DesktopBSD 1.7
What I Liked Most
I think my favorite thing about DesktopBSD is that it’s not Linux. Now hear me out before you get ready to flame me in the comments section, okay? I love Linux and I enjoy reviewing Linux distros (obviously or this blog wouldn’t even exist) but it’s refreshing to take a look at something different.
I also liked the bundled selection of software. DesktopBSD pretty much hit all the right marks.
Problems & Headaches
Bear in mind that if you’re the type that has to have the latest & greatest version of KDE then DesktopBSD might disappoint you since it’s using KDE 3.5. Frankly, I don’t mind it at all as there are some things about KDE 4.3 that I don’t care for but your mileage may vary.
As I noted earlier in this review, the developer has decided to call it quits so using DesktopBSD over the long run might not be a good idea. However, he has addressed the issue of updates with this comment:
“…because DesktopBSD is based entirely on FreeBSD, further support for the operating system and availability of up-to-date software for DesktopBSD 1.7 is ensured.”
So that should provide some comfort for those who might fall in love with DesktopBSD and decide to keep it on their computers as their main operating system.
I also encountered some kind of bug when trying to start the software applications app (package manager). It asked me for the root password so I typed it in but the app didn’t start. So I was not able to update my DesktopBSD system or install more software. I’m not sure what the problem is here but that’s a pretty bad bug to have in a desktop system.
I logged out and tried to log in directly as root but DesktopBSD does not allow direct root logins apparently.
DesktopBSD comes with a pretty good selection of desktop applications.
(10 votes, average: 4.70 out of 5)
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Desktop Linux Reviews Forum
It’s very much a shame to hear desktopBSD is ending. I had thought desktopBSD had a better approach to making a user friendly FreeBSD desktop, and especially for commercial uses, than PC-BSD did.
Hi David,
Yeah, it’s a real shame. I hope that the developer reconsiders his decision to stop updating DesktopBSD. You never know. Stranger things have happened. Maybe he just needs a break from it for a while.
DesktopBSD is more of a true FreeBSD-based system with the desktop environment conveniently configured, whereas PC-BSD is a drop in, self contained system based on FreeBSD that uses independent, stand alone packages (with PBI, the Push Button Installer).
I was a fan of DesktopBSD a few years ago, but I’d noticed how dormant the development had been so I stopped following it. I do generally try PC-BSD every release or two and generally like it.
Guess if I ever want to try DesktopBSD again, now is the time!
Thanks for once again going outside of the usual confines to locate and test some of the less well known systems. Though I have not yet tested this version, I have found previous releases to be quite easy to install and very stable, and I am hoping that is once again the case.
I don’t see why you are complaining about BSD not allowing a direct root login. You did not mentioned that shortcoming when you reviewed Mint which also does not allow root login. In fact, to get into most of the administrative functions in any of the *buntus or their derivatives, one has to use su or sudo.
Another shortcoming of DesktopBSD, as well as other BSDs, is that they do not play nice with Linux in a multi-boot environment. None of the BSDs, as far as I know, will recognize existing Linux partitions. This can prove to have embarrassing results when doing an automatic BSD install.
Good point, Dragonmouth. I cannot install FreeBSD, PC-BSD, DesktopBSD, or any other BSD version or derivative unless I have a separate disk or a virtual instance. That has actually been the reason why I don’t run the BSDs more often. The other reason is that I find the BSDs kernel scheduler tends to be well tuned for server performance but it not optimized as Linux is for desktop use – which has been the case since the 2.6 Linux kernel – which has been a few years now.
I like the BSDs, and they are actually the UNIX flavor from which I came – not FreeBSD, but BSD 4.2, which formed the basis for ULTRIX, the original SunOS (before the AT&T UNIX System V R3 inspired Sun Solaris), and a few of the other variations I used in the now distant past.
I’ve used 1.6 quite a bit and have been very impressed. It’s solid and easy to use. Sad to see there’ll be no more after 1.7.
Not quite sure about the comments on multi-boot environments with Linux, though. Perhaps I’m not understanding the nature of the posts correctly, but I have Desktop BSD 1.6 installed on the same physical disk as OpenSuSE and it works with no problems (just got the partitioning ready before the BSD install and pointed the installer to the right place).
In any case, I’ll definitely have a look at 1.7 and head over to the forums to thank the developers.
Danson,
I would be very interested, as would Brian Masinick, to know how exactly you accomplished that. Did you pre-allocate and format the necessary BSD slices? If so, what program did you use?
On my “test” machine I have 3 or 4 distros installed, couple of free ext3-formatted partitions and a some unallocated space. When I tried to install either Dragonfly, Desktop or PC-BSD, none of them would recognize either the Linux partitions or the unallocated space. They saw the entire disk as available. Needless to say, even though it is my test PC, I did not want BSD to overwrite anything already there, so I did not proceed with the install.
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Hi Dragonmouth,
I didn’t pre-create the slices; just created one new partition using GParted (unformatted, as GParted doesn’t/didn’t support creation of UFS) at the end of my primary slave disk, of which the remainder was filled with Ext 3 partitions and a Linux swap partition. I then ran the Desktop BSD installer and pointed it at that unformatted partition; then created the slices from within the installer. It’s probably not relevant to the discussion, but I skipped the bootloader install, as I already had GRUB on the machine.
It was a long time ago that I installed Desktop BSD, so I don’t remember the exact details, but I had no problems at all with it. Your posts were actually the first I’d heard about Ext 3 etc not being recognised.
Even though I am a Linux user (Ubuntu) I have kept across the news of Desktop BSD. I am also sad to see it go. I preferred Desktop BSD to PCBSD but it didn’t seem to have the momentum.