12 ms·

FreeBSD 10.3

202 points by jlgaddis 11y ago

dallbee 11y ago
Of particular note: This release brings 64 bit support to the Linux compatibility layer. I suppose when windows caught up Bash on Windows, FreeBSD needed to do something to keep one step ahead =].
- akerro 11y ago
  >The Linux® compatibility layer has been substantially improved and now is capable of running 64-bit applications on amd64 (x86_64), 1:1 threading What does 1:1 threading mean?
  - xtf 11y ago
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thread_%28computing%29#1:1_.28kernel-level_threading.29 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thread_%28computing%29#1:1_.28...: 1:1 (kernel-level threading) Threads created by the user in a 1:1 correspondence with schedulable entities in the kernel[10] are the simplest possible threading implementation. OS/2 and Win32 used this approach from the start, while on Linux the usual C library implements this approach (via the NPTL or older LinuxThreads). This approach is also used by Solaris, NetBSD, FreeBSD, OS X, and iOS.
    - mkup 11y ago
      It's also worth noting that FreeBSD used to rely on M:N threading model (via libkse) then switched to 1:1 threading model (via libthr).
    - jdub 11y ago
      Though LinuxThreads was M:N, and Solaris migrated to 1:1 relatively recently too (as did others).
      - the_why_of_y 11y ago
        No, LinuxThreads was 1:1. Maybe you are thinking of IBM's NGPT proposal? http://www.onlamp.com/pub/a/onlamp/2002/11/07/linux_threads.html?page=2 http://www.onlamp.com/pub/a/onlamp/2002/11/07/linux_threads.... "Relatively recently" would be Solaris 8, in 2000.
  - kev009 11y ago
    There are at least three theoretical implementations of userland threads in an Operating System: * 1:1, where each userland thread maps directly to a kernel thread * 1:N, where several userland threads map directly to one kernel thread * M:N, where the kernel maintains a pool of threads and dispatches userland threads to them History has shown that 1:1 threading has the best trade offs. It's worth more independent research if you are interested in Operating Systems.
    - akerro 11y ago
      Thanks
    - anthk 11y ago
      That's reminds me of database record relations.
      - akerro 11y ago
        Or just re-use of basic structures ;)
- mlu 11y ago
  What are the limitations of the Linux compability layer?
  - mioelnir 11y ago
    Going by the compat.linux.osrelease sysctl, it is currently providing the kernel interface of Linux kernel version 2.6.32 (the one that ships with RHEL6). Similarly, the GNU userland that can be installed is based on CentOS6. So, if your application requires newer kernel interfaces that were introduced in 3.x or 4.x, it will not work.
- cetinsert 11y ago
  Except this is not keeping one step ahead. Windows does run 64-bit Linux binaries natively, watch https://channel9.msdn.com/Events/Build/2016/P488 https://channel9.msdn.com/Events/Build/2016/P488 (skip to 05:12).
  - mioelnir 11y ago
    So, Windows is catching up to parity. shrug
- toomanythings2 11y ago
  FreeBSD has supported Linux compatibility for many years and, purportedly, can run some Linux applications faster than Linux itself so FreeBSD has always been miles ahead.
  - feld 11y ago
    In FreeBSD 6 I could get more fps in America's Army FPS game through Linuxulator on FreeBSD than through running native Linux.
- yxlx 11y ago
  I don't think Windows had anything to do with this. I think the feature has been in development since before and it is released because it's what users want, not because of what Microsoft are doing.
  - mioelnir 11y ago
    Initial Linux64 support landed in FreeBSD11 on 2015-05-24. The code freeze for the 10.2 release started on 2015-07-03. Those 5'ish weeks was simply not enough time to get such a major addition sufficiently settled down for inclusion in the stable release branch. As such, it is now part of 10.3R.
- eatonphil 11y ago
  Wow! Thanks for pointing this out! I had no idea it was coming so soon. I'm so excited to upgrade. This is particularly useful for some niche compilers (like Poly/ML) who have special features for only linux-x86_64.
  - schwarze_pest 11y ago
    What are those special features?
    - eatonphil 11y ago
      Actually, I may have gotten my facts mixed up. It is Golang that only supports some compiling features on linux-x86 like shared object libraries or something along those lines. I can't remember off the top of my head and I can't seem to find what I'm looking for.
- drewg123 11y ago
  Slightly pedantic, but FreeBSD/alpha ran 64-bit Linux alpha binaries back in 2000/2001 , and 64-bit DEC OSF/1 / Tru64 binaries much earlier. I think we probably should have ripped the bandaid off, and started supporting 64-bit Linux binaries much earlier on FreeBSD/amd64
NamTaf 11y ago
Idle question sort-of-related but I'm asking it here because those who know the answer will be here: The bge(4) driver by default doesn't support WoL, but a number of people have managed to take the driver from FreeNAS 9.x which includes a patched driver that does make it work and added it to FreeBSD 9.x. This was released as a .patch file so you could patch the driver and recompile and is of interest because it's the onboard NIC for the HP Proliant microservers that many people use for their own custom file storage servers. The upgrade from 9 to 10 broke this patch because the lines changed too dramatically, but you can easily copy/paste it in to the driver source at the right places and it works (I did it on 10.1 or 10.2). My question is: Specifically what process does one need to go through to provide a patched bge(4) driver to 'the appropriate people' so that the patch is included in FreeBSD's default driver and is not broken with each major change to the driver? How does one go from 'we have functioning code that enables WoL support' to 'this is a tested, certified driver included in the default FreeBSD install'? What licensing issues are there in contributing the patch upstream from FreeNAS to FreeBSD? This is all new territory for me, so some guidance would be greatly appreciated!
- cperciva 11y ago
  Assuming the patch is BSD licensed, there should be no legal/licensing issues. Have you submitted a FreeBSD bug report with the patch? If not, do that first: https://bugs.freebsd.org/bugzilla/enter_bug.cgi?product=Base%20System https://bugs.freebsd.org/bugzilla/enter_bug.cgi?product=Base... If you've done that already, or after you've waited a few weeks without anyone noticing it, the usual tactic is to email people who have worked on the driver in question recently; the SVN logs are useful here: https://svnweb.freebsd.org/base/head/sys/dev/bge/if_bge.c?view=log https://svnweb.freebsd.org/base/head/sys/dev/bge/if_bge.c?vi... Feel free to send me an email if you need more help.
  - NamTaf 11y ago
    Thanks. I've not done any of that as I didn't come up with the patch to begin with. I'll do some research and work out where the legalities fall.
voltagex_ 11y ago
I'm a first time user of FreeBSD, I jumped in on 10.3RC2 and ended up with a "custom" kernel to enable vnet support. How do I upgrade and keep the custom kernel in-tact?
- woodman 11y ago
  You repeat the same process. svn update your src and the rebuild your world and kernel. That is the price for custom kernel configs, no more kernel binary distribution (unless you setup your own build server, which you really don't want to do).
  - voltagex_ 11y ago
    What's the reason I can't use `pkg` to update my userland and then just rebuild the kernel instead of rebuilding everything from source?
    - MojoDwarf 11y ago
      currently the base userland is not controlled by the pkg system. You can use freebsd-update to do a binary upgrade, which will also sync your kernel sources if you have stuff in /usr/src, so you can simply rebuild kernel after running the update. Should be noted in 11-CURRENT there is currently ongoing work to move userland and the generic kernel into pkg, so look forward to that as well.
      - voltagex_ 11y ago
        I reverted to a generic kernel (it doesn't look like I ever had /boot/GENERIC - did I read out of date doco?), then ran freebsd-update as normal. Seems to be fine. I'll rebuild my custom kernel later.
- kev009 11y ago
  Sorry for this pain point :( we will hopefully have VNET default in 11.0. Slightly risky way: you can run freebsd-update fetch and then install twice, and you will notice it updates /usr/src.. it will instruct you to reboot after the first install, but instead do another install and you will notice that /usr/src has been updated. Rebuild your custom kernel and reboot. You risk changed ABIs during this, in practice it may be fine but depends how much you care about the box and whether you are comfortable cleaning up from a chroot if things go really bad. Better: use svnlite in base or real SVN to update /usr/src to the releng/10.3 branch. Build your kernel, reboot, do freebsd update to get the base updates and make sure your kernel is intact. Best: use svnlite to update /usr/src. Do buildkernel, reboot. Do buildworld and follow https://www.freebsd.org/doc/handbook/makeworld.html https://www.freebsd.org/doc/handbook/makeworld.html. The more you run FreeBSD, the more you will want to follow -STABLE or -CURRENT and do your own release engineering. Future best: Use any method to derive custom kernel, use packaged base to update base. Or again hopefully common use wont need a custom kernel.
ksec 11y ago
An Honest question, which of the large Startup / Internet Giant are using BSD? Whether it is FreeBSD or OpenBSD or others. Judging from some previous Facebook post, it is likely Whatsapp will be moving to linux based as well instead of on FreeBSD. Yahoo used to be a FreeBSD shop, but Marisa Mayer has since converted all to Linux. Microsoft had some FreeBSD long ago but has since converted all to Windows or Linux. The only FreeBSD on Netflix are their Open Connect Appliance, their main AWS instances, which is the majority of their servers are all Linux. Both Cisco and Juniper are using less FreeBSD as we speak. Even Apple, with many parts of their OS based on FreeBSD, are using Linux for iCloud as well. So who is using BSD?
- RDeckard 11y ago
  WhatsApp for one: http://highscalability.com/blog/2014/2/26/the-whatsapp-architecture-facebook-bought-for-19-billion.html http://highscalability.com/blog/2014/2/26/the-whatsapp-archi...
- bcook 11y ago
  Juniper's Junos OS is based on FreeBSD. Honest question though: Does the popularity of an OS really tell us anything useful? I often use the "if it's popular, it's probably good" metric, but I know I am just being lazy... As a curiosity, knowing the "rank" of an OS is interesting, but if I am making any important decisions, I research the OS myself, hopefully disregarding outside influences.
  - ksec 11y ago
    I am not really concern about popularity, but the development side of it. Or, can the current size of usage / ecosystem be sustainable for FreeBSD long term development? Cooperate usage will at least paid for the development in Linux, I was just worried FreeBSD usage is shrinking because of this.
- amenghra 11y ago
  Yahoo began their migration from BSD to Linus around 2010. Long before Marisa.
mlu 11y ago
I know FreeBSD (or *BSD in general) is still used heavily in server environments. Is anyone using it on the desktop as well? I always wanted to give it a try, but then I'm hesitant because of lacking hardware support. I remember struggling with Intel KMS support in one of the earlier releases. Is this still a problem?
- akerro 11y ago
  Yes, I'm using FreeBSD on my netbook. I tried some Linux distros there, but they were too slow. My netbook came with Fedora, where yum was terribly lagging, it was taking even 40minutes to upgrade 20pacakges (what happened weekly), I tried Debian with LXDE, it was faster, but I wasn't able to watch youtube, video was lagging on 460p. GF was using it as portable PC to listen to podcasts etc, but starting any application like firefox, thunderbird or clementine was taking way too long. When Debian switched to systemD, I decided to give FreeBSD a try after 10 years with Debian/Arch and CentOS on server. I was impressed that command line installation of FreeBSD was simpler than Manjaro with GUI. Honestly, application startup of Firefox, Thunderbid was much quicker, youtube videos work with 720p (nearly full screen of the netbook :D). I had some problems setting up my dev environment there, like Qt5 is said to work out of box, but I had to make some manual fixes to get it working system-wide. Setup of Xorg and SLIM was something different than SDDM on ArchLinux. I don't know about Intel KMS, I use FreeBSD on portable netbook and my work-station (Dell laptop - came with Ubuntu) and everything is superb. You will need to dig some stuff like rc.conf, but documentation is very clear and once you modified it, you're 100% that it will work after reboot. I still don't remember and know from memory how to enable acpi support on Linux (backlight control on laptops, it worked out of box on both laptops on BSD). if you don't have much time to read about it, install bsdconfig from ports it's a nice command line application that helps you select necessary features of the system. If anything, it's definitely worth giving BSD a try just to get some new experience! I'm also highly impressed with DragonFlyBSD, worth reading their documentation to learn that BSD systems are ahead of Linux when it comes to security and system design. Here, have some resources (includes my blog): https://www.b.agilob.net/freebsd-on-netbook-acer-aspire/ https://www.b.agilob.net/freebsd-on-netbook-acer-aspire/ https://www.b.agilob.net/qt5-on-freebsd/ https://www.b.agilob.net/qt5-on-freebsd/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DragonFly_BSD https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DragonFly_BSD http://networkfilter.blogspot.co.uk/2014/12/security-openbsd-vs-freebsd.html http://networkfilter.blogspot.co.uk/2014/12/security-openbsd... https://www.over-yonder.net/~fullermd/rants/bsd4linux/01 https://www.over-yonder.net/~fullermd/rants/bsd4linux/01
eshansingh 11y ago
S
gkya 11y ago
An off-topic question: Does anybody know anything about the status of ath5k on OpenBSD? My laptop has a AR242x/AR542x driver, can it be run on OpenBSD somehow? There are a lot of articles on the web about it, but I can't find actual information about whether it is possible or not to use that indeed.
tachion 11y ago
Have YOU donated to FreeBSD yet? https://www.freebsdfoundation.org/donate/ https://www.freebsdfoundation.org/donate/

202 points by jlgaddis 11y ago

Of particular note: This release brings 64 bit support to the Linux compatibility layer. I suppose when windows caught up Bash on Windows, FreeBSD needed to do something to keep one step ahead =].

akerro 11y ago
>The Linux® compatibility layer has been substantially improved and now is capable of running 64-bit applications on amd64 (x86_64), 1:1 threading What does 1:1 threading mean?
- xtf 11y ago
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thread_%28computing%29#1:1_.28kernel-level_threading.29 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thread_%28computing%29#1:1_.28...: 1:1 (kernel-level threading) Threads created by the user in a 1:1 correspondence with schedulable entities in the kernel[10] are the simplest possible threading implementation. OS/2 and Win32 used this approach from the start, while on Linux the usual C library implements this approach (via the NPTL or older LinuxThreads). This approach is also used by Solaris, NetBSD, FreeBSD, OS X, and iOS.
  - mkup 11y ago
    It's also worth noting that FreeBSD used to rely on M:N threading model (via libkse) then switched to 1:1 threading model (via libthr).
  - jdub 11y ago
    Though LinuxThreads was M:N, and Solaris migrated to 1:1 relatively recently too (as did others).
    - the_why_of_y 11y ago
      No, LinuxThreads was 1:1. Maybe you are thinking of IBM's NGPT proposal? http://www.onlamp.com/pub/a/onlamp/2002/11/07/linux_threads.html?page=2 http://www.onlamp.com/pub/a/onlamp/2002/11/07/linux_threads.... "Relatively recently" would be Solaris 8, in 2000.
- kev009 11y ago
  There are at least three theoretical implementations of userland threads in an Operating System: * 1:1, where each userland thread maps directly to a kernel thread * 1:N, where several userland threads map directly to one kernel thread * M:N, where the kernel maintains a pool of threads and dispatches userland threads to them History has shown that 1:1 threading has the best trade offs. It's worth more independent research if you are interested in Operating Systems.
  - akerro 11y ago
    Thanks
  - anthk 11y ago
    That's reminds me of database record relations.
    - akerro 11y ago
      Or just re-use of basic structures ;)
mlu 11y ago
What are the limitations of the Linux compability layer?
- mioelnir 11y ago
  Going by the compat.linux.osrelease sysctl, it is currently providing the kernel interface of Linux kernel version 2.6.32 (the one that ships with RHEL6). Similarly, the GNU userland that can be installed is based on CentOS6. So, if your application requires newer kernel interfaces that were introduced in 3.x or 4.x, it will not work.
cetinsert 11y ago
Except this is not keeping one step ahead. Windows does run 64-bit Linux binaries natively, watch https://channel9.msdn.com/Events/Build/2016/P488 https://channel9.msdn.com/Events/Build/2016/P488 (skip to 05:12).
- mioelnir 11y ago
  So, Windows is catching up to parity. shrug
toomanythings2 11y ago
FreeBSD has supported Linux compatibility for many years and, purportedly, can run some Linux applications faster than Linux itself so FreeBSD has always been miles ahead.
- feld 11y ago
  In FreeBSD 6 I could get more fps in America's Army FPS game through Linuxulator on FreeBSD than through running native Linux.
yxlx 11y ago
I don't think Windows had anything to do with this. I think the feature has been in development since before and it is released because it's what users want, not because of what Microsoft are doing.
- mioelnir 11y ago
  Initial Linux64 support landed in FreeBSD11 on 2015-05-24. The code freeze for the 10.2 release started on 2015-07-03. Those 5'ish weeks was simply not enough time to get such a major addition sufficiently settled down for inclusion in the stable release branch. As such, it is now part of 10.3R.
eatonphil 11y ago
Wow! Thanks for pointing this out! I had no idea it was coming so soon. I'm so excited to upgrade. This is particularly useful for some niche compilers (like Poly/ML) who have special features for only linux-x86_64.
- schwarze_pest 11y ago
  What are those special features?
  - eatonphil 11y ago
    Actually, I may have gotten my facts mixed up. It is Golang that only supports some compiling features on linux-x86 like shared object libraries or something along those lines. I can't remember off the top of my head and I can't seem to find what I'm looking for.
drewg123 11y ago
Slightly pedantic, but FreeBSD/alpha ran 64-bit Linux alpha binaries back in 2000/2001 , and 64-bit DEC OSF/1 / Tru64 binaries much earlier. I think we probably should have ripped the bandaid off, and started supporting 64-bit Linux binaries much earlier on FreeBSD/amd64

NamTaf 11y ago

Idle question sort-of-related but I'm asking it here because those who know the answer will be here: The bge(4) driver by default doesn't support WoL, but a number of people have managed to take the driver from FreeNAS 9.x which includes a patched driver that does make it work and added it to FreeBSD 9.x. This was released as a .patch file so you could patch the driver and recompile and is of interest because it's the onboard NIC for the HP Proliant microservers that many people use for their own custom file storage servers. The upgrade from 9 to 10 broke this patch because the lines changed too dramatically, but you can easily copy/paste it in to the driver source at the right places and it works (I did it on 10.1 or 10.2). My question is: Specifically what process does one need to go through to provide a patched bge(4) driver to 'the appropriate people' so that the patch is included in FreeBSD's default driver and is not broken with each major change to the driver? How does one go from 'we have functioning code that enables WoL support' to 'this is a tested, certified driver included in the default FreeBSD install'? What licensing issues are there in contributing the patch upstream from FreeNAS to FreeBSD? This is all new territory for me, so some guidance would be greatly appreciated!

cperciva 11y ago
Assuming the patch is BSD licensed, there should be no legal/licensing issues. Have you submitted a FreeBSD bug report with the patch? If not, do that first: https://bugs.freebsd.org/bugzilla/enter_bug.cgi?product=Base%20System https://bugs.freebsd.org/bugzilla/enter_bug.cgi?product=Base... If you've done that already, or after you've waited a few weeks without anyone noticing it, the usual tactic is to email people who have worked on the driver in question recently; the SVN logs are useful here: https://svnweb.freebsd.org/base/head/sys/dev/bge/if_bge.c?view=log https://svnweb.freebsd.org/base/head/sys/dev/bge/if_bge.c?vi... Feel free to send me an email if you need more help.
- NamTaf 11y ago
  Thanks. I've not done any of that as I didn't come up with the patch to begin with. I'll do some research and work out where the legalities fall.

voltagex_ 11y ago

I'm a first time user of FreeBSD, I jumped in on 10.3RC2 and ended up with a "custom" kernel to enable vnet support. How do I upgrade and keep the custom kernel in-tact?

woodman 11y ago
You repeat the same process. svn update your src and the rebuild your world and kernel. That is the price for custom kernel configs, no more kernel binary distribution (unless you setup your own build server, which you really don't want to do).
- voltagex_ 11y ago
  What's the reason I can't use `pkg` to update my userland and then just rebuild the kernel instead of rebuilding everything from source?
  - MojoDwarf 11y ago
    currently the base userland is not controlled by the pkg system. You can use freebsd-update to do a binary upgrade, which will also sync your kernel sources if you have stuff in /usr/src, so you can simply rebuild kernel after running the update. Should be noted in 11-CURRENT there is currently ongoing work to move userland and the generic kernel into pkg, so look forward to that as well.
    - voltagex_ 11y ago
      I reverted to a generic kernel (it doesn't look like I ever had /boot/GENERIC - did I read out of date doco?), then ran freebsd-update as normal. Seems to be fine. I'll rebuild my custom kernel later.
kev009 11y ago
Sorry for this pain point :( we will hopefully have VNET default in 11.0. Slightly risky way: you can run freebsd-update fetch and then install twice, and you will notice it updates /usr/src.. it will instruct you to reboot after the first install, but instead do another install and you will notice that /usr/src has been updated. Rebuild your custom kernel and reboot. You risk changed ABIs during this, in practice it may be fine but depends how much you care about the box and whether you are comfortable cleaning up from a chroot if things go really bad. Better: use svnlite in base or real SVN to update /usr/src to the releng/10.3 branch. Build your kernel, reboot, do freebsd update to get the base updates and make sure your kernel is intact. Best: use svnlite to update /usr/src. Do buildkernel, reboot. Do buildworld and follow https://www.freebsd.org/doc/handbook/makeworld.html https://www.freebsd.org/doc/handbook/makeworld.html. The more you run FreeBSD, the more you will want to follow -STABLE or -CURRENT and do your own release engineering. Future best: Use any method to derive custom kernel, use packaged base to update base. Or again hopefully common use wont need a custom kernel.

ksec 11y ago

An Honest question, which of the large Startup / Internet Giant are using BSD? Whether it is FreeBSD or OpenBSD or others. Judging from some previous Facebook post, it is likely Whatsapp will be moving to linux based as well instead of on FreeBSD. Yahoo used to be a FreeBSD shop, but Marisa Mayer has since converted all to Linux. Microsoft had some FreeBSD long ago but has since converted all to Windows or Linux. The only FreeBSD on Netflix are their Open Connect Appliance, their main AWS instances, which is the majority of their servers are all Linux. Both Cisco and Juniper are using less FreeBSD as we speak. Even Apple, with many parts of their OS based on FreeBSD, are using Linux for iCloud as well. So who is using BSD?

RDeckard 11y ago
WhatsApp for one: http://highscalability.com/blog/2014/2/26/the-whatsapp-architecture-facebook-bought-for-19-billion.html http://highscalability.com/blog/2014/2/26/the-whatsapp-archi...
bcook 11y ago
Juniper's Junos OS is based on FreeBSD. Honest question though: Does the popularity of an OS really tell us anything useful? I often use the "if it's popular, it's probably good" metric, but I know I am just being lazy... As a curiosity, knowing the "rank" of an OS is interesting, but if I am making any important decisions, I research the OS myself, hopefully disregarding outside influences.
- ksec 11y ago
  I am not really concern about popularity, but the development side of it. Or, can the current size of usage / ecosystem be sustainable for FreeBSD long term development? Cooperate usage will at least paid for the development in Linux, I was just worried FreeBSD usage is shrinking because of this.
amenghra 11y ago
Yahoo began their migration from BSD to Linus around 2010. Long before Marisa.

mlu 11y ago

I know FreeBSD (or *BSD in general) is still used heavily in server environments. Is anyone using it on the desktop as well? I always wanted to give it a try, but then I'm hesitant because of lacking hardware support. I remember struggling with Intel KMS support in one of the earlier releases. Is this still a problem?

akerro 11y ago
Yes, I'm using FreeBSD on my netbook. I tried some Linux distros there, but they were too slow. My netbook came with Fedora, where yum was terribly lagging, it was taking even 40minutes to upgrade 20pacakges (what happened weekly), I tried Debian with LXDE, it was faster, but I wasn't able to watch youtube, video was lagging on 460p. GF was using it as portable PC to listen to podcasts etc, but starting any application like firefox, thunderbird or clementine was taking way too long. When Debian switched to systemD, I decided to give FreeBSD a try after 10 years with Debian/Arch and CentOS on server. I was impressed that command line installation of FreeBSD was simpler than Manjaro with GUI. Honestly, application startup of Firefox, Thunderbid was much quicker, youtube videos work with 720p (nearly full screen of the netbook :D). I had some problems setting up my dev environment there, like Qt5 is said to work out of box, but I had to make some manual fixes to get it working system-wide. Setup of Xorg and SLIM was something different than SDDM on ArchLinux. I don't know about Intel KMS, I use FreeBSD on portable netbook and my work-station (Dell laptop - came with Ubuntu) and everything is superb. You will need to dig some stuff like rc.conf, but documentation is very clear and once you modified it, you're 100% that it will work after reboot. I still don't remember and know from memory how to enable acpi support on Linux (backlight control on laptops, it worked out of box on both laptops on BSD). if you don't have much time to read about it, install bsdconfig from ports it's a nice command line application that helps you select necessary features of the system. If anything, it's definitely worth giving BSD a try just to get some new experience! I'm also highly impressed with DragonFlyBSD, worth reading their documentation to learn that BSD systems are ahead of Linux when it comes to security and system design. Here, have some resources (includes my blog): https://www.b.agilob.net/freebsd-on-netbook-acer-aspire/ https://www.b.agilob.net/freebsd-on-netbook-acer-aspire/ https://www.b.agilob.net/qt5-on-freebsd/ https://www.b.agilob.net/qt5-on-freebsd/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DragonFly_BSD https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DragonFly_BSD http://networkfilter.blogspot.co.uk/2014/12/security-openbsd-vs-freebsd.html http://networkfilter.blogspot.co.uk/2014/12/security-openbsd... https://www.over-yonder.net/~fullermd/rants/bsd4linux/01 https://www.over-yonder.net/~fullermd/rants/bsd4linux/01

eshansingh 11y ago

gkya 11y ago

An off-topic question: Does anybody know anything about the status of ath5k on OpenBSD? My laptop has a AR242x/AR542x driver, can it be run on OpenBSD somehow? There are a lot of articles on the web about it, but I can't find actual information about whether it is possible or not to use that indeed.

tachion 11y ago

Have YOU donated to FreeBSD yet? https://www.freebsdfoundation.org/donate/ https://www.freebsdfoundation.org/donate/