Finally I own compatible hardware!

[codifies]

First off, having finally got FreeBSD working for the first time, I'm near over the moon (quick explanation, I've often had hardware (mainly laptops) that had incompatible hardware) - while I was tempted to build a cheap box specifically for *BSD somehow I never got round to it...

While I do appreciate FreeBSD is more server oriented lets face it its far closer to "real" Unix (whatever that is...) than something like Linux is nowadays - while I can avoid the Windows like cluster daemon systemd, (with something like Void or Antix), I've felt for a time I'd be more comfortable with something different.

I strikes me that configurations various in FreeBSD are handled in a refreshingly straight forward and sensible manner, I do favor the KISS principle were possible.

I have a few minor issues like wifi (possibly wpa_supplicant) trying to start too quickly and a real mind bender with dual booting and sound, which I'm leaning towards blaming DELLs lazy UEFI implementation (with regard to device initialization) but I need to learn a whole heap more before I can learn how to provide the information sufficient to allow others to help me.

While for the time being I'm using scfb (broadwell gpu) I have to say I was a happy little teddy when I saw Xorg burst into life and pleasantly pleased at how quick scfb is.

 

[PacketMan]

Welcome to the club. Membership is free, and friendly support is at your finger tips. That just said you have to help us help you. Stick with it, and after some time, FreeBSD will reward you through discipline. Junior folks like me help where we can, and the senior guys help keep us all on the rails.

 

[poorandunlucky]

It's true, I'd forgotten that it's largely why I use/chose FreeBSD... because it's closer to the authentic UNIX experience...

That being said, I also hope you enjoy your experience. Personally, I had to reset Windows, and decided to give FreeBSD another go as my main desktop OS because resetting Windows was going to be a chronic problem and I would've had to re-configure everything, re-customize everything, on top of waiting for hours while it did what it had to on the hard drive... I can revert to my "factory default" snapshot in maybe two seconds on FreeBSD, and to restore configuration is merely a matter of copying a few text files...

The reason why I strayed was because of hardware, too; I only had a laptop before/while the KMS drivers/kernel modules were being written, so I had to either endure Windows or bloated, skewed display... I chose the former, and then there was Windows 10 that I wanted to try, and then I wasn't that much into computers (and I still am not), and then there was the resetting thing, and I was tired of having something on my desk that didn't really belong to me... I was tired of looking at the window rather than through it, so those circumstances made that I'm using FreeBSD right now, trying to get my user environment working, configuring everything, and essentially just trying to get everything working properly and how I want it.

It's a fun experience; it's enlightening, educational, and rewarding...

Earlier I was also making the remark while posting a picture of my screen on Facebook that my twm desktop with a few xterm windows and Firefox running in a corner was a lot closer to the futuristic displays you can see in Star Trek, Minority Report, Tron and other movies like that... If my LCD screen was transparent instead of opaque, and the colors were reversed... it would be very close... a lot closer than Windows, for example... Just text with a little box for video when needed, buttons, status and performance graphics/widgets... It's really just about the same, and much closer than other desktop operating systems/user interfaces...

I don't think FreeBSD has lost its "hacker" or "cyberpunk" physical/visual appeal to the smoother looks of Windows and OS X... In fact, it's probably in its best interest to stop imitating those two... = ]