanger try PCBSD on EEEPC 1000H and the PBI's for installing are even easier.

Support for WiFi Too!

G


----------



## sossego (Feb 11, 2010)

I think I have more in common with fronclynne. Girlfriend's using Linux and uses FreeBSD whenever I have the Desktop switched to it.


----------



## lme@ (Feb 11, 2010)

Pushrod said:
			
		

> This thread is useless without pics.



My girlfriend is happy with PC-BSD on the desktop and FreeBSD with LXDE on the EeePC 701.

Here she is at this year's FOSDEM FreeBSD booth:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/lhirlimann/4338354992/


----------



## klanger (Feb 11, 2010)

greyulv said:
			
		

> Klanger try PCBSD on EEEPC 1000H and the PBI's for installing are even easier.
> 
> Support for WiFi Too!
> 
> G



I will, as soon as my girlfriends windows xp will die on her eeepc 1000HE  

I'm using FBSD with fluxbox on eeepc 900 (more than happy with this combo)


----------



## DutchDaemon (Feb 11, 2010)

lme@ said:
			
		

> My girlfriend is happy with PC-BSD on the desktop and FreeBSD with LXDE on the EeePC 701.
> 
> Here she is at this year's FOSDEM FreeBSD booth:
> http://www.flickr.com/photos/lhirlimann/4338354992/



Anyone responding with the words 'swap' and/or 'horn' will be banned!


----------



## fronclynne (Feb 11, 2010)

DutchDaemon said:
			
		

> Anyone responding with the words 'swap' and/or 'horn' will be banned!



Physician, heal thyself.


----------



## DutchDaemon (Feb 12, 2010)

Sorry, I'm watching the custodian.


----------



## Ruler2112 (Feb 12, 2010)

I personally like the white fur around the base of each protrusion from her headpiece.  (Sorry - per DD I can't use the H-word...  :e )


----------



## DutchDaemon (Feb 12, 2010)

Well, at least you didn't use the word 'fuzz'.


----------



## FBSDin20Steps (Feb 12, 2010)

Am I here in the same vacuum?


----------



## DutchDaemon (Feb 12, 2010)

I can't hear you.


----------



## FBSDin20Steps (Feb 12, 2010)

Have a chicken lips?


----------



## DutchDaemon (Feb 12, 2010)

I don't know what the pope does in the woods, but I think the bear is not catholic.


----------



## achix (Feb 27, 2010)

My wife(38), daughter(6.5) and son(5) have absolutely no issues using FreeBSD. Actually its the only available system in the house. Wife is using web mostly (and youtube of course), while daughter/son use GCompris, tuxpaint and potatoguy!
I have different login environments: For wife KDE, while for my daughter/son Gnome with large fonts and Greek locale.


----------



## fronclynne (Feb 28, 2010)

Her: my wireless is messed up

Me:  restart your network manager

Her: uh . . .

Me:  open a terminal, type killall nm-applet && nohup nm-applet > /dev/null &

Her: it says killallnm-applet: Command not found.

Me:  you have to put a space between your commands and their arguments.

Her: what?  I'm not arguing.

Me:  oh, God.


----------



## alie (Feb 28, 2010)

@fronclynne: ROFL!!! hahahahaha


----------



## lme@ (Feb 28, 2010)

fromclynne: That reminds me of me explaining my girlfriend how to add a new user and creating ~/.xinitrc via phone....


----------



## fronclynne (Mar 1, 2010)

lme@ said:
			
		

> fromclynne: That reminds me of me explaining my girlfriend how to add a new user and creating ~/.xinitrc via phone....



Eesh, wow.

I got my lady to log into my machine and take a screenshot for me while I was playing Robot Unicorn Attack.  It was a fascinating exercise in patience and memory.


----------

