FreeBSDNews.com

Michael Larabel tries out TrueOS, and other BSDs

By Leave a Comment

Check out these articles from Michael Larabel, of Phoronix, giving his input on TrueOS, DragonFlyBSD, GhostBSD, and various BSD operating systems. He provides thoughts on the ease of use, what needs work, and his top choices.

power

While I’ve been running PC-BSD on some systems for years I hadn’t tried out any of its rolling-release FreeBSD 11.0-based spins under the new TrueOS brand nor had I tried out the project’s Qt-based Lumina Desktop Environment since it reached 1.0. That changed today with trying out the latest weekly spin of TrueOS x64.

TrueOS is PC-BSD’s new unified brand and in addition to the changeover happening for the FreeBSD 11.0 milestone, some other changes TrueOS is carrying on top of FreeBSD 11 includes using LibreSSL, making use of Linux 4.7 DRM driver support, and more.

TrueOS First Spin

Discussion

pacbsd

Following the seven-way Linux distribution benchmark comparison published earlier this week, on the same system I set out to test a variety of BSD distributions on the same system and ultimately benchmark their out-of-the-box performance too. Those performance benchmark results will be published later this week while today were a few remarks I wanted to share when trying out TrueOS, DragonFlyBSD, GhostBSD, FreeBSD, OpenBSD, NetBSD, MidnightBSD, and PacBSD (Arch BSD) on this modern Intel Xeon system.

Trying 8 BSDs

Discussion

Related links:

Phoronix – FreeBSD Now Has A Port For CentOS 7 Binary Support

FreeBSD vs TrueOS from freebsd

 

PC-BSD Evolves into TrueOS

By 2 Comments

As announced earlier this week, PC-BSD has changed its name to TrueOS. The developers made another announcement indicating that TrueOS is a rolling release based on FreeBSD-CURRENT. Download the new ISO/image here.

trueoslogo

TrueOS combines the convenience of a rolling release distribution with the failsafe technology of boot environments, resulting in a system that is both current and reliable. TrueOS now tracks FreeBSD’s “Current” branch and merges features from select FreeBSD developer branches to enhance support for newer hardware and technologies. Weekly automatic updates keep your system always up-to-date, and all updates are performed safely within system snapshots called boot environments. The TrueOS desktop uses the modular yet feature-rich Lumina desktop environment alongside the new SysAdm administration suite to provide a reliable desktop experience.  SysAdm provides local and remote management of TrueOS and FreeBSD systems using a cross-platform graphical client compatible with Windows, Mac, and many Linux distributions. TrueOS is preconfigured for desktop and server installations using an intuitive graphical installer, taking the guesswork out of setting up a new system.

Where to find TrueOS:

Original announcement:

PC-BSD Evolves into TrueOS

Related links:

Softpedia – PC-BSD Operating System Gets Renamed to TrueOS, Follows a Rolling Release Model

Phoronix – PC-BSD-Renamed TrueOS To Use LibreSSL, Linux DRM 4.7 Compatibility

Hacker News Discussion – PC-BSD Evolves into TrueOS

/r/TrueOS

GhostBSD 10.3 Enoch is now available

By 1 Comment

The developers of GhostBSD have made available the final RELEASE of 10.3, dubbed “Enoch”. The most notable changes in this version are ZFS support, better VirtualBox support, and many network fixes. See the link below for the full release notes and download the ISO/image here.

ghostbsd

After a year of development, testing and debugging we are pleased to announce the release of GhostBSD 10.3 MATE & XFCE which is available on SourceForge and torrents for the amd64 and i386 architectures.

What’s new in GhostBSD 10.3

  • ZFS support
  • UEFI support
  • Installer custom partition creation subjection
  • VirtualBox support get setup at boot time if needed.
  • 4k partition alignment by default
  • GhostBSD Software will be updated Quarterly which will bring more stability to GhostBSD still user will be able to change it to latest to have the latest software update.

What changed in GhostBSD 10.3

  • The installer partition editor UI and partitioning have been improved
  • VirtualBox additions would be uninstall after installer if it is not runnig in a VirtualBox
  • Slim is replacing GDM.
  • Networkmgr display the full SSID
  • Replaced the HTML/CSS installation slide with a GTK/CSS the slide.

Official announcement: http://ghostbsd.org/10.3_enoch

Related links:

Softpedia – GhostBSD 10.3 “Enoch” Officially Released with ZFS and UEFI Support, More

DistroWatch – BSD Release: GhostBSD 10.3

FreeNAS 10-BETA is now available

By Leave a Comment

The long awaited FreeNAS 10-BETA is now available for download. This new version features a drastically improved graphic user interface, middleware, UI for virtual machine hosting, Docker, ReST API, and a plethora of other features. Please note that the BETA should not be used in production and for testing purposes only. See the link below for the full release notes and download the ISO/image here.

freenas10beta

FreeNAS 10-BETA

The FreeNAS Development Team is very proud to announce this general-availability BETA release of its totally redesigned, ground-up rewrite of FreeNAS, a release containing dozens of new features, additional polish, and hundreds of bug fixes to the previously released ALPHA2 of FreeNAS 10.

While still not considered “production ready” by any means, we hope that the new features, redesigned middleware, advanced CLI interface, and radically improved User Experience of FreeNAS 10 overall will attract users who are interested in a preview of what is to come with FreeNAS 10 RELEASE.

We also hope that software developers who are keen to understand the internals of this new design, and the ways in which it is facilitating the evolution of entirely new class of features and capabilities, will join us in making their own contributions to what has become the world’s most popular open source storage operating system!

Official announcement: http://www.freenas.org/blog/freenas-10-beta-now-available/

Related links:

FreeNAS Forums – FreeNAS 10-BETA is Now Available!

Softpedia – FreeNAS 10 Beta Open-Source Storage Solution Ships with over 800 Resolved Issues

iXsystems’ FreeNAS 10 Beta Available Now

FreeNAS 10 Beta Released from freenas

PC-BSD is now TrueOS

By 2 Comments

The developers of PC-BSD have decided to change the prominent FreeBSD based desktop operating system’s name to TrueOS. The decision was made by lead developer Kris Moore, who founded the project back in 2006. TrueOS will continue to be bundled with Lumina, a lightweight desktop environment designed by Ken Moore.

trueos_desktopedit-e1471621816705

What Happened to PC-BSD®?

Many are very familiar with the name PC-BSD® and may be wondering why we changed the name. Although it’s a household name for so many, the developers realized this was a time for a new name that would better convey our message. Lead developer Kris Moore had this to say: “We’ve already been using TrueOS® for the server side of PC-BSD®, and it made sense to unify the names. PC-BSD® doesn’t reflect server or embedded well. TrueOS® Desktop/Server/Embedded can be real products, avoids some of the alphabet soup, and gives us a more catchy name.” One important lesson learned from going to conferences is that people can have a hard time remembering the acronym that makes up our name, which is not a good place to start with marketing a product. We’re confident the TrueOS® name will allow people to quickly identify the project. Subsequently, we will be able to convey our brand message in a better and more unified way.

Related links:

Phoronix – More Details On PC-BSD’s Rebranding As TrueOS

Ostatic – PC-BSD > TrueOS, BSD’s Legacy, f25 Wayland Maybe

FreeBSD Foundation – Installing PC-BSD as a Primary Operating System

When BSD and Ubuntu meet by Jack Wallen

By Leave a Comment

In this article, user installs UbuntuBSD for the first time and documents his thoughts and offers solutions on the hybrid distribution.

ubuntubsdheroConsidering that BSD is far closer to UNIX than is Linux, why would anyone go out of their way to merge it with Ubuntu? Two reasons. First, if you’re a long-time fan of Ubuntu and a long-time hater of systemd, UbuntuBSD might be the “systemd-less Ubuntu” you’ve been looking for. The second reason? Because one of the biggest complaints about BSD is that it’s more complex than it’s Linux relatives. That leads to one simple conclusion: far less usage. Even though BSD is an ideal platform for servers, it winds up little more than a wallflower at prom, watching all the cool Linux kids dancing the night away.

Original article: http://www.techrepublic.com/article/when-bsd-and-ubuntu-meet-on-the-dance-floor-magic-should-happen/

Related articles:

Phoronix – UbuntuBSD 16.04 Beta Pairs Ubuntu Xenial With FreeBSD 10.3

GhostBSD 10.3 RC1 is ready for testing

By Leave a Comment

The developers of GhostBSD have made available the first release candidate for version 10.3. ZFS filesystem disk encryption was pushed back to GhostBSD 11.0. Download the ISO/update files here.

ghostbsd_1

This first RC release is ready for testing new feature in GhostBSD 10.3, MATE and XFCE is available on SourceForge for the i386, amd64, and amd64-uefi architectures.

What has been fixed

  • Installer ZFS Mirror and zraid setup
  • Installer custom partition problem
  • Installer UEFI partition
  • Installer /boot problem
  • 4k partition alignment
  • Network Manager long SSID name
  • Network Manager slowness to open the men
  • Network Manager icon tray crash

Original announcement: http://ghostbsd.org/10.3_RC1

Softpedia – GhostBSD 10.3 RC1 Is Out, but ZFS Disk Encryption Was Pushed Back to GhostBSD 11

pfSense 2.3.2 RELEASE now available

By Leave a Comment

The developers of pfSense have announced the official RELEASE of version 2.3.2. Notable changes, as noted by Softpedia, are per-user configuration options in the Dashboard, strongSwan VPN update, IPv6 various configuration support, and more. Download the new ISO or update here.

pfSenseWe are happy to announce the release of pfSense® software version 2.3.2!

This is a maintenance release in the 2.3.x series, bringing a number of bug fixes. The full list of changes is on the 2.3.2 New Features and Changes page.

This release includes fixes for 60 bugs, 8 features and 2 todo items completed.

If you haven’t yet caught up on the changes in 2.3.x, check out the Features and Highlights video. Past blog posts have covered some of the changes, such as the performance improvements from tryforward, and the webGUI update.

Official announcement: https://blog.pfsense.org/?p=2108

Related links:

DistroWatch – BSD Release: pfSense 2.3.2

Softpedia – pfSense 2.3.2 Open Source BSD Firewall Distro Arrives with over 70 Improvements

A ZFS developer’s analysis of Apple’s new APFS file system (arstechnica.com)

By Leave a Comment

ZFS developer Adam H. Leventhal writes an in-depth comparison between ZFS–a prominent filesystem in BSD systems, and APFS–a new filesystem developed for Apple’s macOS and replacing its aging HFS+. The author discusses its snapshot and backup, management, performance, efficiency, and data integrity features.

zfsapfs
APFS, the Apple File System, was itself started in 2014 with Giampaolo as its lead engineer. It’s a stand-alone, from-scratch implementation (an earlier version of this post noted a dependency on Core Storage, but Giampaolo set me straight in this comment). I asked him about looking for inspiration in other modern file systems such as BSD’s HAMMER, Linux’s btrfs, or OpenZFS (Solaris, illumos, FreeBSD, Mac OS X, Ubuntu Linux, etc.), all of which have features similar to what APFS intends to deliver. (And note that Apple built a fairly complete port of ZFS, though Giampaolo was not apparently part of the group advocating for it.) Giampaolo explained that he was aware of them as a self-described file system guy (he built the file system in BeOS, unfairly relegated to obscurity when Apple opted to purchase NeXTSTEP instead), but didn’t delve too deeply for fear, he said, of tainting himself.

Full article: http://arstechnica.com/apple/2016/06/a-zfs-developers-analysis-of-the-good-and-bad-in-apples-new-apfs-file-system/

Discussion thread on /r/programming: https://www.reddit.com/r/programming/comments/4pziho/a_zfs_developers_analysis_of_apples_new_apfs_file/t1_d4pw7vc

 

GhostBSD 10.3-BETA1 now available

By Leave a Comment

ghostbsd_1The developers of GhostBSD have releeased first BETA of version 10.3. Download the latest version here.

This first BETA development release is ready for testing and debugging new feature in GhostBSD 10.3, MATE and XFCE is available on SourceForge for the i386, amd64, and amd64-uefi architectures.

What has been fixed.

  • Localtime time has been fixed

  • Installer support for UEFI

  • Fixed boot partition for GPT to supports freebsd-boot, bios-boot and efi

Official announcement – http://ghostbsd.org/10.3_BETA1

DistroWatch – Development Release: GhostBSD 10.3-BETA1