Installing Ghostbsd

Questions about the installation of FreeBSD
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ken
Posts: 5
Joined: Tue Jun 20, 2017 8:13 pm

Installing Ghostbsd

Post by ken »

Hello Gentlemen, after playing around with ghostbsd on a live usb I really like it. I'd really like to install it on my X99 rig with nvidia gtx970's.. Would there be an issues with the hexcore processor or video cards with ghostbsd? I'm an Arch linux user so I'm not scared of the command line but just looking to see what I'm in for. Thanks!
kraileth
Posts: 312
Joined: Sun Sep 04, 2016 12:30 pm

Re: Installing Ghostbsd

Post by kraileth »

Hello Ken and welcome to the forums!

Glad to hear that you like GhostBSD. From the parts that you mentioned I would not assume much trouble. Your PC should be fine for running a FreeBSD-based OS. I don't own a hexcore machine myself, but since FreeBSD scales up to a lot more CPUs, I could expect that it would make good use of all of them.

What usually is a problem, is Intel graphics on newer processors like Skylake and Kaby Lake. There's an experimental branch that some developers are using and I've heard good things about it, but it's not ready for prime time and thus not yet available in mainstream FreeBSD. However you are going to operate your PC using a dedicated graphics card, so that's not an issue for you. Luckily you have an nVidia card which usually means that things simply work. For quite some time now nVidia has been releasing their closed-source driver natively built for FreeBSD. So there's no emulation or anything like that involved. You just grab that driver and can expect things to work just as well as they work on Linux or Windows. Have a look here, nVidia even lists FreeBSD as a certified OS for your card.

If you would like to install GhostBSD on your machine, I would recommend picking the 10.3 release for now. The 11.0 release that's also available is an alpha release and haunted by quite a few issues. But of course it's safe to update to 11.0 once you have 10.3 installed.

BTW: I've been an Arch Linux user myself for half a decade before switching to FreeBSD (or mostly GhostBSD rather), thus I know my way around in Arch, too. So should you have any further questions or need help, feel free to ask. Whether you want to know how the ports system compares to building stuff from the AUR or what FreeBSD is like compared to the centralized rc.conf of the "good old days" before systemd came in to wreak havoc - I can tell you quite a bit about that. ;)
ken
Posts: 5
Joined: Tue Jun 20, 2017 8:13 pm

Re: Installing Ghostbsd

Post by ken »

Oh excellent, thank you for the information. I will definitely give a go. One other question, after installing from the live usb does it require further configuration? or does it boot straight to a desktop environment? I love Arch and have using it for on and off for a few years but I need a change of pace... bsd's have always peaked my interest though. Thanks again!
ASX
Posts: 988
Joined: Wed May 06, 2015 12:46 pm

Re: Installing Ghostbsd

Post by ASX »

hi and welcome,

unless of unexpected issues, after install it will boot to the desktop.
ken
Posts: 5
Joined: Tue Jun 20, 2017 8:13 pm

Re: Installing Ghostbsd

Post by ken »

Hello ASX, thank you. I'm going to download mate 10.3 and try it out.
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NevilleGoddard
Developer
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Location: Japan

Re: Installing Ghostbsd

Post by NevilleGoddard »

It will work fine. I'm currently using it on an 8 core cpu and it runs great.
ken
Posts: 5
Joined: Tue Jun 20, 2017 8:13 pm

Re: Installing Ghostbsd

Post by ken »

I must be missing something.. install off live usb, restart machine leaves me at login prompt. :lol: and now the live usb gets stuck loading desktop when I try to reinstall. oh well I try in a few weeks when I have more time.
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NevilleGoddard
Developer
Posts: 517
Joined: Thu Dec 22, 2016 10:30 pm
Location: Japan

Re: Installing Ghostbsd

Post by NevilleGoddard »

When you log in what happens exactly? Do you enter user name and password and then nothing happens?
Are you using a USB 2.0 or USB 3.0 stick to install with?
Finally, are you trying to install GhostBSD 11 or GhostBSD 10.3?

I've never had problems with 10.3 so I'm quite surprised by your post. I'll try installing it myself tonight and see what happens.
If xfce is okay for you try the xfce version. :D
ken
Posts: 5
Joined: Tue Jun 20, 2017 8:13 pm

Re: Installing Ghostbsd

Post by ken »

Yeah.. both 10.3 and 11. It boots to command line without a desktop environment. I can log into a system without a gui. No worries, like I said when I have time in a few weeks I'll check my xorg conf... I just ran out of time last night unfortunately. 14 hour days at work leaves zero time. Thanks for the help.
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