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Debian GNU/kFreeBSD: Thoughts?

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/tmp
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Debian GNU/kFreeBSD: Thoughts?

#1 Post by /tmp »

Has anyone dabbled with GNU/kFreeBSD?
I'm interested in running it on my laptop for use as a multimedia production environment for producing radio commercials and light video editing (I shoot industrial and commercial video).
Bookworm | Intel I7-3667U | Apple Macbook Air 5,2 (Mid 2012) (Laptop) | 8 GB RAM | 3rd Gen Intel Core Graphics

Magnusmaster
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Re: Debian GNU/kFreeBSD: Thoughts?

#2 Post by Magnusmaster »

From what I've heard, pretty much nobody uses it, so it's in danger of being scrapped.

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pylkko
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Re: Debian GNU/kFreeBSD: Thoughts?

#3 Post by pylkko »

FreeBSD kernel on a laptop? There will likely be hardware issues

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GarryRicketson
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Re: Debian GNU/kFreeBSD: Thoughts?

#4 Post by GarryRicketson »

"FreeBsd" is successfully used on some laptops, actually quite a few,...
Your FreeBSD Laptop
https://www.freebsd.org/

As far as :
Has anyone dabbled with GNU/kFreeBSD?
I was going to try it, but did not have much luck, and ended up using
OpenBsd, because I needed something that "just worked", immediately.

However , really the only way to find out would be to try it :
The interest, and help would be appreciated by a few.
https://wiki.debian.org/Debian_GNU/kFreeBSD
How to help:

testing - the developers have only a limited range of hardware, and only certain virtualisation software; let us know how kfreebsd works on others.
You might be able to get some "first hand" information, on your specific
hardware by asking here : http://lists.debian.org/debian-bsd/

There is some information on the hardware it does support:
https://wiki.debian.org/Debian_GNU/kFreeBSD_Hardware
and here:
https://wiki.freebsd.org/Graphics#Teste ... are_matrix

Magnusmaster wrote:From what I've heard, pretty much nobody uses it, so it's in danger of being scrapped.
I have never "heard", nor read anything like this, and of course with out any
"proof" it is just gossip. There are quite a few people using "FreeBsd", and
a few experimenting with this Debian GNU/kFreeBSD

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pylkko
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Re: Debian GNU/kFreeBSD: Thoughts?

#5 Post by pylkko »

Gary, I don't know if youhave actually read that thread, but there are many many complaints about things not working and even some reports that installation failed completely. FreeBSD is, AFAIK, appreciated in networking things like NAS servers and well other kinds of servers with little or no peripheral devices, however, it is not particularly well known for working on laptops or tablets and other multiperipheral devices. Also, AFAIK the kfreebsd port is unofficial and was discontinued at some time but is now running again. It is clearly not a mainstream thing. Over the few years that I have read this forum I have seem but a few posts from users.

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Re: Debian GNU/kFreeBSD: Thoughts?

#6 Post by GarryRicketson »

Yes I did read some of it, and there are some that had no problems, and there
are others that did, so it should be of use to the OP, it will give them some idea as to what problems , if any they might have.
Of course it is logical most of the posts would be from people having problems,
and looking for solutions, just like here on this forum.
Based on your "analogy", Debian would not be suitable for a Laptop either,
just look at all the topics and threads here on the forum, where people have had problems.
But never mind, I agree you are right, and I don't know anything.

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pylkko
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Re: Debian GNU/kFreeBSD: Thoughts?

#7 Post by pylkko »

yeah, no one can "know" untill it has been tested, on that particular laptop and with those particular use cases. But, I guess anyone wanting to do multimedia work on a laptop should be aware of things like this (poorer hardware supprot than linux). I believe there are no native nvidia video drivers, for example.

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Re: Debian GNU/kFreeBSD: Thoughts?

#8 Post by /tmp »

I have an update:

Thus far I have tried installing Debian GNU/Linux and then Debian GNU/kFreeBSD on an older Dell Optiplex 3010 system. The only element which did not work during or after setup was Ethernet due to the Realtek RTL8111/8411 drivers. Thankfully my wi-fi card uses a Free Software friendly Atheros chipset. Sound was perfect and I was even able to get audio over HDMI out of the box :)

When it came time to try running the installer for Debian GNU/kFreeBSD I experienced a whirlwind of headaches. I guess I went into this thinking I'd have a somewhat easier hardware installation process due to the Debian aspects. While I'm definitely interested in trying out Debian GNU/kFreeBSD in a testing capacity either in a VM or live system I will stick with Debian GNU/Linux for the time being for work.
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Re: Debian GNU/kFreeBSD: Thoughts?

#9 Post by pylkko »

I wonder what benefit could come from using Debian/kfreeBSD instead of just installing the latest FreeBSD anyway. Obviously the Debian userspace package world is richer but I have a FreeBSD install and I think that the software situation is pretty good nowadays. They even have ready binaries that you install somewhat like with apt on Debian.

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Re: Debian GNU/kFreeBSD: Thoughts?

#10 Post by /tmp »

pylkko wrote:I wonder what benefit could come from using Debian/kfreeBSD instead of just installing the latest FreeBSD anyway. Obviously the Debian userspace package world is richer but I have a FreeBSD install and I think that the software situation is pretty good nowadays. They even have ready binaries that you install somewhat like with apt on Debian.
Most of the benefit for me would just be supporting Debian as a project; I really enjoy using it (I even ordered a custom polo from Spain with the logo) and thought it would interesting to combine that with FreeBSD.
Bookworm | Intel I7-3667U | Apple Macbook Air 5,2 (Mid 2012) (Laptop) | 8 GB RAM | 3rd Gen Intel Core Graphics

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Re: Debian GNU/kFreeBSD: Thoughts?

#11 Post by GarryRicketson »

The benifits of using a "BSD", are great, at least in my opinion.
Most of the benefit for me would just be supporting Debian as a project; I really enjoy using it (I even ordered a custom polo from Spain with the logo) and thought it would interesting to combine that with FreeBSD.
And it is good to see others that have interest in this.

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