Months after I discovered FreeBSD’s excellent performance, and because my debian unstable desktop became, well, unstable, I decided to give FreeBSD as a desktop a try.
My desktop needs are pretty basic, I just need:
- GNOME: Originally I migrated from fluxbox to Gnome to “try linux as a real final user”, now I just can’t live without it. It is a solid, simple and elegant desktop. I need an enviroment with excellent Gnome support.
- Mplayer/xmms: I like to watch movies while I work. It helps me to relax. When I need to focus a little more (when I am programming), I need xmms for some good old Ludwig Van.
That is pretty much it. Both Firefox and xterm are everywhere, and I take them for granted.
FreeBSD covers this pretty well. The FreeBSD Gnome project provides a great enviroment and I was very happy with my desktop. I could see ALL my videos with mplayer, and I didn’t have flash installed in firefox (I HATE flash).
But after months of bliss, problems arised:
First, when I tried to sync my palm wigh Gnome, it didn’t work. I remember this was damn easy in Debian. I just forgot about it and never used my palm again. I really didn’t care too much.
But then, something REALLY annoyed me.
When the Snakes and Rubies videos (Django and Ruby on Rails) were released, I couldn’t watch them in FreeBSD. I had to go to use a Windows box. I really tried everything I could but the codecs just didn’t work in FreeBSD. I gave up.
After that, an email in the django-users mailing list mentioned that the snake and rubies videos were in Google Video. The problem is that Google Video uses flash. I hate flash. I hate flash sites. Flash is awful.
But google video and youtube (also flash) are great sites, and have great stuff. I was missing all that.
This weekend I decided to install flash in FreeBSD.
I did. I installed the most recent “supported” version of flash in FreeBSD: Flash6. The problem is, both Google Video and youtube need Flash7 to work. And flash7 support in FreeBSD is pretty bad (there is no flash player for FreeBSD so it must run in linux-emulation mode).
Now, Installing Flash in FreeBSD is not as simple as it is in other OSs. For instance, the port that handles linux plugins for firefox is bugged, and wasn’t creating a plugins directory. I had to read Makefiles to see what was wrong and create that directory by hand.
Also, to install the Flash7 port, you must apply a patch in your core userland source code and recompile it. Can you believe that? Recompile the core of your operating system just to run flash? Anyway I did that. The docs said there was the risk in some systems that nothing would work.
And it didn’t work.
That was my last night with FreeBSD. I decided I needed another desktop. My list of candidates was short:
- Mandriva: Maybe, but it’s too KDE centric, I need a good Gnome desktop
- OpenSuse: Suse is good if you just install it and never touch it again. But it is by far the worst OS to upgrade. It breaks. It commits suicide. You have to fix things. It will waste your time. Avoid it like fire.
- Fedora: I used FC4 for a short period, a very solid desktop, but I still have nightmares with RPM.
- Debian: Now we are talking. The quintessential linux distro. My favorite linux for a server, but for a desktop, why should I use unstable when now I can use…
- Ubuntu: Ubuntu is what I was looking for. They are completly Gnome and Python centric. And best of all, it has everything good about debian (the packages) without what is not good about debian (the politics and the endless flamewars).
So I downloaded the latest beta of Ubuntu Dapper (beta4) and installed it this Monday. As usual with the new d-i I had no problems. But when I wanted to install
the extra (non-free) stuff, like the nvidia drivers, mplayer and the codecs, realplayer, acrobat reader, the flash player, java and all that, I just used easyubuntu and after a few clicks I had everything I wanted installed and working. In minutes. I couldn’t believe that. Last sunday I wasted THREE hours of my life trying (and failing) to make Flash work in FreeBSD, and now after a some minutes and a few clicks, I had even more software I ever had in my FreeBSD desktop.
Probably I should tell you about what a PITA is the installation of java in FreeBSD.
It is a big, very big, PITA.
In ubuntu you can have it installed with a couple of mouse clicks.
Now, I know there are lots of elitist kids around believing that because they use a “complicated” desktop (*BSD, gentoo, debian?, slackware, linux from scratch) they are technically superior. That attitude is stupid.
I have lots of stuff to do, and most of it is a lot more complicated than setting up a desktop. Believe me, I have better things to do than configuring mplayer or making my webcam work. I just want to plug in things or click buttons and everything should work. Ubuntu and OSX do that. FreeBSD and gentoo don’t. Ubuntu and OSX win. The ubuntu motto is “linux for human beings”, it should be “linux for professionals without time to waste”. FreeBSD is for servers. Ubuntu for my desktop.
And I will not, ever, waste three hours of my time configuring flash again. I can design, develop and test a web app in Django in three hours. There is no time to waste.
Comments (20)
“Now, I know there are lots of elitist kids around believing that because they use a “complicated” desktop (*BSD, gentoo, debian?, slackware, linux from scratch) they are technically superior. That attitude is stupid.
I have lots of stuff to do, and most of it is a lot more complicated than setting up a desktop. Believe me, I have better things to do than configuring mplayer or making my webcam work.”
Un gusto Tabo :D, give me a five!!
Ok but I think that It doesn´t easy for me. Good Luck from Spain
Very nice and funny post. I am FreeBSD user for Years, and Ubuntu is a terrible name, but a good approach for Linux desktop. However it was pretty slow on a Celeron 600, the FreeBSD desktop is pretty fast. So if I can suppress my behaviour to compile and tune packages….
Can we ? Euhm…
Agreed, you get to a point after years of fiddling when you just want it all to *work*. First I’ve heard of “Easy Ubuntu”, I’ll have to give it a try. Nice post.
About flash 7 in FreeBSD - maybe you took bad way?
I use linux-opera & linux-flashplugin-7, it works for me for months without any kernel patches/recompilation. Just remember: use linux player in LINUX browser - it works fine in FreeBSD.
I used to use FreeBSD as a destktop (in work and in home) but looking for smth easier (especially for my wife :), maybe Kubuntu or Mandriva /yes, I’m a fun of KDE/
One buggy thing in bsd: FreeBSD makes a reboot when I plug popular mp3 player. I don’t want to hack kernel/usb code to fix it, jut want to *work* (as Doug wrote).
perfect. that is the same feeling i have from freebsd…
Ubuntu is not bad, as long as you like Gnome. I can’t stand it, so I’m waiting for a decent distribution with KDE to come out of the shadows (No, Kubuntu doesn’t cut it). Until then, I’m stuck with Gentoo.
Ive been using desktopbsd for 4 months now. I have toyed around with many things, i managed to get java working with no problems….. but i needed an ftp client for logging in my hosting, and it just dont wanna install. I would love to make it work, but in this time and age, i dont wanna ruin my brains over my ego… its too painful. i want something to work out of the box now. Heres my opinions and reasons.
as much as i dont like to say it, and I havent used it in the past 8 or 9 months, windowsxp is good to an extent.
heres how i see it:
1. are you a home pc user who is good with setting up firewalls, installing programs and know where viruses come from? can you avoid a virus? or a worm? and know what a trojan is? then windows xp is for you. you have nothing to worry about, and lets face it, its not that expensive for home use. you get audio/video/java/flash out of the box. its worth it for a small fee.
2. are you a home user but not so good at the above points with windowsxp? then windowsxp is for you too, because linux/unix/bsd is much harder than above. unless you get someone to install linux/bsd/unix for you all the way (i doubt u will find anyone).
3. are you a home pc user good with the above, but u can live without watching videos, flash animations and java? but you need office suite, a calculater and a browser? then linux/bsd might be for you. 100%
ONLY 2 POINTS FOR BUSINESS USE:
is your business very huge and can afford windows xp licences? then get windows xp. all features out of the box.
is your business big BUT u can live without flash / video / java? maybe an ebay business? then linux/bsd/unix is for you. no need to pay high costs to microsoft.
FINAL CONCLUSION::::::
i recommend linux/bsd/unix for anyone at home OR BUSINESS who can live without flash/java/ movie play back.
i recommend windows xp for any users at home or business who need a fully featured multimedia box. watching movies, audio / flash.
Linux / bsd / unix is not far off. infact if it wasnt for flash and licensing issues with video play back, i would not recommend xp at all. nowadays anyone can set up UBUNTU / DESKTOPBSD :) and i heard flash 9 for linux is coming in 2007. so only thing left is video play back. i guess you can use wine for that? as for me…… i dont need video play back, but need flash atleast.
well i dont mean to create another flame war here. this is just my humble opinion. be open minded :)
Hello,
I bet to differ from some of the coments above , not all . Ubuntu is over all great . Here are my issue . When I switched to kubuntu 6.0.6 had some issues . 1) It did not pick up the resolution on a my desktop . When I specified IT goofed up . (My setings work just great on openSuSE and Win XX. Ubuntu is supposed to be Linux for Human beings. Also Kubuntu did not change the rights on /home which is on another partition which openSuSE did. Also I have far superior antialiasing ! I love the direction that It has taken but may take a bit more for it to arrive .
-Remesh
Ha! Spot on my friend! I am currently typing this from FreeBSD… but not on my keyboard. For whatever reason, FreeBSD won’t recognize my PS/2 keyboard. I am using a borrowed USB keyboard. How odd is that? And where do I get help? No where I can find. Ubuntu is not just about the nice OS, perfect price tag, and excellent Package Managment… it also has the BEST community! And a unified, easy to find community at that.
The Ubuntu community is so outstanding that the forums are often filled with users from other distro seeking assistance.
Anyway, after wrestling with the crappy FreeBSD installer, spending hours updating with Ports, searching every little tiny outdated forum I could find for help… my 2 day test of FreeBSD is over.
Once I get back into Ubuntu, its time to fire up GParted to get rid of the mess that is FreeBSD.
I know FreeBSD its complicated, but there are other BSD OSses based on FreeBSD base system like PC-BSD and DesktopBSD.
Debian used to be complicated for some people and they like Ubuntu,no? Same situation changing Debian and Ubuntu names with FreeBSD and PC-BSD or DesktopBSD names.
Hope you find Your OS! :D
First and last day on Desktop BSD. I run two tests on any new OS. It must play MP3’s and it must play videos, like on CNN. Well we all know about flash and DBSD, but I am usually willing to devote some time figuring out a new system. So I went to DBSD forums looking for help, boy was I surprised. I am used to Ubuntu boards and in the 6 months or so I have used Feisty on my production desktop I have never ran into such animosity as was displayed on DBSD forums in the flash area. Anyway I have Gutsy on my production unit now and thanks to the help on the Ubuntu forums flash and MP3’s and my iPod work fine, along with my 8800gtx video card and lcd monitor. All told maybe 1/2 hour to get it up and running. I wish the DBSD project all the luck in the world, but taking out the live DBSD distro and going back to Cassandra and Mint on my test bed . Luck to all.
Cart
Forget EasyUbuntu.
I’m an Ubuntu user myself — and the packages you need to install are very simple to install yourselves.
Just look up the non-free repositories, add the non-free repos to your /etc/apt/sources.list or wherever it is (you can do this from synaptic if you just look in the menus, too).
Then, search for the repos you want in synaptic — search “win32 codecs” or just “win32″, “mp3″, “flac”, etc.
Firefox will just prompt you to install flash so you don’t even have to worry about that!
And your nvidia drivers — they should install automatically when you install the new Gutsy Gibbon WHICH F’ING ROCKS!
With Gutsy, Ubuntu has now become an operating system which is not only more stable than Windows and as stable as Apple, more feature-full than both, far more customizable than either BUT IT’S ALSO SO RIDICULOUSLY GORGEOUS WITH “DESKTOP EFFECTS”, AKA COMPIZ FUSION, AKA THE REMERGE OF BERYL WITH COMPIZ.
Ahhh, life is good on Ubuntu. This article is quite discouraging — I had just installed FreeBSD and gotten X running for the first time. (I hadn’t installed for many years and X was a bitch to wrangle back then in BSD, I guess.)
I think anyone wanting to try BSD so they can enjoy the extra stability, consistency, etc. — I mean, if you want help with “Linux”, there’s a million variables, not so with FreeBSD — should try the desktop distro PcBSD. It’s FreeBSD with an easy installer, with KDE built-in, etc.
And, Flash support is coming, so don’t write off FreeBSD forever!
Flash player for FreeBSD : pgk_add -r swfdec
Verify in Firefox after restart: about:plugins
You should see :
- Shockwave Flash
- File name: libswfdecmozilla.so
- Shockwave Flash 9.0 r100
It works 100% for me.
On the contrary i had a lot of problems with gnash which supports ony flash v7.
Janez
Which version of firefox and which FreeBSD? Didn’t show up in FF 1.5.0.8 and 6.2-RELEASE … swfdec package definitely came in though …
It works with the latest versions of :
- Firefox 2.0.0.10
- FreeBSD 7.0 RC1
Don’t forget, after install (pkg_add -r swfdec), to look on the “http://swfdec.freedesktop.org/wiki/Installation” to do some post-install tweak.
THANKS, Janez … was a bear to compile in RC1 and it finally came together but when I hit Utoob, Firephuck bombs and goes away every time … though I do get ADVERTS perfectly. :(
Looks like this recipe needs more salt - took DAYS to load RC1 and then do a portupgrade and all on it … looks like the 7.0 itself needs more salt, and then there’s the Firephuck salt on top of it … so far, results dismal but will keep trying. THANKS VERY MUCH though anyway! :)
is there anyway, that ubuntu could be placed ontop of freebsd?
i remember when using freebsd… my system ram usage was so low.. like maybe it would hit 100mb from a 1g on idle.. even tho i am comfortable with ubuntu.. ubuntu sits at a nice 250~.
i know theres a debian/bsd project..
i really do beleive that a ubuntu/bsd project would help set of the bsd world…
and yes ok - i know there is a large bsd community… and yes i know that windows hackers use linux and linux hackers use bsd but.. dell are not offering suse, they are not offering redhat either (tho hp offer redhat for server/workstation) but it seems no body is offering bsd.. (correct me if im wrong)
i’d really like to get ubuntu’s finess and refinement of the gnome desktop ontop of a bsd kernel.. like the freebsd 7 system for instance.. it would work so well it think.
any ideas?
bsd exodus 2 weeks ago….
to solaris…. to ubuntu …. to suse …. to solaris and now back to bsd….
i wrote up a pro’s and cons of esch system and what i use it for and bsd won. i found ubuntu caters to whims but is not solid, for exampe flakey - nvidia driver - unbearable -deal breaker
do you know somthing freebsd is easy than ubuntu for me know im writting from gnome desktop have the lastest pakage up to date and wirless card working fine with great support to my nvidia driver last one and playing music all my devices working fine with freebsd and you can add stabilty and performance ,,,, you can add I have latest java runtime ,,, I hate flash but I can see flash throw firefox running under wine I cant dump freebsd just becuase it is not running flash , flash is dump ,, and realy Im doing fine with freebsd with lovly hand book now I can setup nfs share + samba + subversion on my box ,, realy im very happy with freebsd
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