So my latest curiosity has been BSD. I downloaded the FreeBSD 8.1 version. I like how they use the word 'stable' on these installs. Does that mean you have to be stable to load them? I am still recovering. I just about have all the updates done back on Super OS Ubuntu 10.10. The CPU has finally cooled off due to all the fans on the box and the thermo paste. I found my box really loves that thermo paste. It is such a hot head since I upgraded the 2.4 ghz to 3.2 ghz. I was just telling the computer that if it would behave I would feed it some more thermo paste. I think my computer is addicted to the paste. Maybe I should take it to my meetings with me. It gets so finicky deciding if it wants to call the master drive or the SATA the first disk. Now you see it now you don't with the SATA. Maybe I should have it prayed over or take it to an exorcist. I thought since the BSD was from Berkeley and American made it would seem less like alienware.

what?

Oh, the BSD is just so much different than I what I have been accustomed to. It wanted to do a fdisk right off the bat. I was thinking okay I know this from DOS and Microsoft. Then it said that it did it different then Linux with how it did the swap and partitions. I never even got it installed. Instead of disk one or two like Microsoft or sda1 or sda2 I got this a_1 and a_2. In other words the hard disks are labeled different. It was like totally new for me. I would like to read more about it and maybe put it on one of my old computers to figure it out and not on one I use normally.

Roy

http://distrowatch.com/

Oh, so now they tell me about the geom error. I never had a geom error in my life until I ran the freebsd 8.1 and they already have two new installs with the PCBSD and the FreeBSD. I should have waited I guess.

You know what would be nice? A bare metal hypervisor that worked dynamically with the operating systems you put on it. So instead of dual booting os's, you could simply run them on the hypervisor as a new machine, but swap between them on the system that the hypervisor is installed on. This way, you could simply create a new machine, swap over to it, almost like changing desktops, and install whatever OS you want to test. If it doesn't work out, just delete the machine. This would be better than having a dedicated machine that needs to remote into another dedicated machine that hosts your virtuals.

I had to look up term.
In computing, a hypervisor, also called virtual machine monitor (VMM), is one of many virtualization techniques which allow multiple operating systems, termed guests, to run concurrently on a host computer, a feature called hardware virtualization. It is so named because it is conceptually one level higher than a supervisor. The hypervisor presents to the guest operating systems a virtual operating platform and monitors the execution of the guest operating systems. Multiple instances of a variety of operating systems may share the virtualized hardware resources. Hypervisors are installed on server hardware whose only task is to run guest operating systems. Non-hypervisor virtualization systems are used for similar tasks on dedicated server hardware, but also commonly on desktop, portable and even handheld computers.

The term is often used to describe the interface provided by the specific cloud computing functionality infrastructure as a service (IaaS).[1][2]

The term "hypervisor" was first used in 1965, referring to software that accompanied an IBM RPQ for the IBM 360/65. It allowed the model IBM 360/65 to share its memory: half acting like a IBM 360; half as an emulated IBM 7080. The software, labeled "hypervisor," did the switching between the 2 modes on split time basis. The term hypervisor was coined as an evolution of the term "supervisor," the software that provided control on earlier hardware.[3][4]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypervisor

As early as 1965. Wow.

I was thinking of ordering a dual core motherboard with a server but thought why would a need a server if I was just running Linux and I was just wanting the dual core. I got the highest of the Pentium 4's with the 3.2 and my local dealer said it would be a waste of time to try to stay with the single core because he knew I liked to do upgrades. I wonder what happened to the hypervisor idea and why they gave up on it? Could it be they were more into clouds?

I guess what got to me was that most OSes let you try drive them without having to install them but then if they are too technical for your average Joe Blow to be able to install them then how are they going to test drive them? I am referring to BSD. I have a friend at work who is a real point and click kind of guy. But his way of compiling is to take a piece of this and a piece of that through the point and click method instead of what some would call real compiling. He says that his way is more legal since he runs Vista. We were just talking last night about programming and Visual Basics. He says all he wants a computer to do is when he turns it on and it just works.

PC-BSD is essentially a customized installation of FreeBSD, and not a forked-derivative. PC-BSD is based on FreeBSD's latest STABLE-branch. Since the underlying FreeBSD system has been kept intact, you have a fully functional FreeBSD system under the hood.

The main difference between PC-BSD and FreeBSD is that PC-BSD is geared towards desktop use, while FreeBSD has been created with server use in mind. Other differences include:

* PC-BSD pre-configures the KDE desktop environment (currently 4.5.5)
* PC-BSD is installed by a graphical installer rather than a text based installer
* PC-BSD installs a number of pre-installed applications
* PC-BSD uses the unique PBI (Push Button Installer) package system and also supports FreeBSD's packages and ports systems
* PC-BSD’s kernel has been recompiled with some configuration tweaks to better suit it for desktop use
* PC-BSD comes pre-configured with a number of automatic scripts to perform tasks such as connecting digital cameras or USB memory sticks

In summary, there is no major difference between PC-BSD and FreeBSD. PC-BSD is basically FreeBSD with a nice installer, some pre-configuration, kernel tweaks, PBI package management, pre-installed packages and some handy graphical utilities to make PC-BSD suitable for desktop use. As a user of PC-BSD, you don’t have to worry about configuring your system, but rather to simply install it and start using it.

Here, we will discuss the differences between Ubuntu and PC-BSD.

* Both use some of the same tools and software
* Both utilize Graphical Installers and will get you up and running quickly
* Both are free of charge, with the source code available
* Both have an active community for support

Though they are very similar, they also have major differences:

* PC-BSD utilizes PBI's that are similar to a DEB package in Ubuntu. You can download the packages and run them by a few clicks
* Ubuntu offers a complete graphical package manager front-end Synaptic/Ubuntu Software Center
* Ubuntu is based off of Unstable branch of Debian GNU/Linux and utilizes the dpkg package management
* PC-BSD is based on FreeBSD, and utilizes a combination of PBI's and FreeBSD Ports
* PC-BSD is based off of FreeBSD and is not a fork or based on an UNSTABLE-branch
* Ubuntu is one of the most popular Linux distribution based on the UNSTABLE-branch of Debian
* Ubuntu uses the GNU GPL, proprietary binary blobs, and various other licenses
* PC-BSD uses the BSD License
* PC-BSD can run many Linux programs but Ubuntu/Linux cannot run PC-BSD/FreeBSD programs.

As you may already know, PC-BSD is a different kind of operating system compared to Microsoft Windows. Let's have a look at some similarities and differences between PC-BSD and MS Windows.

Some similarities:

* Both provide an easy-to-use graphical user interface and PC-BSD can be configured with similar graphical functionality as Windows
* Both have an excellent Internet connectivity stack (IPv4 and IPv6)
* Both have a large collection of applications available. For example, the FreeBSD ports collection currently has over 22,000 applications that have been ported to FreeBSD
* Both can browse and share Windows networking resources such as shared folders and printers
* Both can handle audio/video, play CDs/DVDs and can be used for word processing, photo editing, databases, etc.
* Installing software is easy, quick and straight forward

However, there are also some major differences:

* PC-BSD is free of charge and its source code is free to view and to download
* A PC-BSD computer won't get slow after a few months' of use
* PC-BSD is not affected by the viruses, spyware and other malware that plague Windows systems
* PC-BSD doesn't always have drivers or support for the latest or less popular hardware
* PC-BSD has access to FreeBSD and Linux software in addition to its own PBI library.
* The most current version of PC-BSD requires less resources than the most recent Windows version.
* Hard drives or partitions with PC-BSD installed don't need to be defragmented
* As with most Unix or Unix-like operating systems, you have greater control over your system in PC-BSD than in Windows.

PC-BSD has been designed with the "casual" computer user in mind. The PC-BSD community aims to provide the following features:

* Easy installation: to install PC-BSD, simply insert the installation DVD, reboot the system to start the installer, and answer a few questions in the graphical menus.
* Automatically configure hardware: such as video, sound, network and other devices so that they are available for use at the first system startup.
* Intuitive desktop interface: PC-BSD comes with the latest stable version of the KDE desktop environment. The KDE applications alone will probably cover most of your day-to-day computing needs.
* Easy software management: with the included PC-BSD Software Manager utility, installing, upgrading, and uninstalling PBI software is safe and easy.
* Easy to update: PC-BSD provides a built-in Update Manager that will notify you of available system updates to install security fixes, bug fixes, system enhancements and newer versions of software.
* Visually attractive: PC-BSD installs Nvidia video card drivers and the Compiz-Fusion accelerated 3D desktop for the next level of desktop experience. Adobe Flash is installed so you can watch your favorite movies and videos on Youtube and Google Video.
* Architecture support: PC-BSD is available for the i386 architecture and for 64bit systems.
* Laptop support: provides power saving and swap space encryption, and automatically switches between wired and wifi network connections.
* Secure environment: PC-BSD provides a pre-configured PF firewall and brute-force attack protection with denyhosts. It is also safe from viruses, adware, spyware and trojans.
* Binary compatibility: able to run almost all GNU/Linux applications like Oracle, WordPerfect, Skype, Doom 3, Quake 4, etc. through the Linux Compatibility Layer (LCL) and able to run Windows XP/2000 through emulators (such as Qemu or Win4BSD) and Windows applications through the Wine PBI.
* Easy system administration: PC-BSD provides many graphical tools for performing system administration tasks.
* Localization: PC-BSD supports a number of native languages and locales.
* Vibrant community: PC-BSD has a friendly and helpful support community.
* Professional support: professional email and phone support is available from iXsystems.

It was a 14 gb OS when loaded and i was trying to put it on a 10 gb hard drive. It works with Nvidia and Intel video cards and not ATI friendly. I am using an ATI. It doesn't come with a partitioner so that explained the geom error. Got the geom error fixed with fdisk. I was wondering why my monitor was freaking out. It tried to load and that is why I was still getting my Ubuntu desktop with generic image without all the drivers. That explained the ghost imaging. That was with the FreeBSD. The PC-BSD is supposed to be more user friendly. But I will wait to use it with a Intel graphics card instead of the ATI. Even on download the 1.9 gb file is huge and takes a long time on DSL that is slow. It really helps to read the Wiki and release notes.

I put Debian Squeeze back in with the LXDE and downloading the Gnome version I was wanting.

http://live.debian.net/cdimage/weekly-builds/squeeze/current/i386/iso-hybrid/

I thought I would try one of these hybrids. I was researching the Wiki to find it. I thought I would give the kernel a break and stop scaring it so much. I kept getting 'Kernel Panic'.

Kernel panics stemming from identity crisis! Geez, RB, let her crunch some numbers in one environment for more than a day, why don'tcha?
That poor baby.

Still haven't tried any BSDs after all these years. I'm happy enough with debian. My wandering ways are over. I look at distrowatch every once in a while but debian doesn't care, as long as I don't touch... OMG! Has my OS lulled me into a false sense of being?! Is there another OS that is better for me?
Thank-you for introducing me to my middle age geek crisis.

Yeah. Poor thing. I know what ya mean. Got the new Geforce in now. BSD, what a nightmare. Was doing this install and reinstall for hours that turned into days. Had the Squeeze in but didn't like the LXDE. I read on the LXDE. Guess, what? The guy made it like Windows 98. I thought it looked familiar. Tried for the life of me to get my sound going with the USB head phones to no avail. No burn but some command line burn which I didn't understand. XFburn from XFce would have been nice, at least. So I downloaded a different iso of Squeeze and it just stayed there with no way of me burning it. So I reloaded Puppy 4.6 which is also a Debian version. My Puppy was in a USB 4gb flash. Ya, know the Cruiser one. Puppy did a great job of burning the iso to the flash drive. It took the Brasero out of Squeeze and used it to burn the iso. Mind ya, I still had the LXDE version of Squeeze on one of the hard drives. So quite naturally it was time to move on. So I reinstalled Ubuntu 10.4 and upgraded it to 10.10. Puppy and Ubuntu fixed Squeeze inside of the flash drive with no kernel panic this time. Puppy is just so freaking awesome to be so small. I just love the way it lets you trim the fat on file downloads.

OpenSuse has a version called StressLinux now.

I am running Puppy Linux Lucid 5.2 off just my Cruzer 4 gb usb flash drive. This is so much better than screwing up my hard drives.

Puppy is letting me use Fluxbox 1.1.1 Its weird to me but what the hell.

So, you're done screwing up your hard drives? Very good! You're either ready to land on a preferred distro or you're still so far out there that running offn usb thumb drives is the only answer.
Too bad we aren't situated to meet for coffee. I bet we could learn each other a thing or two.

You said in another thread that you'd read that fluxbox was intended for old machines. They are mistaken. Fluxbox is intended to be light on resources and fast. My mythbox has fluxbox. It has a quad core cpu. It could probably do the big-*** bloated KDE without bogging down too much.
Fluxbox is different- like there isn't a 'start' button like the windohs (or gnu copycats) has. There isn't a 'desktop', unless you want one etc. It's not for everybody. I guess some people like to look at a desktop with widgets and crap, others open apps and look at those.

But what are you worried about hard drives for? You're up to, what, 5TB,now? Soon as I get a SDD I'm posting a big brag, suckah!

You have to remember we just got the one class in Linux which the college called DOS2. Spoiled is what I call it with Gnome. I am running the Fluxbox now on Puppy but this time I put in for the window manager to keep my desktop the same. Only problem I am having now is that my type is so small. Puppy gives you the choice of Fluxbox, Openbox or JWM. Each time I change with the WM Switcher 0.16 on Puppy Lucid 5.2 I have to go a searching where everything is again. I agree with you that Fluxbox is better than LXDE or XFce which are intended to be light on resources and fast. It is being spoiled I think because at one time I was spoiled to Microsoft Windows. I have a bunch of televisions, too now so I need to check back into Mythbox. The televisions were just given to me when the people who had them got bigger ones.

http://www.nvidia.com/object/product_geforce_9500gt_us.html

I have that video card minus the one hdmi connector but with the round connector that should hook to a television with the longer cord my friend gave me that he didn't need with his graphics card.

http://www.diddywahdiddy.net/LupuNews/

Coffee would be nice.

What is Vinux?



Vinux is a remastered version of the Ubuntu Linux Distribution optimised for visually impaired users. It provides a screen-reader, full-screen magnification and support for Braille displays out of the box! It can be run from a Live CD without making any changes to your hard drive. If you like it you can install it to a USB pendrive or to your hard drive either alongside Windows using the Virtual Version, or as a complete replacement for windows. To find out more about the various versions of Vinux, please click on the relevant links.



We also have a wiki for many helpful articles, a support group you can join, and a Vinux blog. These also can be accessed from the menus displayed. We hope you enjoy your visit!

Okay. I give up. Whats a Braille display? I used to type on Braille typewriter for Handicapped Services in Wichita State University when I was going to college there. My blind supervisor would proofread my typing.

A friend gave me an old 2005 era Dell laptop. I thought I would try this latest edition of Bodhi for it.

* Based on: Debian, Ubuntu
* Origin: USA
* Architecture: i386
* Desktop: Enlightenment
* Category: Desktop, Live Medium
* Status: Active

And a friend gave me this little averatec thing. It has windohs 7 on it. I fired it up a little after 3 this aft to check it out. After some updates, reboots and a virus scan, an hour (I'm being generous) later it was time to shut it off and return to my version of sanity. Next time I turn it on, maybe I'll be able to play some solitaire on it. Whew!