5 ms·

Having come into Linux from FreeBSD, I agree, FreeBSD does feel "greener"

mnd999 6y ago
As someone who’s done the same (although I’m still using FreeBSD on my NAS) I missed decent documentation the most. I felt most at home on Arch because the wiki is pretty decent.
- mvanbaak 6y ago
  The man pages on FreeBSD are a lot better than on Linux. And you can read them without network and/or browser.
  - chungy 6y ago
    The Arch Wiki is alright if you run Arch, but I definitely prefer well-written and fully up-to-date manpages from the offset. For starters, it doesn't require me to open a web browser first; it also doesn't depend on me having network connectivity at any particular time. My take is definitely different from GP: I find FreeBSD to have a much better documentation story compared to Linux (even Arch).
    - yjftsjthsd-h 6y ago
      > The Arch Wiki is alright if you run Arch No, it's pretty broadly useful; I've used it on at least Ubuntu, Fedora, and centos. It helps that Arch is pretty close to upstream, so docs are usually pretty generic. I can't disagree about offline docs and the extraordinary quality of BSD manpages, though:)
      - jhvkjhk 6y ago
        Yeah I see Arch Wiki as Linux Wiki when I’m using Ubuntu.(and Ask Ubuntu as Ask Linux)
      - avhception 5y ago
        I've even used the arch wiki when setting up stuff on FreeBSD, because it covers a whole lot of 3rd party software - some of which runs on FreeBSD as well.
  - the_only_law 6y ago
    A lot better than other BSDs as well (although I much prefer reading the NetBSD code). Admittedly, I can’t speak to how it compares to OpenBSD docs as I’ve never really bothered with OpenBSD DragonflyBSD is cool, but documentation is rough and a lot of it seems to be from old FreeBSD components modified for its speciality. I will say the primary developer is an exceptionally nice person who’s helped me a time or two on the irc.
  - xyproto 6y ago
    You can read the Arch Linux wiki without a network and a graphical browser too, just: pacman -S arch-wiki-docs elinks elinks /usr/share/doc/arch-wiki/html/en/Main_page.html
    - 0ld 5y ago
      > without a network > pacman -S arch-wiki-docs elinks does pacman install docs and elinks without network? interesting
      - 002445 5y ago
        I am sure OP meant to run this once when you have an internet connection after which you will be able to view the docs offline.
      - xyproto 5y ago
        I'm sure you understood what I meant, but if you want to be literal, then yes: you can also install packages with pacman while offline, if you have downloaded the packages first. This command downloads the packages without installing them: pacman -Sw elinks arch-wiki-docs
    - hgamaral 5y ago
      I wonder why this doesn't work on Manjaro.
      - 002445 5y ago
        Manjaro uses its own repositories (check /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist). I use Manjaro (i3 community edition) and it has served me well but these small annoyances tell me I should invest the time to switch to Arch before I encounter the first mayor annoyance.
      - xyproto 5y ago
        Because Manjaro is a different Linux distribution from Arch Linux, and have a different selection of packages.

As someone who’s done the same (although I’m still using FreeBSD on my NAS) I missed decent documentation the most. I felt most at home on Arch because the wiki is pretty decent.

mvanbaak 6y ago
The man pages on FreeBSD are a lot better than on Linux. And you can read them without network and/or browser.
- chungy 6y ago
  The Arch Wiki is alright if you run Arch, but I definitely prefer well-written and fully up-to-date manpages from the offset. For starters, it doesn't require me to open a web browser first; it also doesn't depend on me having network connectivity at any particular time. My take is definitely different from GP: I find FreeBSD to have a much better documentation story compared to Linux (even Arch).
  - yjftsjthsd-h 6y ago
    > The Arch Wiki is alright if you run Arch No, it's pretty broadly useful; I've used it on at least Ubuntu, Fedora, and centos. It helps that Arch is pretty close to upstream, so docs are usually pretty generic. I can't disagree about offline docs and the extraordinary quality of BSD manpages, though:)
    - jhvkjhk 6y ago
      Yeah I see Arch Wiki as Linux Wiki when I’m using Ubuntu.(and Ask Ubuntu as Ask Linux)
    - avhception 5y ago
      I've even used the arch wiki when setting up stuff on FreeBSD, because it covers a whole lot of 3rd party software - some of which runs on FreeBSD as well.
- the_only_law 6y ago
  A lot better than other BSDs as well (although I much prefer reading the NetBSD code). Admittedly, I can’t speak to how it compares to OpenBSD docs as I’ve never really bothered with OpenBSD DragonflyBSD is cool, but documentation is rough and a lot of it seems to be from old FreeBSD components modified for its speciality. I will say the primary developer is an exceptionally nice person who’s helped me a time or two on the irc.
- xyproto 6y ago
  You can read the Arch Linux wiki without a network and a graphical browser too, just: pacman -S arch-wiki-docs elinks elinks /usr/share/doc/arch-wiki/html/en/Main_page.html
  - 0ld 5y ago
    > without a network > pacman -S arch-wiki-docs elinks does pacman install docs and elinks without network? interesting
    - 002445 5y ago
      I am sure OP meant to run this once when you have an internet connection after which you will be able to view the docs offline.
    - xyproto 5y ago
      I'm sure you understood what I meant, but if you want to be literal, then yes: you can also install packages with pacman while offline, if you have downloaded the packages first. This command downloads the packages without installing them: pacman -Sw elinks arch-wiki-docs
  - hgamaral 5y ago
    I wonder why this doesn't work on Manjaro.
    - 002445 5y ago
      Manjaro uses its own repositories (check /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist). I use Manjaro (i3 community edition) and it has served me well but these small annoyances tell me I should invest the time to switch to Arch before I encounter the first mayor annoyance.
    - xyproto 5y ago
      Because Manjaro is a different Linux distribution from Arch Linux, and have a different selection of packages.