From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Sat Nov 25 17:01:29 2006 Return-Path: X-Original-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [69.147.83.52]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 8F76516A412 for ; Sat, 25 Nov 2006 17:01:29 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from lane@joeandlane.com) Received: from elasmtp-dupuy.atl.sa.earthlink.net (elasmtp-dupuy.atl.sa.earthlink.net [209.86.89.62]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 5456243D4C for ; Sat, 25 Nov 2006 17:00:40 +0000 (GMT) (envelope-from lane@joeandlane.com) Received: from [66.47.111.183] (helo=joeandlane.com) by elasmtp-dupuy.atl.sa.earthlink.net with asmtp (Exim 4.34) id 1Go0u8-0006pF-Eg; Sat, 25 Nov 2006 12:01:28 -0500 Received: from joeandlane.com (localhost.localnet.local [127.0.0.1]) by joeandlane.com (8.13.8/8.13.1) with ESMTP id kAPH4Pmh051412; Sat, 25 Nov 2006 11:04:25 -0600 (CST) (envelope-from lane@joeandlane.com) Received: from localhost (localhost [[UNIX: localhost]]) by joeandlane.com (8.13.8/8.13.1/Submit) id kAPH4Ol8051411; Sat, 25 Nov 2006 11:04:24 -0600 (CST) (envelope-from lane@joeandlane.com) From: Lane To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Date: Sat, 25 Nov 2006 11:04:19 -0600 User-Agent: KMail/1.9.3 References: <20061124234111.5589.qmail@web52409.mail.yahoo.com> In-Reply-To: <20061124234111.5589.qmail@web52409.mail.yahoo.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Disposition: inline Message-Id: <200611251104.23070.lane@joeandlane.com> X-CD-SOLUTIONS-MailScanner-Information: Please contact the ISP for more information X-CD-SOLUTIONS-MailScanner: Found to be clean X-CD-SOLUTIONS-MailScanner-From: lane@joeandlane.com X-ELNK-Trace: e56a4b6ca9bdfda11aa676d7e74259b7b3291a7d08dfec79128cd2f737ab662adc592f05691bb93d350badd9bab72f9c350badd9bab72f9c350badd9bab72f9c X-Originating-IP: 66.47.111.183 Cc: probsd org Subject: Re: freebsd desktop | mozilla X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Sat, 25 Nov 2006 17:01:29 -0000 On Friday 24 November 2006 17:41, probsd org wrote: > I'm a long time proponent of FreeBSD as a server. For a long time I've > really wanted a FreeBSD system as a desktop. So, I decided to install the > FreeBSD 6.2 and compile xorg, gnome, mozilla, etc... to give it a whirl. > > For anyone reading this, who wants the same thing. > > DO NOT DO IT. Nothing works. java is borked, mozilla and firefox are > borked, gnome is ify.... ugh. > > Just dont do it. As a server, I highly recommend it... but it isn't > ready for the desktop. > > Just out of curiosity, what version of FreeBSD started you as a proponent? Is "long-time" more than, say, six months? Long enough to know how to compile a kernel? Long enough to have used portupgrade? I've been using FreeBSD productively for various combinations of server and desktop solutions since 3.4-RELEASE. I'm glad to say that I cannot claim to never having problems with FreeBSD. If that were true then I think I would never have learned anything. Thankfully the learning curve is steep, and never seems to quite level out. While I'll admit that the desktop features supported by FreeBSD are sometimes lacking, I recognize that FreeBSD does not itself provide a desktop interface. Thus for desktop issues I turn to X.org, KDE.org, or whatever project handles the feature I'm interested in. If you are actually interested in using FreeBSD on your desktop then maybe you don't know how to start. Try this: send a question to freebsd-questions@freebsd.org. If this is what you feel you've done with the subject line "freebsd desktop | mozilla" then ... maybe you could rephrase the question. Something like "when I type 'mozilla' I get the error message 'BORKED!'" would be a little more helpful. lane