# New Windows user here



## anonymousbsd (Apr 13, 2014)

Hey,

 So I am a Windows user and I have used Linux Mint 15 and Ubuntu in the past. I want to use FreeBSD instead as I have had a lot of issues with Linux, especially with their rude community. (Although there were some helpful Linux users.)

Once I follow the handbook provided by FreeBSD to install the OS, what must I do to install applications? it is my understanding that:

`pkg_add firefox`

The command given above would install firefox. However, how do I install apps that are not in the FreeBSD repository. I completely fail to understand ports. It looks like it automates compilation, but I don't know how to use it.

Thanks, any other tips would be appreciated.


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## wblock@ (Apr 13, 2014)

On FreeBSD 10, that would be `pkg add firefox`.  Ports are for those who want to build applications from source, packages are the pre-compiled versions of those.

You will find that FreeBSD takes a different approach from most Linux distributions, not assuming you will need a lot of things that really aren't required, like X and desktop environments.  For that reason, it can be a challenge for new users to set up a desktop system.  PC-BSD is a version of FreeBSD that automatically installs all the desktop stuff.

But if you're willing to set things up yourself, FreeBSD makes a very nice desktop.


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## anonymousbsd (Apr 13, 2014)

I was thinking of going for GhostBSD with xfce4, since I am not a big fan of KDE. I do like a theme called Numix and it is compliant with xfce4. So this raises questions:


How would I install this numix theme on any BSD? On linux it is a simple matter of adding a PPA - on Ubuntu based distros anyway
Are there any GUI based "app stores/package management systems"?

http://numixproject.org/

My needs are fairly basic, just need basic apps like music player, browser, video player etc. and a nice theme.


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## wblock@ (Apr 13, 2014)

I have not tried GhostBSD, don't know much about it.

It's not widely known, but at install, PC-BSD gives the option to install up to four or five different desktops, including KDE, Gnome, xfce, lxde... and maybe others, can't recall.

There are instructions for installing those themes manually at http://satya164.deviantart.com/art/Numix-GTK3-theme-360223962.  I don't know if those steps need to be modified for FreeBSD, but probably not.


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## Itproman (Apr 13, 2014)

I haven't tried GhostBSD,but,I have used PC-BSD 9.1(it is FreeBSD underneath,just modified for the desktop.) and it was a nice install.Even with running  KDE4 ,FreeBSD in a jail,along with Apache ,etc and some other apps,I was still barely using  1 GB.I'd highly recommend it to anybody who wants to get up quickly and get their feet wet in the BSD world.For me the first time,doing FreeBSD 9.0,I just couldn't get it right,so the second time,in order to get up quickly,get my feet wet and learn,I installed PCBSD;now,I'm just doing FreeBSD.

I'm still using Ubuntu on one PC and the memory consumption is something else.

PC-BSD is backed by Ixsystems,whereas GhostBSD,I understand,is a smaller  work.

If you want to go the FreeBSD route and have a desktop and do it all yourself,you will have to install the OS,do some configuration,install X,video driver,plus your desktop choice,the Linux emulation layer,flash player,nswrapper , firefox ,etc;the order is probably wrong there,but,just follow the manual.It takes a bit of work,but,it's worth it in the end.


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## jtscolorado (Apr 14, 2014)

Since you are new to FreeBSD and you are interested in a desktop setup with graphical interface -- I second the recommendation to try PC-BSD (http://www.pcbsd.org/).  It has an easy graphical installation process and you can choose to have the installer automatically install/configure XFCE as your desktop environment (along with many other popular desktops like cinnamon or kde).  I personally use PCBSD and XFCE on my desktops and the process is very simple.  Since the foundation of PCBSD is FreeBSD, this can give you a friendly environment to begin to explore the file system and shell commands if you are interested in that.

Installing other software on FreeBSD is done by either compiling the application from source code via ports (slow on large programs but allows you to select configuration options) OR by installing a pre-compiled package (faster but it will not be custom).  These methods are explained in the FreeBSD handbook under the documentation tab above.  PCBSD allows both of those methods and also gives you another option which would likely solve your problem for Firefox quickly:  PBIs (push button installers).  PCBSD has a built-in graphical application called AppCafe which is like the Ubuntu software center in that you can search/browse for common software (media players, web browsers, openoffice, games, etc) and then just click a button to install.  It will download a pre-compiled package along with all of its dependencies and organize them in their own directory so that there is not any dependency conflict with other software.  They have Firefox as a PBI.  PCBSD has a very good online handbook of documentation as well.

As for changing your theme in XFCE -- you can find instructions here http://wiki.xfce.org/howto/install_new_themes and at the top of that page they link to a bunch of websites where you can browse/download themes (free).

If you choose to stay with FreeBSD/PCBSD -- you will find they have awesome documentation in their respective handbooks and man pages.  I switched from Debian and Ubuntu about a year ago and haven't looked back.

Good luck.


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## anonymousbsd (Apr 14, 2014)

Thanks for the answers. I'll go ahead with PC-BSD while reading the FreeBSD documentation.. You guys are right on the documentation, I didn't realize it, but the documentation is so good that I don't actually need to post here, silly me.


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