Thinking of using PC-BSD

[Gamingphreek]

Hey guys,

Right now I ditched my Ubuntu install for my copy of Windows 7 Professional (I love being a student 🙂 ). The only reason I did this is because Ubuntu/Debian (Canonical) seems to have completely stopped caring about the horrid state of the Intel graphics. Flash is virtually unusable (especially in full screen).

Unless someone can suggest another Linux distro, I was thinking of giving PC-BSD a whirl. Given that OSX runs FreeBSD, there is bound to be at least some support out there.

My classes require the use of a Linux/Unix based machine. I don't want to use Cygwin/Putty and the VM install isn't as appealing as I thought it would be.

Thanks,
-Kevin

 

[Gamingphreek]

Bump

 

[Nothinman]

Unless someone can suggest another Linux distro, I was thinking of giving PC-BSD a whirl. Given that OSX runs FreeBSD, there is bound to be at least some support out there.

The core userland of OS X is from FreeBSD but the kernel is mach.

Flash is Flash and X is X, the kernel is barely involved. If the Intel X server sucks on Ubuntu then it probably sucks on FreeBSD as well.

 

[evident]

meh, i'd just stick w/ windoze 7. trying out other OS's in my experience has been frustrating and not worth the effort.

 

[Nothinman]

meh, i'd just stick w/ windoze 7. trying out other OS's in my experience has been frustrating and not worth the effort.

Funny, I say the exact same thing only in the opposite direction. Every time I touch Windows I get really frustrated and wonder how people deal wth it.

However, the OP's class requires a unix system so he's got to run one in some form or another.

 

[Gooberlx2]

VM install isn't as appealing as I thought it would be.

I'm surprised. I'd say this is the easiest and most convenient way of doing things if you want to run Windows but still require *nix capabilities. I can say that Ubuntu and Virtualbox work very well together, including compiz desktop effects and all that.

 

[Fox5]

Originally posted by: Gamingphreek
Hey guys,

Right now I ditched my Ubuntu install for my copy of Windows 7 Professional (I love being a student 🙂 ). The only reason I did this is because Ubuntu/Debian (Canonical) seems to have completely stopped caring about the horrid state of the Intel graphics. Flash is virtually unusable (especially in full screen).

Unless someone can suggest another Linux distro, I was thinking of giving PC-BSD a whirl. Given that OSX runs FreeBSD, there is bound to be at least some support out there.

My classes require the use of a Linux/Unix based machine. I don't want to use Cygwin/Putty and the VM install isn't as appealing as I thought it would be.

Thanks,
-Kevin

I thought Virtualbox with Ubuntu worked pretty well.

Anyhow, Ubuntu can't really do anything about the quality of Intel's graphics, they gotta wait for whoever runs those drivers to make them decent. (and in my experience with the latest version of ubuntu, they're not too bad, but there's sure room for improvement)

 

[Gamingphreek]

Originally posted by: Fox5

Originally posted by: Gamingphreek
Hey guys,

Right now I ditched my Ubuntu install for my copy of Windows 7 Professional (I love being a student 🙂 ). The only reason I did this is because Ubuntu/Debian (Canonical) seems to have completely stopped caring about the horrid state of the Intel graphics. Flash is virtually unusable (especially in full screen).

Unless someone can suggest another Linux distro, I was thinking of giving PC-BSD a whirl. Given that OSX runs FreeBSD, there is bound to be at least some support out there.

My classes require the use of a Linux/Unix based machine. I don't want to use Cygwin/Putty and the VM install isn't as appealing as I thought it would be.

Thanks,
-Kevin

I thought Virtualbox with Ubuntu worked pretty well.

Anyhow, Ubuntu can't really do anything about the quality of Intel's graphics, they gotta wait for whoever runs those drivers to make them decent. (and in my experience with the latest version of ubuntu, they're not too bad, but there's sure room for improvement)

Well for instance, right now:
Mesa (The OpenGL API for Linux I guess) I am running a release candidate 7.6
xserver-xorg-intel drivers, I am running a 2.8 beta I believe

Even with this, OpenGL is utter crap. Cairo dock suffers from artifacts and I am forced to run with software emulation. Compiz is still lagging from the switch to KMS Drivers as well as the DRI2/UXA architecture.

Honestly, 9.04 for all it did right, should not have been released with the magnitude of problems that are currently plaguing Intel Graphics users. I have a laptop, it isn't like I can merely swap out the graphics card.

---------------

There is no way on earth I am coding in C/C++ on Windows. Doing GUI's and large projects in Visual Studio is pleasant; however, Linux, IMO, is a MUCH better development environment.

I wanted to stay with Linux before I switched to Windows 7; however, though VM's are great, I personally don't care for them. My Core 2 does support Hardware VM; however, it does not support Nested Paging. In trying to run XP/Vista in a VM on Ubuntu I was SEVERELY handicapped - even though I gave it 1.5G of RAM and an entire core.

----------------

As for Flash - why on earth can nobody seem to write a good open source flash player? Adobe must hire absolute morons for coding because they still can't seem to get Flash ANYTHING CLOSE to right on anything but Windows.

Same goes for Intel - the switch to UXA and Kernel Mode drivers didn't sneak up on them - why do I have to suffer and run daily updates/patches just to keep my machine running at an acceptable level?

------------------

I think I have Ubuntu running at an acceptable level now. If they could get File Sharing (SMB sucks), Intel Graphics, and (on Adobe's side) Flash working - I wouldn't have a single reason (outside of some Office niceties) to ever consider using Windows again.

-Kevin

 

[Fox5]

Coding, unless you're doing 3d, doesn't really require anything more than a 2d desktop environment, which a virtual machine will provide just fine.
For that matter, you might be better off just avoiding using the Intel hardware for 3d until 9.10 comes out. That, or upgrade to the 9.10 alpha, it's supposed to have improvements for intel users.

 

[VinDSL]

Originally posted by: Gamingphreek
Unless someone can suggest another Linux distro, I was thinking of giving PC-BSD a whirl.

I multi-booted PC-BSD on a desktop box for a while, and it was okay... I guess. It's infinitely easier to install than FreeBSD - which I've also tried.

Installing FreeBSD isn't all that bad, once you get used to the drill, but it's a steep learning curve if all you've installed is Linux from a Live CD or whatever. That said, installing PC-BSD is a breeze!

I'm running PC-BSD in a VM these days, but I hardly ever use it, now that the luster has worn off.

The final nail in the coffin, for me, was...

I decided to try BSD et al on my lappy and netbook. And, BSD (both flavors) won't recognize the HDs - or more specifically the SATA2 controller - so, I've pretty much given up on BSD on the desktop.

Still, it makes hella nice server software... as long as your hardware is supported. 😉

 

[VinDSL]

Originally posted by: Gamingphreek
Compiz is still lagging from the switch to KMS Drivers as well as the DRI2/UXA architecture.

Honestly, 9.04 for all it did right, should not have been released with the magnitude of problems that are currently plaguing Intel Graphics users. I have a laptop, it isn't like I can merely swap out the graphics card.

Interesting comments...

I have a netty with an Intel chipset, and 'the plague' was driving me batty when I installed Linux on it - first Eeebunu, then Linux Mint 7 (based on 'Jaunty' 9.04).

Believe it or not, the graphic problems were caused by the WiFi driver(s). The clue was, every time I had heavy network activity, the display would flicker and go wonky - no network activity, no graphic problems.

The cure turned out to be disabling the *free* WiFi driver(s) and installing MadWiFi. End of problem!

Also, since the affected machine was a netty, I wiped Compiz from my system and run Metacity instead.

Doing these things made my Intel Graphics powered netty work great - even Flash. Matter of fact, the only Flash problem I have now is slowness - and that's because of the weak Intel CPU - a 900MHz Celeron-M. Flash pegs the CPU at 100%. Flash videos are watchable, but the CPU is too weak to play Flash games - unless you have the patience of Job! 😀