From owner-freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Thu Jul 20 05:44:06 2017 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@mailman.ysv.freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:1900:2254:206a::19:1]) by mailman.ysv.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 93E18DA927B for ; Thu, 20 Jul 2017 05:44:06 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from freebsd@edvax.de) Received: from mailrelay15.qsc.de (mailrelay15.qsc.de [212.99.187.254]) (using TLSv1.2 with cipher ECDHE-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384 (256/256 bits)) (Client CN "*.antispameurope.com", Issuer "TeleSec ServerPass DE-2" (verified OK)) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id 023E28177A for ; Thu, 20 Jul 2017 05:44:05 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from freebsd@edvax.de) Received: from mx01.qsc.de ([213.148.129.14]) by mailrelay15.qsc.de; Thu, 20 Jul 2017 07:44:01 +0200 Received: from r56.edvax.de (port-92-195-105-193.dynamic.qsc.de [92.195.105.193]) (using TLSv1 with cipher DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA (256/256 bits)) (No client certificate requested) by mx01.qsc.de (Postfix) with ESMTPS id 89E113CC3F; Thu, 20 Jul 2017 07:44:00 +0200 (CEST) Received: from r56.edvax.de (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by r56.edvax.de (8.14.5/8.14.5) with SMTP id v6K5hx90001941; Thu, 20 Jul 2017 07:43:59 +0200 (CEST) (envelope-from freebsd@edvax.de) Date: Thu, 20 Jul 2017 07:43:59 +0200 From: Polytropon To: David Gruhk Cc: SOUL_OF_ROOT 55 , "freebsd-questions@freebsd.org" Subject: Re: Can I use FreeBSD as a desktop system? Message-Id: <20170720074359.cf3edf1c.freebsd@edvax.de> In-Reply-To: <20170720044136.GA9146@localhost> References: <20170720044136.GA9146@localhost> Reply-To: Polytropon Organization: EDVAX X-Mailer: Sylpheed 3.1.1 (GTK+ 2.24.5; i386-portbld-freebsd8.2) Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-cloud-security-sender: freebsd@edvax.de X-cloud-security-recipient: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-cloud-security-Virusscan: CLEAN X-cloud-security-disclaimer: This E-Mail was scanned by E-Mailservice on mailrelay15.qsc.de with D73A86835B9 X-cloud-security-connect: mx01.qsc.de[213.148.129.14], TLS=1, IP=213.148.129.14 X-cloud-security: scantime:.1448 X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.23 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Thu, 20 Jul 2017 05:44:06 -0000 On Thu, 20 Jul 2017 06:41:36 +0200, David Gruhk wrote: > On 17.07.18Tue 23:32, SOUL_OF_ROOT 55 wrote: > > Can I use FreeBSD as a desktop system? > > > There are 2 problems with FreeBSD. > > > 1. We are without boot/mfsroot since FreeBSD 9, > so you can not start the installer from Grub. > This is problematic, if you can not use CD, FDD, PXE, USB booting. > You can start the NetBSD, OpenBSD and Linux installer from Grub. For a common desktop installation today, this shouldn't be a problem. Modern (and not-so-modern) desktop systems boot from USB and optical media just fine, so supplying the installer should be easy. > In this case you can use dd: > dd if=installed_in_other_PC of=not_boot_media_capable_PC > I am in this situation now, I hope the dd > or maybe dump-restore method will work!!! The recommended method for a system transfer is to initialize the disks as needed, then use dump | restore. But other methods also can work, but it depends on many factors. > 2. We have not LVM (deprecated, not recommended) with UFS, > only with ZFS, but ZFS has too big memory claim. > I don't dare use ZFS with 512MB-1GB (neither 4GB) RAM with a few > 100 GB HDD space. With UFS, you can use gstripe and gmirror for LVM; I don't know if "vinum" is still supported... > FreeBSD has a big advantage compared with NetBSD and OpenBSD: > 3 month long supporting binary packages, > where you get only security and bug fix (quarterly branch). FreeBSD is also a great "never touch a running system" kind of system. In case you don't want (or can't) update, things installed once usually keep running well for a very long time, as long as your requirements don't change. I still have systems running the old versions FreeBSD 4, 5, and 8, for internal purposes. :-) -- Polytropon Magdeburg, Germany Happy FreeBSD user since 4.0 Andra moi ennepe, Mousa, ...