FreeBSD Release Engineering Team’s Murray Stokely announces that FreeBSD 4.8-RC1 i386 mini ISO and FTP installation directory are on ftp-master. He says that the Alpha release will be available shortly. The plan is to make FreeBSD 4.8 available only for i386 and alpha platforms. Subsequent 5.1+ releases will have FreeBSD available for all platforms including sparc64, ia64, etc. Read the announcement at BSDForums.org.
FreeBSD 4.8-RC1 Available
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Eugenia Loli
Ex-programmer, ex-editor in chief at OSNews.com, now a visual artist/filmmaker.
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I really like FreeBSD…simple, mostly easy to install, clean, excellent documentation. I just wish there was a version I could run on my iBook2.
Barnes and Noble has some FreeBSD books on the shelf now. FreeBSD has made it big! Great OS all the way around.
… no ISDN capi for faxing, no DVB drivers for digital TV and no opensource drivers for Audigy2 hurts FreeBSD – for me
Really sad because I like FreeBSD
FreeBSD has drivers for most _common_ devices. Audigy2 is kind of new, so I wouldn’t expect drivers for it just yet.
Eventually someone will get around to writing them, but at the moment the FreeBSD team is really busy with completing 5.x features.
I’ve learned that whining about it isn’t going to get anything done. When I discovered the nic driver for my uncommon VIA nic didn’t work nobody could help me (VIA was no help at all). So in the end I had to fix the thing myself.
I suppose that’s the beauty of open source.
“I’ve learned that whining about it isn’t going to get anything done. When I discovered the nic driver for my uncommon VIA nic didn’t work nobody could help me (VIA was no help at all). So in the end I had to fix the thing myself.
I suppose that’s the beauty of open source.”
Yeah, and that’s exactly why *nixes will remain being on less than 3% of desktop computers, and why Microsoft, for good or ill, will remain champ of desktop computing.
Why don’t you try NetBSD….simple, mostly easy to install, clean, excellent documentation.
I don’t think that’s the entire story. Most common devices ARE supported. I’ve found that the later releases of Windows don’t have the same “legendary” driver support that 95/98/me had — why not? MS doesn’t want windows running on ultra-crap hardware — because that’s one of the reasons Windows was so unstable & crappy in the first place. There’s an easy trend that I’ve observed:
Newer releases of Windows have good support of new hardware but poor support for old/cheap hardware — where as newer releases of BSD/Linux have poor support for new hardware but better support for older hardware.
Support for new drivers is important, but I don’t think it’s the main thing that’s stopping *nix from gaining desktop share.
There’s a number of reasons why *nix isn’t on the desktop — driver support is only one of these.
1. Inconsistent & non-standard config system
2. No single unified desktop enviroment
3. Horribly inconsitent UIs
4. The library problem
5. No major apps (ms word, adobe, etc)
6. Poor driver support for new/obscure devices
7. People have no desire to change
I’ve learned that whining about it isn’t going to get anything done. When I discovered the nic driver for my uncommon VIA nic didn’t work nobody could help me (VIA was no help at all). So in the end I had to fix the thing myself.
If it came down to having to write a NIC driver, I’d just go down to Fry’s and spend $10 on a new NIC. Either that, or else use an OS with decent hardware support.
don’t think that’s the entire story. Most common devices ARE supported.
And you don’t say that the Audigy2 is common hardware? I just bought a new computer and though I didn’t get one of these cards (I already have an Audiophile), this card was an option on a lot of computer I looked at.
1. Inconsistent & non-standard config system
Inconsistent yes. Non-standard? There is no standard for ALL config files AFAIK.
2. No single unified desktop enviroment
I don’t care how many there are, I just wish there was one that offered a complete solution, instead of two that are perpetually “almost” there.
3. Horribly inconsitent UIs
See #2.
4. The library problem
If we are referring to FreeBSD still (I know you said “*nix”, but I’m referring to FreeBSD only) the problem is solved. There are amazing command line utilities that take care of this, including portupgrade and pkg_add. There are also several excellent GUI frontends (but not installed by default). I think FreeBSD could be made into a very friendly OS, but there isn’t much motivation to do so.
5. No major apps (ms word, adobe, etc)
I agree there needs to be a more powerful office app than OpenOffice (and a quicker one woul dbe nice as well), but are we referring to desktop use or office use? I think there are many adequate applications, but few excellent ones.
6. Poor driver support for new/obscure devices
I think this is a problem with the manufactures of said devices, but that is just my humble opinion. The OS creators/builders should not be responsible for the hardware drivers as well. If more people begin to use the OS, drivers will be made (by the manufacturer or otherwise)- notice Linux’s hardware support is increasing.
7. People have no desire to change
Many people have no desire to change, but not everyone. Otherwise there would be much fewer operating systems around. The ideal solution for the kind of person who does not to change is to have the operating systems preinstalled. I think it’s great that you can purchase PC’s with Linux pre-installed, and hope that some day the same is available for FreeBSD, but I doubt it will be anytime soon.
And you don’t say that the Audigy2 is common hardware?
Obviously new is relative, but no i wouldn’t say it is common hardware. Most computers do not have Audigy 2’s installed. Yes there are some available (I would bet mostly high end), but there are most likely much more older cards in people’s computers for the simple fact that it has been available longer. A lot of people don’t upgrade as soon as new hardware is available.
I just bought a new computer and though I didn’t get one of these cards (I already have an Audiophile), this card was an option on a lot of computer I looked at.
All this proves is that is available (and you yourself admitted it was an option on the particular computers you looked at). I would say this points towards most computers not having them. (Do you know if most computers are bought with or without extra options?)
Obviously new is relative, but no i wouldn’t say it is common hardware. Most computers do not have Audigy 2’s installed.
I’d say if it is available at Comp USA, Best Buy, Circuit City, and pretty much every major computer/electronics chain store in existance, it’s pretty common.
And even if your definition of common is that it’s installed in many computers, do we have to wait for 500,000 people to buy one before a driver is actually written? Do you know how long most desktop users are going to use an OS that doesn’t support their sound card? No long, I assure you.
FreeBSD is primarily a server operating system. As such, they’re going to be somewhat tardy in supporting… sound cards. Might I recommend Linux for what you’re trying to accomplish?
The FreeBSD developers have quite a few more important things on their hands, such as finishing SMPng:
http://www.freebsd.org/smp
Darius: Audigy2 is a new card. I don’t know ANYONE who has one of these. I wouldn’t go so far as to say it is common yet. SB16 is common. But I suppose it’s possible your friends have a lot more money than my friends.
I didn’t write a nic driver, just fixed the broken one provided by VIA. I COULDN’T buy a new nic because my nic is onboard and I have very few expansion options (VIA Mini-ITX). I only have on PCI slot and it’s already being used.
As for your soundcard — if you really want to run FreeBSD — go buy a new one. One that is supported. It would only cost you $20 to buy a supported card. As Bascule said FreeBSD is primarly a server OS, therefore you can’t except Audigy2 to be supported.
Anonymous: Do not be so shy as to hide your name oh wise one. Please come out of the shadows and reveal yourself.
As you can see I was refering to *nix on the Desktop, NOT just FreeBSD on the desktop. This implies ALL Unixen. Which is why All my previous statements still hold true. I’m not sure what you’re trying to prove with your commentary.
The Audigy 2 has been out for no less than 5 – 6 months… That’s a half a year. Half a year is quite a long time in computer hardware terms.
But that doesn’t really matter in FreeBSD’s case I guess, it IS a server focused OS, thought some do use it for desktop purposes.
Linux is the one we should be criticizing… Sure, lots of hardware is supported, but new bleeding edge ones are supported a tad bit late in comparison to Windows…
Sure, maybe it’s also the hardware company’s fault for not helping out.
Does anyone remember the name of the comercial sound system software which provided support for most of the hardware? I bought it a few years ago, seemed to work well for sound.
Audigy HAS been out a while. However, who provides the drivers? It is the job of the HARDWARE manufacturer. If I buy an Audigy card I have to use, surprise, Creative’s drivers if I want to get the full capability of the card. Windows has some decent drivers of their own, but that’s most likely due to their ability to leverage Creative. Windows provides inside knowledge to make the drivers, and Creative provides some knowledge of the card under NDAs.
As long as the hardware maker keeps up with NDAs and such, then you will continue to have this problem.
A good example of all this is Nvidia. Show me the fully capable Nvidia driver in any OS. They all lack some functionality. Nvidia provides ONLY binary drivers for Windows, Linux, and now FreeBSD. If Nvidia doesn’t feel like providing those drivers, everyone is SOL if they want the full capabilities.
A good example of this is the SB Live card. It works under Linux, but it’s missing a lot of functionality. Just try getting EAX to work….
NOTE: I’m not necessarily against NDAs and such. It’s just that without the support of the hardware manufacturer there’s very little chance of getting the hardware to work to its full capabilities.
James, have you submitted that networking patch? I’m interested in trying out the Via M6000 ITX board with FreeBSD and would very much like to have a fully functional netcard.
“I’ve found that the later releases of Windows don’t have the same “legendary” driver support that 95/98/me had — why not? MS doesn’t want windows running on ultra-crap hardware — because that’s one of the reasons Windows was so unstable & crappy in the first place. ”
As long as the ‘quirks’ of a device are known and compensated for in the driver, it need not make the OS unstable. The largest proportion of offensive language in the Linux source is in the drivers dealing with these quirks. (I have not grep the BSD source for swearing yet, but I think it would not be that different)
Sometimes you have to just bite the bullet though, for example the rtl8139 is a fairly broken chip, but dropping support would be a big mistake.
SB of ACiD ! Anyone remember OBV/2 BBS Software for DOS? Murray Stokely (who I guess now is the release head for FreeBSD) was the author of OBV/2. Man that seems so long ago. Long live the ANSI scene.
I am becoming more and more disenchanted with people’s general attitude towards Linux/FreeBSD/Other software you get to download free of charge. It is really disgusting to hear people complain about such things as less than perfect driver support (which is the responsibility of the hardware manufacturer, not the maintainers of an OS) and a variety of other griping and whining. What is WRONG with you? Nobody forces you, or even asks you to use any of these free programs. If you don’t like it, for God’s sake don’t use it, but don’t tell me it sucks. It is excellent software given to you free of charge. Such complaining by the defenders of “Joe user” make me wonder why I want this mythical man using free software at all. For all I care Joe user can take out a second mortage to pay for MS software.
I am glad to see an update 4.x stable so soon after the release of 5.0. I’ll have to upgrade my server.
I have always liked the BSDs, but prior to a month or so ago, I only ran OpenBSD as a firewall and FreeBSD as a file and print server.
A few months ago I purchased a dual Athlon MP machine and Linux completely chokes on it. The system is guaranteed to halt at least once a day. I installed Windows to see if it would work (oh Darius and some of the other Windows zealots are going to love this
) and I stopped having the stability problems (yes, on my dual Athlon MP, Windows is stable and Linux is not). However, using Windows is like trying to eat soup with seven-foot-long shoehorns for hands. Very frustrating.
It was only after all this effort that I remembered FreeBSD. 5.0 had just been released, so I installed it. What a completely cool operating system. Desktop configuration, of course, requires a lot more effort than a server set up, but it was well worth it. 5.0 also comes with the recent versions of KDE and Gnome if you are in to those (I’m not, preferring WindowMaker to the big boys). No more crashes, BSD style inits, extremely good documentation, the ports system is great, and no crashes.
I’ve always liked BSD as a server OS, but I’m finding I really like FreeBSD as a desktop machine too. It has been great.
“No opensource drivers for Audigy2 hurts FreeBSD – for me”
Search the mailing lists, there are patches floating around that make the Audigy and Audigy2 work. Open source. I think it was on the questions@ mailing list, and if not, on hackers@.
The rest of the list I would dismiss as this “consistancy” issue has been fixed in RedHat. Most Windows converts find Redhat MORE than adequate, what IS the major problem is the lack of commercial applications. As for applications and libraries, if you stick to builds designed for your distribution, there shouldn’t be any issues.
No matter what alternative OS supporters say, consumers want the exact same programme they ran on Windows being made available on Linux. They’ve spent time learning how to using it and expect it to be available if they choose to move to a particular operating system.
The second prong of this is the culture change that needs to happen by many commercial companies realising that if they want a particular feature added to say, GTK, THEY CAN ADD IT, they don’t have to wait in line, begging and hoping that Microsoft out of the goodness of their own heart will implement that feature. So, in a sense, companies will have to realise that yes, they make commercial software, but if they want features added to particular libraries, they will have to be willing to team up with those development groups as well.
Audigy2 Support:
http://www.opensound.com/osshw.html
for FreeBSD (including 5.x):
http://www.opensound.com/freebsd.html
No drivers? Want everything free? You pay for windows, in this case you can pay for drivers while someone codes “free” drivers for FreeBSD.
As another note, last i looked at config files (which i rarely do these days seeing that everything is configured – it’s all smooth sailing in Gnome2 GUI with some consoles), they all followed a standard template (all the system ones did). At least as standard as looking through windows config panel where defaults are listed and they can be changed. Any configuration for a port i installed might of had different formating but last i looked config in Photoshop is different to what Winword config so where is the “standard” in Windows? (and yes a lot of people need to read windows for dummies or something like that and a lot of people need to read freebsd handbook by same logic! Those who don’t can look through man pages)
I really haven’t looked outside of /etc for configuration of the system itself.
2 cents.
The place to get commercial support for a sound card is at http://www.opensound.com/ . They even have FreeBSD 5.0 and Audigy2 support.
Personally, I love my Turtle Beach Santa Cruz. It works with FreeBSD 4.7 out of the box.
Having been a satisfied OpenSound user, I suggest that people support this company more as it will allow more drivers to tbe made available. Personally however, I think it would be great if one could purchase a copy that wasn’t restricted to what card you have. Say, if I change my card from SoundBlaster to Audigy, why should I pay again? that is where it falls down.
NOW, if one were to look at the total cost, one could have a very good FreeBSD setup using X-Accelerate X-Server + OpenSound. Together, it would provide you with a VERY good FreeBSD workstation. btw, if you are wondering, yes, X-Accelerate is a awsome X-Server.