What if you are forced to use Windows, but want to use a real operating system instead? You could use WSL2 to use Linux inside Windows, but what if FreeBSD is more your thing? It turns out someone is working on making FreeBSD usable using WSL2.
This repository hosts work-in-progress efforts to run FreeBSD inside Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL2) with minimal to no changes to the FreeBSD base system. The project builds on the open-source components of WSL2 to enable FreeBSD to boot and run seamlessly in a Windows environment.
↫ WSL for FReeBSD GitHub page
The project is experimental, and definitely not ready for production use. It’s also important to note that this project is not part of Microsoft or FreeBSD. At this point in time, FreeBSD boots using WSL2 with basic functionality, and work is currently focused on networking, I/O, and process management.
I wish someone had created a howto for the Apple Virtualization Framework.
Linux works so well on the newest MacBooks with tools like OrbStack and UTM (I’m not talking about UTM in QEMU mode, which is a completely different story).
This is really cool. I hope it gives more visibility to FreeBSD.
I don’t use it (Since it isn’t the best for or either of my laptops) but I am still a fan. One of my laptops (a 13-year old beast of a Dell) is being used as a file server, and when I get around to replacing it it will be running FreeBSD instead of Debian.
With the changes they’re making to make it more laptop friendly, I’ll definitely give it a shot when they fix the bug that Ctrl-C will kill a Wayland desktop (at least when launched from SDDM, as Plasma is)
. @Drumhellar
When you use KDE on FreeBSD, do you have to use SDDM or can it be launched from the command-line? I am in KDE on the machine I am typing from but I do not have SDDM. For various reasons, I log into the console and then type “startplasma-wayland” to launch KDE. Would that work on FreeBSD for now to get around your Ctrl-C issue?
My ThinkPad W530 running FreeBSD (set up using vermaden’s guide) and upgraded with the W520 keyboard is the most satisfying computer I’ve ever had the pleasure to use. And, under FreeBSD, it holds a 5h charge on the original 10+ years old battery.
It is just wonderful.
“I’ll definitely give it a shot when they fix the bug that Ctrl-C will kill a Wayland desktop (at least when launched from SDDM, as Plasma is)”
I have a very recent call for testing for a fix to that bug.. https://bugs.freebsd.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=286592#c13
As cool as this is, it feels like the wrong way around.
FreeBSD is a strong base platform but not a great desktop. Using FreeBSD on top of Windows feels a bit like getting the worst of both worlds.
But I suppose if FreeBSD is what you are used to, it could be nice to have that in Windows. I use Chimera Linux and so use the FreeBSD userland myself and understand the appeal. And the ports collection on Windows would be nice if that is what you are used to as well.
I am looking forward to seeing the result of all the hard work FreeBSD is putting into laptop and desktop support right now. Running Windows in a FreeBSD VM sounds more appealing than the Windows Subsystem for FreeBSD (to me at least).