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I went from windows machine to PC-BSD 10.3 about 2 years ago and then to TrueOS. At first I really liked it, specifically ZFS integration. I consider ZFS a hidd

by nec4b 10y ago

I went from windows machine to PC-BSD 10.3 about 2 years ago and then to TrueOS. At first I really liked it, specifically ZFS integration. I consider ZFS a hidden gem of data storage. After the second update troubles began. Every time there was a new system update, some software was quietly removed from the system. If I reinstalled it by hand again, usually something broke. I guess it wasn't compatible with the newer version od the OS. After a couple of updates most of the software I liked and considered important didn't work. Also in general most of the software in the appcafe is a version or two behind the current version available for other systems. On PC-BSD I used KDE which I found very useful. On TrueOS i'm using Lumina which simply isn't there yet. I'm currently looking for way to migrate back to Windows while keeping ZFS around.

baldfat 10y ago
Can I ask why you wouldn't see Linux as your next home? (Trying just to have a conversation and nothing negative on anything in your remarks) 1. I also LOVE KDE (But mostly use a tile window manager i3) 2. I tried liking BTRFS (Similar to ZFS for my non-server systems and just went back to my old file system) I feel my 2 copies and one off site is a better system for desktop. I use OpenSUSE and never had a problem I couldn't figure out. 3. You can use ZFS on Linux
- nec4b 10y ago
  I chose PC-BSD because i had a bad data loss and wanted something more reliable. ZFS on FreeBSD is very mature and stable and PC-BSD provided nice desktop integration. For stuff I couldn't do on PC-BSD I used Windows virtual machine. I don't have anything against Linux. But last I read, ZFS on Linux is not native and integrated into the system as well as on PC-BSD. I was thinking more along the line of building a small NAS/FreeBSD server for storage and just install Windows on the main PC as it has always worked pretty well for me and other household memebers are more used to it as well. I will also give OpenSuse a try in a VM to see how it works.
  - onli 10y ago
    Just a +1 for trying out Linux here. Sounds like you'd really like it. ZFS is native by now, https://launchpad.net/~zfs-native/+archive/ubuntu/stable https://launchpad.net/~zfs-native/+archive/ubuntu/stable, though I'm not 100% sure about the current state of the FS in the linux world. Last I read was Ubuntu integrating it by default.
    - X86BSD 10y ago
      I would not use ZFS on Linux when it's much more stable and supported better on illumos or FreeBSD.
      - drewg123 10y ago
        I've run ZFS on FreeBSD, Linux and Solaris/Illuminos. The only ZFS issues I've had have been on FreeBSD, when using a zvol for a VM, when GEOM started helpfully automatically resizing the volume causing disk corruption. Eg: GEOM_PART: zvol/tank/vm1 was automatically resized. Use `gpart commit zvol/tank/vm1` to save changes or `gpart undo zvol/tank/vm1` to revert them. Every time I'd run the VM, I'd start seeing ZFS corruption. I finally just moved the VM to a normal file. Sigh. Luckily ZFS was able to recover from the corruption.
      - rleigh 10y ago
        Not sure why this was downvoted when it's objectively true. The Linux ZFS support is functional, but lacking. It's missing NFSv4 ACL support. It's missing per-dataset user and group permissions, forcing all operations to require root privs; on the other systems, the ZFS tools work for all users, with appropriate checks. No delegation of privileges e.g. to allow users to perform admin actions like snapshotting, send/recv. No transparent NFS export. It behaved badly when a disc glitched, requiring a reboot to resolve; the tools started getting stuck in D state when trying to investigate the fault. And just a few weeks ago it refused to mount all my datasets until I changed the mountpoint (for no discernable reason). FreeBSD and IllumOS provide a more mature, well integrated implementation.
  - baldfat 10y ago
drewg123 10y ago
I installed KDE on TrueOS, and it is working fine. I've never even tried Lumina, past my initial login to install kde. As to software disappearing. I think what might have been happening is that you'd go install something, but the upgrader had already run and created a new boot environment for the update based on a snapshot from before you'd installed the new pkg. So just as soon as you rebooted into the new BE, you'd "loose" the package. This is one of the reasons that they changed how the updates work, and only create the new BE when you're rebooting. I personally hate this, as I'd rather re-install something than wait 1/2 for the update to re-install pkgs in a singleuser-ish environment. I second the notion that you might want to consider switching to Ubuntu, rather than going back to Windows. I've run ZFS on Linux for years on my old desktop (now my wife's) and never had a problem. The only "issue" I had was the transition from 14.04 to 16.04 was a bit rocky, as 16.04 includes ZFS natively, rather than using the zfs-on-linux ppa.
- nec4b 10y ago
  Unfortunately updates removed software that was already installed couple of updates before. If I remember correctly google earth was the first to go and when i tried to reinstall it, it didn't run and worse, after reboot I was stuck in shell because X failed to start. Regarding KDE, I read from TrueOS developers that it is source of troubles for them because KDE has become effectively Linux only and hasn't been updated since version 4.13 for BSD.

by nec4b 10y ago

baldfat 10y ago

Can I ask why you wouldn't see Linux as your next home? (Trying just to have a conversation and nothing negative on anything in your remarks) 1. I also LOVE KDE (But mostly use a tile window manager i3) 2. I tried liking BTRFS (Similar to ZFS for my non-server systems and just went back to my old file system) I feel my 2 copies and one off site is a better system for desktop. I use OpenSUSE and never had a problem I couldn't figure out. 3. You can use ZFS on Linux

nec4b 10y ago
I chose PC-BSD because i had a bad data loss and wanted something more reliable. ZFS on FreeBSD is very mature and stable and PC-BSD provided nice desktop integration. For stuff I couldn't do on PC-BSD I used Windows virtual machine. I don't have anything against Linux. But last I read, ZFS on Linux is not native and integrated into the system as well as on PC-BSD. I was thinking more along the line of building a small NAS/FreeBSD server for storage and just install Windows on the main PC as it has always worked pretty well for me and other household memebers are more used to it as well. I will also give OpenSuse a try in a VM to see how it works.
- onli 10y ago
  Just a +1 for trying out Linux here. Sounds like you'd really like it. ZFS is native by now, https://launchpad.net/~zfs-native/+archive/ubuntu/stable https://launchpad.net/~zfs-native/+archive/ubuntu/stable, though I'm not 100% sure about the current state of the FS in the linux world. Last I read was Ubuntu integrating it by default.
  - X86BSD 10y ago
    I would not use ZFS on Linux when it's much more stable and supported better on illumos or FreeBSD.
    - drewg123 10y ago
      I've run ZFS on FreeBSD, Linux and Solaris/Illuminos. The only ZFS issues I've had have been on FreeBSD, when using a zvol for a VM, when GEOM started helpfully automatically resizing the volume causing disk corruption. Eg: GEOM_PART: zvol/tank/vm1 was automatically resized. Use `gpart commit zvol/tank/vm1` to save changes or `gpart undo zvol/tank/vm1` to revert them. Every time I'd run the VM, I'd start seeing ZFS corruption. I finally just moved the VM to a normal file. Sigh. Luckily ZFS was able to recover from the corruption.
    - rleigh 10y ago
      Not sure why this was downvoted when it's objectively true. The Linux ZFS support is functional, but lacking. It's missing NFSv4 ACL support. It's missing per-dataset user and group permissions, forcing all operations to require root privs; on the other systems, the ZFS tools work for all users, with appropriate checks. No delegation of privileges e.g. to allow users to perform admin actions like snapshotting, send/recv. No transparent NFS export. It behaved badly when a disc glitched, requiring a reboot to resolve; the tools started getting stuck in D state when trying to investigate the fault. And just a few weeks ago it refused to mount all my datasets until I changed the mountpoint (for no discernable reason). FreeBSD and IllumOS provide a more mature, well integrated implementation.
- baldfat 10y ago

drewg123 10y ago

I installed KDE on TrueOS, and it is working fine. I've never even tried Lumina, past my initial login to install kde. As to software disappearing. I think what might have been happening is that you'd go install something, but the upgrader had already run and created a new boot environment for the update based on a snapshot from before you'd installed the new pkg. So just as soon as you rebooted into the new BE, you'd "loose" the package. This is one of the reasons that they changed how the updates work, and only create the new BE when you're rebooting. I personally hate this, as I'd rather re-install something than wait 1/2 for the update to re-install pkgs in a singleuser-ish environment. I second the notion that you might want to consider switching to Ubuntu, rather than going back to Windows. I've run ZFS on Linux for years on my old desktop (now my wife's) and never had a problem. The only "issue" I had was the transition from 14.04 to 16.04 was a bit rocky, as 16.04 includes ZFS natively, rather than using the zfs-on-linux ppa.

nec4b 10y ago
Unfortunately updates removed software that was already installed couple of updates before. If I remember correctly google earth was the first to go and when i tried to reinstall it, it didn't run and worse, after reboot I was stuck in shell because X failed to start. Regarding KDE, I read from TrueOS developers that it is source of troubles for them because KDE has become effectively Linux only and hasn't been updated since version 4.13 for BSD.