GhostBSD 20.03 Is Out As The Latest Monthly Update To This Desktop BSD

[phoronix]

Phoronix: GhostBSD 20.03 Is Out As The Latest Monthly Update To This Desktop BSD

If you are looking for a new desktop-friendly BSD with TrueOS being phased out, GhostBSD 20.03 is out as the promising desktop-focused OS based on FreeBSD and using the MATE desktop environment as a decent out-of-the-box experience...

http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=GhostBSD-20.03-Released

[StarterX4]

Waste of time and money. Better they would develop some Arch Linux-based distro rather than DeadBSD.

For curiosity -- why there are still no Zircon/Fuchsia distros yet? that would be very interesting and useful, unlike the useless desktop-focused BSD clones.

[skeevy420]

Waste of time and money. Better they would develop some Arch Linux-based distro rather than DeadBSD.

For curiosity -- why there are still no Zircon/Fuchsia distros yet? that would be very interesting and useful, unlike the useless desktop-focused BSD clones.

Build it yourself.

[andyprough]

I tried it about a week ago. Fairly impressive, couldn't tell that you weren't in a GNU/Linux environment from the nice Mate desktop. It was responsive, and had a very low memory usage. There were several ways to install packages if they were only made for GNU/Linux distros. For example, both Freeoffice and WPS Office can be installed using the GNU/Linux binaries.

It's good to know that an entire compatible and capable ecosystem exists that's completely untouched by the tentacles of the systemd borg.

[skeevy420]

I tried it about a week ago. Fairly impressive, couldn't tell that you weren't in a GNU/Linux environment from the nice Mate desktop. It was responsive, and had a very low memory usage. There were several ways to install packages if they were only made for GNU/Linux distros. For example, both Freeoffice and WPS Office can be installed using the GNU/Linux binaries.

It's good to know that an entire compatible and capable ecosystem exists that's completely untouched by the tentacles of the systemd borg.

That's the impression I got from of it. For myself, if it weren't for the fact that I tend to play games, basically meaning uses Wine and Steam, GhostBSD would perfectly suite my needs in regards to needing an OS for basic office and multimedia usage.

I consider GhostBSD to be a nice entry for one to get into FreeBSD. Reading man pages in conjunction with console based installers isn't the easiest method to get one interested in and using an operating system. GhostBSD is like Manjaro or Ubuntu in that it provides a working system that's easy to install and new user can then just sit down and get to work.

[k1e0x]

That's the impression I got from of it. For myself, if it weren't for the fact that I tend to play games, basically meaning uses Wine and Steam, GhostBSD would perfectly suite my needs in regards to needing an OS for basic office and multimedia usage.

I consider GhostBSD to be a nice entry for one to get into FreeBSD. Reading man pages in conjunction with console based installers isn't the easiest method to get one interested in and using an operating system. GhostBSD is like Manjaro or Ubuntu in that it provides a working system that's easy to install and new user can then just sit down and get to work.

Wine will run, Steam not so much. Try the package PlayOnBSD. FreeBSD does have a Linux compat layer (similar to WSL) but it's not at the level it can do Steam.. at least yet. It's close and some ppl have gotten the client to run in the past. Developers, anyone? Not only for games but it would be cool to see Linux Docker containers run in a FreeBSD Jail for a true secure docker. (and backed on to ZFS for portability)

The real reason that doesn't work as I understand it is Linux has some redundant system calls that FreeBSD doesn't want to add.. but some software uses it so, that needs to be worked out. (add them as part of the module? idk) I hear the FreeBSD kernel is easier to get started on than Linux because there is just a lot less code.. but I'm not a dev so.

I rarely play games so having a nice workstation for work is of primary importance for me. I probably will try this out when I get some time.. I like all the components in it. (Well except Mate, I prefer Gnome but I can manage that)

[skeevy420]

Wine will run, Steam not so much. Try the package PlayOnBSD. FreeBSD does have a Linux compat layer (similar to WSL) but it's not at the level it can do Steam.. at least yet. It's close and some ppl have gotten the client to run in the past. Developers, anyone? Not only for games but it would be cool to see Linux Docker containers run in a FreeBSD Jail for a true secure docker. (and backed on to ZFS for portability

The real reason that doesn't work as I understand it is Linux has some redundant system calls that FreeBSD doesn't want to add.. but some software uses it so, that needs to be worked out. (add them as part of the module? idk) I hear the FreeBSD kernel is easier to get started on than Linux because there is just a lot less code.. but I'm not a dev so.

I rarely play games so having a nice workstation for work is of primary importance for me. I probably will try this out when I get some time.. I like all the components in it. (Well except Mate, I prefer Gnome but I can manage that)

While Wine will run and work for some things, it just isn't at the same level that the Linux Wine is. It'll be a very big day when a *BSD has circa 2019 Linux abilities for both Wine and the Compat Layer. AFAICT, ZFS won't be portable in that sense for another year or two, but it'll be a very awesome day when that happens.

I don't play games as much as I'd like, but when I do play them, I like them to work (preferably on a Plasma desktop). If it weren't for all the advancements made in the past couple of years, gaming and ZFS, DragonflyBSD is likely where I'd be since HAMMER and HAMMER2 cover a lot of the use-cases I'd pick ZFS or BTRFS for. Seems that Valve timed it just right to pump support into Linux because the Valve Factor has a big sway when geeks go to pick or recommend a desktop OS.

I suppose a few million and a year or three could produce the results we're after. Now if I could just win the Powerball...

[k1e0x]

While Wine will run and work for some things, it just isn't at the same level that the Linux Wine is. It'll be a very big day when a *BSD has circa 2019 Linux abilities for both Wine and the Compat Layer. AFAICT, ZFS won't be portable in that sense for another year or two, but it'll be a very awesome day when that happens.

I don't play games as much as I'd like, but when I do play them, I like them to work (preferably on a Plasma desktop). If it weren't for all the advancements made in the past couple of years, gaming and ZFS, DragonflyBSD is likely where I'd be since HAMMER and HAMMER2 cover a lot of the use-cases I'd pick ZFS or BTRFS for. Seems that Valve timed it just right to pump support into Linux because the Valve Factor has a big sway when geeks go to pick or recommend a desktop OS.

I suppose a few million and a year or three could produce the results we're after. Now if I could just win the Powerball...

ZFS is already portable with jails. It's a pretty good ecosystem a former Salt Stack dev wrote a nice manager called Bastille. Check it out https://bastillebsd.org - very Docker'esque.. and if the compat layer would work.. it could be actually docker with Linux binaries in the jail instead of BSD. This works now partly and I've done it with a jailed Ubuntu, but you can't do a lot with it because a lot of programs crash. Bash and the like run tho..

I'm with you on HAMMER2 the trouble is it's very ingrained into DragonFly (The same is actually true for ZFS being ingrained into Solaris, but people have already done the lift porting it) These types of file systems are only useful so long as Disk IO is slower than CPU. If that changes we need something new.. maybe more like APFS. It's true today tho.

I'm not sure about Wine really.. It seems the same to me from what I've used of it. (both on macOS and FreeBSD as opposed to on Linux) I can tell you though that Steam does not like to be on ZFS on macOS for some reason.. Other OS's it doesn't have a problem works totally normal on Linux, even reports the space corectly. On Mac it has something to do with HFS+ properties and case sensitive flag set in ZFS. Apple does some fancy things sometimes..