My original colocation machine was FreeBSD 4.2 and it was fun to play with. The package system was great, you could either compile or install pre-compiled versions. However, when you upgrade and leave compiled/pre-compiled packages dormant. They can come back to bit you in the ass with dependency issues and the package database breaking. I’m glad someone is making an effort to make it more user friendly, although I don’t run BSD I love a lot of its features.
24-hour Test Drive of PC-BSD – An anonymous reader writes “Ars Technica has a concise introduction to PC-BSD, a FreeBSD derivative that emphasizes ease of use and aims to convert Windows users. The review describes the installation process, articulates the advantages of PC-BSD,and reveal some of the challenges that the reviewer faced along the way. From the article: ‘In the end, I would suggest this distribution to new users provided they had someone to call in case of a driver malfunction during installation. I would also recommend PC-BSD to seasoned Unix users that have never tried using FreeBSD before and would prefer a shallower learning curve before getting down to business.'”
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