# Debian--->FreeBSD



## larry77 (Nov 2, 2010)

Dear All,

No intention to start a flamewar at all. I have been using Debian happily for several years (though I am far from an expert or someone with professional skills).

I may get a spare laptop for personal use in the near future and I am considering the idea of installing an OS different from linux. I am considering freeBSD FreeBSD, but what are the pros/cons of such a choice? Hardware detection is crucial to me (e.g. I do not want/do not have the time to spend hours to get the wireless working) and so are the scientific tools available (R, SciPy, Mayavi2, Python etc...).

I should also add that I have absolutely zero experience with freebsd FreeBSD so I hope to be able to at least go beyond the installation.

Cheers

larry77


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## SirDice (Nov 2, 2010)

larry77 said:
			
		

> I am considering freeBSD, but what are the pros/cons of such a choice?


Look around this board, there are already numerous topics covering this.



> Hardware detection is crucial to me (e.g. I do not want/do not have the time to spend hours to get the wireless working)


Honesty bids me to tell you that FreeBSD isn't for you then. If you want to play with FreeBSD be prepared to spend hours getting stuff working. You will need to get your hands dirty. Everything, and I mean everything, needs to be configured by hand. But once you get it working it'll work like a charm.


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## jb_fvwm2 (Nov 2, 2010)

google search: 

scipy NEAR freebsd

Although you can dual boot[1] or use your laptop and debian machines concurrently or something... IMHO freebsd FreeBSD would be an excellent choice with only a few gotchas.  See the "favorite linux" and "laptops that run bsd" etc threads on this forum maybe...

[1] back up the data you want to save first.


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## vermaden (Nov 2, 2010)

larry77 said:
			
		

> I may get a spare laptop for personal use in the near future and I am considering the idea of installing an OS different from linux. I am considering FreeBSD


What are this laptop hardware specs mate? (chipset/gfx/cpu/lan/wifi)



> but what are the pros/cons of such a choice?


Yuo will be using FreeBSD UNIX instead of Debian Linux, with all pros and cons.



> and so are the scientific tools available (R, SciPy, Mayavi2, Python etc...).


Check *http://freshports.org *if Your application are available.



> I should also add that I have absolutely zero experience with FreeBSD so I hope to be able to at least go beyond the installation.


There is great FreeBSD HANDBOOK and FAQ.


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## UNIXgod (Nov 2, 2010)

larry77 said:
			
		

> ...and so are the scientific tools available (R, SciPy, Mayavi2, Python etc...)



Look here for your ports:

http://www.freshports.org/

BSD will be a much different experience than debian.


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## hansivers (Nov 2, 2010)

I've used Debian (stable "branch") on file/web servers for about 4 years before turning to FreeBSD. Three reasons : 

+ Monthly and even (sometimes) weekly Linux kernel security updates, with their inevitable reboots, were annoying

+ 3-4 times, changes in subsystems were "silently" pushed during binary updates without any warning, and the system failed during reboot. A couple of hours of fun to try to find why this has happened!  

+ SPARC64 port was not completely functional on my Netra/Sunfire SPARC boxes

However, I must say that I missed at least two things :

+ Binary security updates for packages

+ In my own personal experience, I found it quicker to get a functional system after installation with Debian. As SirDice pointed out earlier, FreeBSD needs a bit more tweaking and polishing before being fully functional.

Good luck with your systems migration.


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## Ralph_Ellis (Nov 2, 2010)

What would be a better choice for you would be PC-BSD. It is FreeBSD with desktop configurations already done. It dramatically cuts down on the tinkering time and you get to install zfs right from the start without a lot of pre-configuration. You can learn FreeBSD over time but PC-BSD allows you to get up an running immediately. Flash will be installed from the start. The graphical desktop environment is ready to go on your first boot. The firewall is configured at the start. You can play with any of the configurations after you have some more knowledge of the OS.
Have fun


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## vermaden (Nov 2, 2010)

@Ralph_Ellis

The downside of using PC-BSD is bundled KDE4 mule which slows all things down and eating all free memory


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## UNIXgod (Nov 2, 2010)

Or you could run this mutt:

http://www.debian.org/ports/kfreebsd-gnu/

But I'd rather advocate the original vs its derivative.


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## larry77 (Nov 3, 2010)

vermaden said:
			
		

> What are this laptop hardware specs mate? (chipset/gfx/cpu/lan/wifi)
> 
> 
> Yuo will be using FreeBSD UNIX instead of Debian Linux, with all pros and cons.
> ...



My laptop is a Fujitsu-Siemens Amilo pa3553 (as soon as I get it back, I'll be able to post more details about its hardware specs). You get an idea of its specifications by looking at http://www.nice-pc.co.uk/acatalog/ds-amilo-n-pa-3553.pdf

Cheers.

larry77


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## vermaden (Nov 3, 2010)

@larry77

You will not be able to use CrossFire on FreeBSD, but ait/radeon driver should run x11 without any problem, there is no WiFi card model specified so I dunno how it will work on FreeBSD, CPU scaling will also work without a problem.


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## alie (Nov 13, 2010)

SirDice said:
			
		

> Look around this board, there are already numerous topics covering this.
> 
> 
> Honesty bids me to tell you that FreeBSD isn't for you then. If you want to play with FreeBSD be prepared to spend hours getting stuff working. You will need to get your hands dirty. Everything, and I mean everything, needs to be configured by hand. But once you get it working it'll work like a charm.



Agreed with this statement: *"Once you get it working it'll work like a charm."*


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## tingo (Nov 14, 2010)

And once you have learned FreeBSD, it will feel so natural / good / whatever that you will never want to give it up again. You have been warned.


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