Submitted by PC-BSD 1.11 has been released. Major changes: updated installed ports to current versions as of 6-12-06; updated KDE to 3.5.3 (more than 800 bugs fixed compared to 3.5.2); added additional DRM video drivers to default kernel, 3D/DRI support for Intel 3D, Voodoo, ATI, S3, SiS, Matrox, etc.; and much more. Get it from the download page (update or complete .iso), read the changelog, or read the release notes.
I have not been able to determine if K6-2 processors are supported by PC-BSD. It works with FreeBSD 6.x, but when I try to install PC-BSD, I receive an error when booting the CD telling me I have an unrecognized processor (I assume they have remvoed support when the built the kernel). I have tried several times to ask this question in the PC-BSD forums, but the registration process always fails (I have tried many time with different email addresses). The confirmation email never gets sent so I cannot register to post. I am just hoping a PC-BSD person reads this. Thanks!
(p.s., PC-BSD has one of the most beautiful installs I have ever seen, IMHO)
Hello, please get in touch with me, I’ll help you create your account on the PC-BSD forum (landemaine[at]gmail[dot]com)
with my compaq n800v laptop. won’t even go towards the installer. neither desktopbsd nor normal bsd and pcbsd work on this laptop. it sucks because bsd 5.0 worked fine. err.
I have the same issue with PC-BSD 1.1 on a Compaq R4000 laptop. It will boot up the cd, but any option you select it will just hang – the exception being the one to go to the shell. Could it be something with Compaq hardware?
PC-BSD is a very impressive system. The development pace is quick, and the pbi-system is the easiest way to install software on any free *nix-system. No worrying about dependecies and no messing around with worthless package management GUIs. Just click a .pbi-file and wait for it to finnish. To remove it, there’s a very simple uninstall wizard(you could just remove the folder in /usr/local/MyPrograms, but that would leave the shortcuts on the desktop/in the k-menu).
Since package management probably is the most frustrating part about running Linux/BSD as a desktop OS, PC-BSD is a much needed step forward(come on, we’ve all faced the horror of incompatible library versions and unreliable third-party repositories).
They’re also trying to improve in other areas(such as graphical tools and font rendering). If they do, and more software gets turned into PBIs, I’ll consider using a free *nix on my workstation again.
As much as I’d love to agree with you (since package management IS the #1 bad idea in unix world) but I can’t.
There are reasons for *SHARED* libraries which are yep.. SHARED among executables which means that eg:
if you have a gtk2 dependent program, in package systems you get gtk2 installed once and each gtk2 using program shares it’s memory when running. On the .PBI system of PCBSD you get a local copy-per program which is used. And not only of one lib…
The problem with this is memory usage and prinipaly the uselessness of shared libraries at all on that system.
I had PCBSD and I even made a few packages (PBI) for it, but after some time and “conflicts/inconsistencies” I figured out the base idea is simply wrong and left.
I think that the idea of self-contained programs easily installable with minimal dependencies is a GOOD idea but it’d require a bit different approach.
IMHO the basic libs (anything which is a library, not a program) should be pre-installed on the system. The programs should use smartlinking for anything else than these libs (they should be shared) and thus depend only on them. The problem is that smartlinking is not supported by gcc.
NOTE: smartlinking = static linking only those functions/objects you actualy use from the “library” (source).
…added additional DRM video drivers to default kernel, 3D/DRI support for…SiS..
Is true?
I have an Asus laptop with SiS M650 video board.
With linux ( ubuntu ) I have not DRI support for this SiS hardware.
PC-BSD has it ?
rico
Edited 2006-06-20 20:38
PC-BSD is a fast-moving exciting project…I have 1.1 running well on my test machine and am VERY impressed. whatever rough edges it has now (which are few) seem to be addressed ALREADY in the roadmap..I look to a wonderful idea coming to frutation in a BIG way by version 2.0….and it’s pretty darn good now!
I am very impressed by this project, even very early in its development…
This is excellent. Altough I still prefer a tweaked FreeBSD installation with FVWM2 as Window Manager (as I consider myself UNIX masochist), but the result of PCBSD is putting BSDs to the desktop. FreeBSD: the most stable OS in existence.
I held back on PC-BSD because of .pbi. Being used to normal FreeBSD on the server, I kinda trust the ports. If DesktopBSD can’t bring themselves up to the 6.x series soon, I might have to seriosly start considering PC-BSD. It seems these folks are faster in development.
Kill Wrote: “I held back on PC-BSD because of .pbi.”
You dont need to use PBI unless you want to… You can use Ports.
What scheduler the default install of PCBSD uses? Seems that ULE is not updated anymore, and enhancements are going into the old and trusy 4BSD scheduler.
PC-BSD is using ULE scheduler from versions 1.1 and is optimized for 686 processors (all support for 386, 486 and 586 microcode is disabled in kernel). I think AMD K6-2 is 586 processor and it may not work (not sure, I have no such a system to test). My old IBM ThinkPad 570E with Celeron 500MHz works just fine (first 686 processor is PentiumPro).
I have an Asus laptop with SiS M650 video board.
With linux ( ubuntu ) I have not DRI support for this SiS hardware.
PC-BSD:
ls /usr/X11R6/lib/modules/dri
i810_dri.so
mga_dri.so
radeon_dri.so
unichrome_dri.so
i830_dri.so
r128_dri.so
savage_dri.so
i915_dri.so
r200_dri.so
sis_dri.so
mach64_dri.so
r300_dri.so
tdfx_dri.so
For more information about supported cards look here: http://dri.freedesktop.org/wiki/
My Radeon 9600Pro card works just fine with r300_dri driver. If you not satisfied with default PC-BSD Xorg configuration then you can generate new config file yourself:
Go to single user mode:
# shutdown now
# Xorg -configure
# cp /root/xorg.conf.new /etc/X11/xorg.conf
edit to suit your needs and don’t forget to add fonts directories from /etc/X11/XF86Config file:
# less /etc/X11/XF86Config
# ee /etc/X11/xorg.conf
# exit
enjoy.
Edited 2006-06-21 09:09