After a decade+ on Linux I've finally put FreeBSD on a few of my machines. It's a dive into the deep end because they are remote machines so I'm learning on the fly. I'm liking it so far and a lot of very tiny details make "more sense" like the stricter adherence to putting things in /usr/. Today I found out that their version of ssh-copy-id allows multiple hosts in one line whereas on Linux you have to automate it with a for loop at the very least (https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/145182/copy-ssh-public-key-to-multiple-linux-hosts). Anyone here fully BSD-pilled?
Anonymous :
32 days ago :
No.5235
>>5236
>>5235
If you're not seriously into computing you would be a bit mad to choose a BSD over Linux imho. Arguably there are some philosophical advantages to BSD but when it comes to things 'just working' the mainstream Linux distros (I recommend Fedora) are by far the better option. This is especially true from the point of view of hardware compatibility.
The fact is that Linux is only really messy if you make it messy. It's easy to have a clean and unbloated system, you just need to start from a minimal install and exercise a bit of restraint over what packages you install.
I'm undecided between Linux and one of the BSDs. It seems like BSD is a bit comfier because it's a complete, integrated system rather than a mix of things like Linux distros. A friend who knows coding tells me that the highest quality C code is on OpenBSD. I don't really know computing well and have no interest in spending much time in configuration, I just need it to work for my purposes (web browsing, word processing, music server). MacOS and Windows have become megabloated
Anonymous :
32 days ago :
No.5236
>>5237
>>5236
>only messy if you make it messy
LOL! Is this really the stance you want to take wrt Linux? Like I said, I am a years-long enthusiast. But neat n' clean it is not.
>>5235
I'm undecided between Linux and one of the BSDs. It seems like BSD is a bit comfier because it's a complete, integrated system rather than a mix of things like Linux distros. A friend who knows coding tells me that the highest quality C code is on OpenBSD. I don't really know computing well and have no interest in spending much time in configuration, I just need it to work for my purposes (web browsing, word processing, music server). MacOS and Windows have become megabloated
If you're not seriously into computing you would be a bit mad to choose a BSD over Linux imho. Arguably there are some philosophical advantages to BSD but when it comes to things 'just working' the mainstream Linux distros (I recommend Fedora) are by far the better option. This is especially true from the point of view of hardware compatibility.
The fact is that Linux is only really messy if you make it messy. It's easy to have a clean and unbloated system, you just need to start from a minimal install and exercise a bit of restraint over what packages you install.
>>5236
>>5235
If you're not seriously into computing you would be a bit mad to choose a BSD over Linux imho. Arguably there are some philosophical advantages to BSD but when it comes to things 'just working' the mainstream Linux distros (I recommend Fedora) are by far the better option. This is especially true from the point of view of hardware compatibility.
The fact is that Linux is only really messy if you make it messy. It's easy to have a clean and unbloated system, you just need to start from a minimal install and exercise a bit of restraint over what packages you install.
>only messy if you make it messy
LOL! Is this really the stance you want to take wrt Linux? Like I said, I am a years-long enthusiast. But neat n' clean it is not.
What about 'atomic' Linux distributions, where the OS is packaged as a single OS image rather than various packages, and programs on top of this are sandboxed? This seems very difficult to fuck up. It also brings back great potential for bloat.
I switched to arch w/ tiling window manager like 6 months ago. I couldn't imagine going much deeper. It seems like a lot of the advantages of linux (easy and manageable installs, huge community) would be lost moving to a BSD and you'd just be left with inconveniences.
I was a non-technical user of Linux during 10 years (work forces me into windows these days).
I went through Ubuntu, Mint, Debian, and some others. The only one that felt like it worked out of the box was Manjaro. Go figure.
Anonymous :
31 days ago :
No.5252
>>5254
>>5252
It's just a matter of taste and circumstance. There wasn't too much to relearn except for some key crutches I didn't realize how much I had relied on for years like `lsblk`. I had used a lot of non-systemd distros for most of my Linux history so that wasn't a big leap, especially from Void which is built as a BSD-style Linux. I don't outright hate systemd but find myself caught by surprise time and time again when I want to do something and have to look up what it's called in Poettering-speak. I begrudgingly use Ubuntu in a few circumstances where maximal hardware compatibility is required like my Surface.
I don't think going to BSD was 'relearning' as much as the equivalent of learning the etymology and deeper origin of words in spoken language. You fill in the gaps of history. A lot of conventions that Linux has dropped which kind of hang around like forgotten vestigial organelles make more sense after having used BSD.
Every few years I find myself playing around with FreeBSD. It has its advantages (more cohesive base system, great docs) but imo they don't make up for all the random annoyances (bad power management, bad wifi support, no Docker, init system that's just a pile of shell scripts). And I'm too old and tired to relearn how to unix at this point. Arch+Debian 4 lyfe <3
>>5252
Every few years I find myself playing around with FreeBSD. It has its advantages (more cohesive base system, great docs) but imo they don't make up for all the random annoyances (bad power management, bad wifi support, no Docker, init system that's just a pile of shell scripts). And I'm too old and tired to relearn how to unix at this point. Arch+Debian 4 lyfe <3
It's just a matter of taste and circumstance. There wasn't too much to relearn except for some key crutches I didn't realize how much I had relied on for years like `lsblk`. I had used a lot of non-systemd distros for most of my Linux history so that wasn't a big leap, especially from Void which is built as a BSD-style Linux. I don't outright hate systemd but find myself caught by surprise time and time again when I want to do something and have to look up what it's called in Poettering-speak. I begrudgingly use Ubuntu in a few circumstances where maximal hardware compatibility is required like my Surface.
I don't think going to BSD was 'relearning' as much as the equivalent of learning the etymology and deeper origin of words in spoken language. You fill in the gaps of history. A lot of conventions that Linux has dropped which kind of hang around like forgotten vestigial organelles make more sense after having used BSD.
Anonymous :
31 days ago :
No.5255
>>5318
>>5255
I looked up GhostBSD and its graphical shells are just MATE and Xfce, you can use them on Linux.
I'm not shilling it like a convert or anything. I don't care about hardware/wifi compatibility woes and don't care about using containers. Everyone knows FreeBSD is for classic file serving and that's what I use it for. I did some things like alias `ip a` to `ifconfig` since I am much more used to the former.
Although, I do have to say, GhostBSD had a cool graphical interface. I think it's got real serious potential.
I still think `lsblk` is better and can't make sense of which of the FOUR ways to tabulate disks on the system is better or more useful or easier to remember. I find that the hardest thing is precisely that first issue of remembering terminology instead of function. After that it's smooth sailing. I find myself mildly relieved when I want to try to do something and it's a little simpler and easier than I expect. There might be a future in a sort of syntax translation facilitator for this very common situation.
There is a Linux compatibility layer sort of function (https://docs.freebsd.org/en/books/handbook/linuxemu/index.html) which if anything gets me to get around to trying this would be just to install `lsblk`. I cannot live without it :(
Cool thread
I never would have realized how many nerds were here without this thread. I had an old macbook that was finally getting annoying to use and I wanted to stay with a unix like so I'm posting from linux mint. I had no idea anyone used bsd for a desktop os.
>>5255
I'm not shilling it like a convert or anything. I don't care about hardware/wifi compatibility woes and don't care about using containers. Everyone knows FreeBSD is for classic file serving and that's what I use it for. I did some things like alias `ip a` to `ifconfig` since I am much more used to the former.
Although, I do have to say, GhostBSD had a cool graphical interface. I think it's got real serious potential.
I looked up GhostBSD and its graphical shells are just MATE and Xfce, you can use them on Linux.
MacOS is a BSD, btw.
Who here suckless + one of the BSDs?