Final Thoughts and Recommendations: Like Sabayon Linux, PC-BSD has all the features needed to make an excellent desktop distribution. And just like Sabayon, it is still rough around the edges. I think it is going to take at least two more releases before it is going to be ready for prime time. But that should not discourage anybody, new or inexperienced users included, from take it for a spin. It has several features that are not available on any Linux distribution. ZFS is one. Packet Filter (PF) is another. Sure, Linux has IPTables/Netfilter, but PF rules are a lot more fun and easier to write than IPTables rules.
Note: You can learn more from distributions like PC-BSD and Sabayon than some of the more polished ones.
Resources: You may download 32-bit and 64-bit iso images of PC-BSD 8.1 here. You may also browse the pbiDIR.
Screenshots: Enjoy a few more of PC-BSD’s desktop background images.
Desktop settings configuration in progress.
Booting in progess
One of PC-BSD’s desktop background images.
PC-BSD's desktop background
Another one of PC-BSD’s desktop background images.
Another of PC-BSD's desktop background
Yet another one of PC-BSD’s desktop background images.
Yet another one of PC-BSD's desktop background
Gotta tell you, KDE has always felt overmuch like Windows to me for me to really be content with it. I keep checking back in, hoping KDE’s evolution eventually moves it further from Win — which is why I’ve been so eagerly awaiting PC-BSD 9. Unfortunately, that seems to be in eternal RC hell.
I AM a lover of XCFE, however: just how easy is it to install over/around/under the KDE WM in PC-BSD?
I see people complaining here about KDE, well haven’t you used Kubuntu, Chakra Linux, PCLinux OS. These are some of the most refined KDE Desktop’s around. The trouble is that BSD is not mature enough to handle anything. I thing not much development is going on in BSD camp.
Quit the crap!!! Install XFCE from the Ports collection and you’ll be on your way. If you want to talk sluggishness, look no further than OpenSUSE.
In my opinion, i don’t like this.
· Change the partition table to GPT and use two primary partition, so freebsd only use a one partition and create two slices.
· Very bug in laptop/netbook (opening opera reboot, opening the konsole and reboot)
· Don’t like wait to update the KDE
· The PBI software is not more updated it and not more software
I’m preferred freebsd. Is easy, lightly, and you configure all, and has not got see this bugs.
It’s fantastic to see this platform getting coverage! I’m a FreeBSD lover, but on my laptop, FreeBSD just couldn’t hack it. It always felt like a proof-of-concept piece, rather than a machine for actually getting work done. I’ve been running PC-BSD on my laptop for about six months now and I agree that it’s probably not yet ready for prime-time; I have to keep a Linux partition, as I still have some wifi and audio issues, as well as the sluggishness Dazza mentioned. But hopefully, if it doesn’t go the way of DesktopBSD, PC-BSD will be the platform that lets me finally get rid of my last Linux partition.
I think PC-BSD is moving in the right direction now with the announcement of the inclusion of alternate desktop environments in ver. 9. KDE is the very reason I couldn’t bare to do a permanent install of PC-BSD. Once Gnome is included, I’ll most likely dedicate a box to it. Or maybe a dual boot with Ghost BSD when it advances enough. Aren’t options great? I’m never going back to Windows. Ever!
win2linconvert
The KDE Plasma Netbook interface makes KDE a lot nicer to use. You should give it a shot. Explore the KDE Plasma Netbook interface
Why the hate? PC-BSD and FreeBSD are excellent. PC-BSD has the right idea for the desktop. Unlike Linux, software installations are self-contained, which means it is much easier to deploy proprietary software than in Linux. It also has a “known” development environment, which makes it much easier to target as a platform – whereas Linux is all over the place. I won’t argue that KDE isn’t the greatest, but that was the choice they made, and they have stuck with it, making the OS consistent and easy to deploy on.
Looks like a bunch of bloat to me. No thanks.
Unfortunately this release is still sluggish, slow as heck and awful in responsiveness. The PC-BSD forums seem to be full of people up their own backsides who don’t like to help with your issues other than to say ‘get a better graphics card’!
Thankfully there are other distros now available with better communities. They also aren’t adamant on sticking with KDE 4 which has proven to be buggy and resource hungry, although using the same version of KDE on a Linux box didn’t throw up the issues KDE on BSD did. Hmm, strange that.
You are right.
PCBSD is very very slow because of kde…
KDE4 is sluggish and gets in your way every time you want to do something useful. Install XFCE and you’ll see just how *not* sluggish things are.