# Leo Laporte installing FreeBSD for a while



## drhowarddrfine (Jul 22, 2016)

http://www.leolaporte.com/blog/a-grand-experiment

I don't know if this will be a good thing or a bad thing. He has a big following and I can only imagine the types that will flock here with questions and messing up my quiet beach.


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## scottro (Jul 22, 2016)

The good thing about something becoming popular is that then the hardware and software vendors start considering support for it.  This is most useful with laptops though.


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## fossette (Jul 23, 2016)

He purchased the FreeBSD DVDs and supported a FreeBSD Hardware vendor...  You've got to give him that!

PS: Some areas of that beach are too quiet, so welcome to the new visitors here.

Dominique.


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## wblock@ (Jul 23, 2016)

It sounds like he is expecting a Linux-like GUI and would probably be better off with PCBSD.


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## fossette (Jul 23, 2016)

wblock@ said:


> It sounds like he is expecting a Linux-like GUI and would probably be better off with PCBSD.


Let me disagree with a staff member again...  He will end-up with a _*Linux-like GUI*_ after installing FreeBSD, a WM, and all his apps.  His decision was based on his feeling that FreeBSD has the largest community among the BSD ones, and I would guess that it might be an actual fact as well.  Isn't it?  No other OS forum that I visit is, IMO.

Personally, I have a _*Windows-like GUI*_ using QVWM, and I'm perfectly happy with that.  My decision was based on the availability of the source code, both for the OS and the apps.  It appears you have less choices and are a step behind with PC-BSD.

Dominique.


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## wblock@ (Jul 23, 2016)

The last time I installed PCBSD, it gave me a choice of about six different window managers, including all the well-known ones, a couple of lesser-known ones, and Lumina.  And of course, any other window manager in ports can be installed, because it's FreeBSD.  It's the startup effort for a desktop that I was considering.  That scares off a lot of people who expect X to be included with an operating system install.

PCBSD also has use of ZFS boot environments for safe background upgrades.  I don't know of any other consumer operating system that is doing that.


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## zspider (Jul 23, 2016)

drhowarddrfine said:


> http://www.leolaporte.com/blog/a-grand-experiment
> 
> I don't know if this will be a good thing or a bad thing. He has a big following and I can only imagine the types that will flock here with questions and messing up my quiet beach.



This is just the inevitable end result. Just gotta keep ahead of things and look for the next quiet beach and enjoy it for a few years before it gets trashed too. 

I don't like the cycle either, but I see no sign of it stopping.


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