Bill Nicholls wrote: > Let me add my voice to this discussion. I have been a happy user of > FreeBSD from 4.0 thru 4.11, but have stumbled repeatedly on 5.x and now > 6.0. > > For some reason, I can get these (5 & 6) installed, but not stable or > running KDE, yet 4.11 runs solid for months. In addition, not being able > to run KDE from Generic has been an additional headache. > > This has become such a problem that I finally loaded Suse Linux 10 on my > alternate disk so I can move ahead. I use dual 9G disks and alternate > installs, stairstepping from one release to the next, with the ability > to boot back to an older release. This has worked well until now. > > This is particularly bad timing because FreeBSD is my *preferred* OS for > significant parts of my work, and it was planned to host an important > DB project on another machine bought for that purpose. > > I was hoping that 6.0 would enable me to move ahead on my FreeBSD > workstation, and then on my DB project. Instead I am stalled and forced > to go to a less preferred solution. > > I don't know what, if anything, I am doing wrong. I gave away an > expensive SOYO MB because FreeBSD would not install, later found out > that the advanced SOYO ACPI was the problem, apparently solved later. > > Color me frustrated. For me the issue is very simple - I need to install > release X.Y, install KDE, configure X and get to work. Becoming an > internals expert or even small time developer is not what I need to do > even though I have done that kind of work in the past. Now I concentrate > on getting applications into production, with OS maintenence limited to > chasing glitches. > > Color me very frustrated. I've been used to great stability on FreeBSD, > less frequent changes than Linux, and fewer problems. The system just > *worked*. No longer. > > I don't blame anybody on the team for this issue because from my POV, > the attention on getting better SMP and generally upgrading the kernel > quality was and is a good objective. However, along the way, a few less > obvious characteristics have lost out. > > When it gets to the point that I am forced to use something else despite > my efforts, then attention needs to be spent making FreeBSD work 'Out of > the Box' again. Simple is good - you can always get complicated if that > is your preference, but for a lot of us, FreeBSD is a tool, not a career. > > Again, this is not a flame but a plea to make the system simply work.
I do not know your situation or what you have tried in order to resolve your problems, but I do know that I have several FreeBSD machines as desktops and they all work great. My main desktop is an Athlon64 3000+ running FreeBSD 5.4-RELEASE [amd64]. I am not sure why you have not been able to get X and KDE running. I don't use KDE anymore, but it was extremely simple to get X and my window manager (Xfce) up and running. I installed the Xorg and Xfce4 metaports and it was as simple as that. I did the "Xorg -configure" steps outlined in the handbook, copied the configuration file to the proper place, and I was up and running. I cannot code anything but I had the system up and running in only the time it took to compile things and modify a few config files. I've also setup FreeBSD as a desktop on my Athlon XP 2000+ (FreeBSD 5.4-RELEASE) which did run KDE before, my Athlon XP 1800+ (FreeBSD 5.4-RELEASE), and my 533MHz Compaq Laptop (FreeBSD 6.0-RC1). All of those were able to get X and my window manager of choice (Xfce on two, and fvwm on laptop) installed very quickly and easily through ports (and packages on laptop). I have not used 6.0-RELEASE at all yet, and only use my laptop with RC1 of 6.0 a little. So far there have been no issues with any of my machines except one random reboot on my amd64 that I have yet to track down. However, my point is that most people do not have problems that prevent them from getting a working machine or have the need to modify code as you said you do. That's the beauty of the ports system. You can install things easily that were "ported" to work with FreeBSD. Whether applications require special configure arguments, code changes, or other settings, the ports system is there to automate that whole process and build things so they do work right. I'm not blaming it on you or saying it's your error, but without knowing the actual issues I must say it sounds very weird and isolated. Just one thing to keep in mind though: If you have issues, why not ask the very helpful FreeBSD community? Mailing lists like freebsd-questions have great people who are willing to help people out with questions and issues like yours. I've gotten help there when I've had some weird problems and I also try to help whenever I can. In other words, if it was me, I would try my best to solve it first before switching operating systems...especially since I love FreeBSD so much. Again, I don't know your particular issues/problems, but I am certain there would be some help available for you. Just my input/comments. -Mark -- GnuPG Public Key: http://www.mkproductions.org/mk_pubkey.asc Internet Radio: Party107 (Trance/Electronic) - http://www.party107.com Rock 101.9 The Edge (Rock) - http://www.rock1019.net IRC: MIXXnet IRC Network - irc.mixxnet.net (Nick: MIXX941)
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