BSD on the Workstation

[rdrake]

Who would want to use *BSD on their workstation? Isn't it a server operating system?
No. This simply is not true. Through its proven stability, it has gained popularity in the server market, no doubt about that. However, there are increasingly more projects aimed at bringing BSD to the average user. Large projects such as KDE and Gnome have been ported over, among many, many others.

Why would I want to support an operating system which promotes the devil?
You mean Bestie? He's just a harmless daemon.

I was actually asked this once, and I couldn't believe it. In fact, it reminds me of a story I once read, which I encourage you to read.

In case I wasn't clear, no, it's just an innocent mascot. No satanic voodoo worshipping goes on.

I like my package management system, why bother switching?
Why, the ports of course! You think only linux has package management systems? Wrong. BSD has the pkg_add command, which fetches and/or installs precompiled binaries from your system or the internet. It also has the mighty ports collection, over 15000 applications ready to be compiled.

If you're too lazy to type in ./configure && make && make install, then the ports are perfect for you. All you do is type in make, and the makefile takes care of the rest. From fetching and unpacking the source, to compiling and installing.

Of course, you can always do the classic ./configure && make && make install in order to install software the old fashioned way.

Oh, and some versions of BSD also include a nice packaging system. PC-BSD, for example, has the nice PBI system. These are packages which contain everything for the package to run, so you can use multiple versions of libraries without conflict. Sounds nice, doesn't it?

I've heard BSD is old and outdated, I like cutting edge software
Some packages in the ports and online are outdated, however, there's nothing stopping you from installing the applications from source. Anybody who's worked with Linux before has done this countless times.

Many ports packages are up to date, however. This lack of completely "bleeding edge" software also adds to the stability of the system.

So, what do you recommend?
I myself would recommend PC-BSD for beginners. It's easy to install, graphical, and has the excellent PBI packaging system. It uses a KDE desktop, and in fact I'm writing this post using PC-BSD right now. For those Gnome fans, you can have that. Even those who prefer other windowing systems can use theirs... say... xcfe4 .

Conclusion
You can get PC-BSD from http://www.pcbsd.org. If you want PBI packages, just get them from http://www.pbidir.com.

Well, I hope you're at least considering taking a look at another operating system. Good luck.