DesktopBSD

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

DesktopBSD
Website	desktopbsd.net
Company/ developer	DesktopBSD Team [1].
OS family	BSD
Source model	Open source
Latest stable release	1.6 / January 9, 2008
Kernel type	Monolithic kernel
Default user interface	KDE
License	Several: From FreeBSD: BSD license Artwork collection: Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial 2.0 Austria[2] From KDE: GNU General Public License and others[3]
Working state	Current

DesktopBSD is a UNIX-derivative, desktop-oriented operating system based on FreeBSD. Its goal is to combine the stability of FreeBSD with the ease-of-use of KDE, which is the default graphical user interface. It is available for the IA-32 (also known as 32-bit x86) and AMD64 platforms.

Contents 1 History and development 2 Features 3 1.6 Release includes 4 References 5 See also 6 External links

[edit] History and development

DesktopBSD is essentially a customized installation of FreeBSD and is not a fork of FreeBSD. DesktopBSD is always based on FreeBSD's latest stable branch but incorporates certain customized, pre-installed software such as KDE and DesktopBSD utilities and configuration files.

A common misconception about DesktopBSD is that it is intended as a rival to PC-BSD as a BSD-based desktop distribution, since they are similar in structure and goals. However, the DesktopBSD project was started approximately one year before the PC-BSD project, despite the fact that the first PC-BSD release came out before DesktopBSD's. Neither the DesktopBSD nor PC-BSD projects intend to rival each other and are completely independent projects with distinctive features and very different attitudes. DesktopBSD has had e.g. a 64 bit version (AMD64) since 1.0.

The current release is 1.6 final which was made available on January 9, 2008.

[edit] Features

• Graphical installer allowing to partition disks and create users
• Graphical tool for managing, installing and updating software using FreeBSD ports system
• Graphical management of network interfaces and mounting/unmounting drives

Current release is based on FreeBSD 6.3-PRERELEASE and KDE 3.5.8.

[edit] 1.6 Release includes

• Live-DVD feature - try the system before installing it
• Better hardware support, more drivers included, e.g. nVidia driver
• Improved package manager user interface and performance
• Automated vulnerability check of installed software
• portsnap as the default for faster package list updates
• Overview over detected hardware devices and features before the installation
• Improved display detection for higher resolutions and refresh rates
• Support for GRUB as a boot menu and a graphical configuration tool
• Boot splash image management
• Completely redesigned installer and desktop environment
• Configurable warning thresholds for battery monitor

On 25th of July 2007 DesktopBSD 1.6 Release Candidate 3 was made available on the project site There are snapshots now available for i386 and AMD64 of the current development.

[edit] References

[edit] See also

• Comparison of BSD operating systems
• FreeBSD

[edit] External links

• DesktopBSD homepage
• DesktopBSD wiki
• DesktopBSD developer blog
• DesktopBSD 1.0RC3 release notes
• BSDNews.com article on DesktopBSD
• BSDLinuxGangster Review, screenshots
• BSDTalk Interview with Peter Hofer (DesktopBSD developer/mp3)
• DesktopBSD flyer Info from AllBSD.de (pdf/English)
• Screenshots of DesktopBSD at OSDir.com
• Using DesktopBSD Dru Lavigne

v • d • e The FreeBSD Project Related projects: FreeBSD Documentation License • FreeBSD jail • FreeBSD Ports • Sysinstall People: Jordan Hubbard • Marshall Kirk McKusick • List of developers • FreeBSD Foundation Derivatives: ClosedBSD • DesktopBSD • FreeSBIE • m0n0wall • PC-BSD • pfSense • GNU/kFreeBSD • Gentoo/FreeBSD