FOSSwire

When it comes to free software desktop solutions, Linux tends to get most of the coverage. Now Ubuntu, Fedora, OpenSUSE etc. are all well and good, but it's all too easy to forget that there are other operating systems out there too that can do th e job.

BSD-based operating systems have been around for a very long time, but traditionally, the big BSD distros like FreeBSD focus on the server and high-end workstation scenarios.

PC-BSD is a desktop-oriented BSD distribution which ships with a full KDE desktop and many of the packages you might be already used to from desktop Linux.

I thought I would review the new 1.5 release of PC-BSD, so, let's dive in!

Installation

It's a standard iso image to download, with an optional second CD with some other applications like Firefox and OpenOffice.org. I downloaded both CDs, and booted from the first. After an initial text-based boot menu, the graphical installer comes up impressively quickly. It's not particularly pretty, but it is perfectly usable and reasonably understandable too.

To begin with, you have basic system questions about regional settings to answer and the licence agreements to agree to.

Next, you move on to setting up the root password and creating the other users on the system. Interestingly, passwords have to be alphanumeric only (no symbols). I presume this is a side effect of using a different encryption system to most Linux distros. It shouldn't really be a problem, as it's easy enough to pick a different password, but it is a slightly puzzling limitation nonetheless.

Partitioning is often always the most challenging step of any operating system installation, especially in a dual boot environment. Curiously, PC-BSD doesn't support installation onto logical drives inside of extended partitions; you are stuck to using primary partitions only. This could prove to be a significant barrier in environments where it is intended to be run alongside Windows.

For me, this partitioning restriction isn't an issue, as I installed PC-BSD inside a virtual machine. So for the purposes of this review, I just hit Use entire disk and gave it free rein over the hard disk image.

If you downloaded CD 2, you have the option of installing certain packages from it in addition to the base operating system and KDE packages. I chose to install Firefox, OpenOffice.org and a few of the KDE extras that come with the second disc.

The file copying process is fairly plain and gets the job done. File copying took about half an hour inside my VM, but real results are likely to vary.

First impressions

Once the copying completes, you simply reboot. A similar boot loader comes up at startup, and then you are launched into booting the operating system.

It's slightly disappointing that there's no pretty graphical boot screen, but once the graphical environment comes up things look a bit better. Initially, you are invited to set up your resolution and other settings.

After login, you are greeted with a fairly standard looking KDE 3.5.8 desktop. There are a few links to relevant PC-BSD websites placed on the desktop, along with a HTML 'Quick Guide' and access to important locations like the Home folder. If you've ever used KDE before, you should be right at home.

One of the benefits (or not, depending on your viewpoint) of PC-BSD, is that they are a lot more relaxed about free software and non-free software.

A real-world example of this is that if you opted to install Firefox from CD2, you will find that Flash Player 7 is included. Granted, it's not the latest version and therefore might have trouble with some sites, but it's enough to go on YouTube and run a fair few Flash-based applications. The majority of Linux distros don't include software such as Flash Player out of the box for licensing and ideological reasons, making it necessary for most users to go and install that software manually, which usually isn't fun.

Software management

The really interesting difference between PC-BSD and its competitors is in the area of software management.

Software management is a very important part of any modern operating system, and PC-BSD comes with a custom-built solution that works a little differently to the traditional FreeBSD ports system. There is a central repository for downloadable packages, called pbiDIR.

To explain how it works, I'll walk through a typical installation. First of all, there's no application for installing software, it's all handled through the website. So you visit the site in your browser, drill through the categories until you find the software package you want. Then you download it, as a file in your browser. As the name of the site suggests, this file will have a .pbi extension.

Once the file is downloaded, it automatically launches the relevant installer. It looks just like a Windows installation wizard, and feels just like a Windows installation wizard, right down to the typical Next, Back and Cancel buttons. You just Next through, and click Finish at the end. The application you just installed launches right away (if you ask it to, of course).

This slightly quirky (for Unix systems anyway) software management paradigm is interesting. For people with no experience of Linux or BSD, it makes the process, well - understandable.

It works in a similar way to Windows does, you download a file, double-click it and click Next a few times. As much as I don't necessarily like this way of doing things, it undeniably lowers the bar and makes it usable for people who have never touched anything but Windows before. Thumbs up.

Uninstalling software is done through a simple interface which lists the installed PBI packages, and allows you to remove them with one click. Literally.

Having the opportunity to take a fresh look at software management has allowed the PC-BSD developers to get it right. Experienced Linux and BSD users might moan and groan about the Windows-ness of it, but it really is slick.

I don't really have much of an opportunity to try out the software updates system, as the version I'm reviewing was released on the day I'm writing this review, meaning there aren't yet any updates available - at all!

Conclusion

PC-BSD is a very capable general purpose desktop operating system. It is certainly as capable as any of the major Linux distributions out there. The particular thing that makes it stand out is its novel approach to software management, which makes it easier for the newbie to use.

The major issue I see is lack of support. PC-BSD is very niche and that is likely to cause some issues when it comes to support. There is an active forum-based community, which I am sure is very helpful, but the level of support simply can't compete with the communities built around other operating systems, such as Ubuntu.

Apart from that, I really am struggling to find criticism for PC-BSD, aside from the minor quirks and some of the rather irritating installation restrictions.

Sure, it might be an unusual choice, but for the standard web/productivity tasks it does as good a job as anything else that's out there. And isn't that what really matters?

PC-BSD 1.5 has been released today, and can be downloaded from the official site (BitTorrent downloads also available from the same location).

What experiences have you had with BSD distributions? Should more attention be given to the non-Linux free OSes out there? Sound off in the comments.

One of the frustrating things about IM networks is that you can't really choose what networks your friends use and you can end up stuck with whatever they are using. Aside from not talking to your friends on IM, there's not a lot you can do other than grudgingly get an account on said service and bite the bullet.

It's certainly possible to use an excellent multi-protocol IM client such as Pidgin or Kopete, but if you're not a big IM user you might want something different that just does what it needs to do.

If your IM travels take you to the world of MSN/Windows Live Messenger, aMSN is one such client which is worth a look.

aMSN is a free open source MSN Messenger clone, with features such as:

• Display pictures
• Custom emoticons
• Multi-language support (around 40 languages currently supported)
• Webcam support
• Sign in to more than one account at once
• Full-speed File transfers
• Group support
• Normal, and animated emoticons with sounds
• Chat logs
• Timestamping
• Event alarms
• Conferencing support
• Tabbed chat windows

It runs on many different platforms, including Windows, Linux, Mac OS X and FreeBSD and the source code is, of course, also available for download. It can be downloaded from here, or Linux users should check their package manager first.

There's only really one universally interchangeable archiving and compression format that works across all major platforms, and that's the Zip format. Like it or not, that's what you are stuck with using if you need to exchange files with other operating systems.

Creating a Zip archive using a GUI is usually a very simple process which involves right-clicking a group of files or a folder and choosing the relevant option.

From a command line, it's a little more complex, but it's still very achievable and it is always useful to know how to do it from the command line.

Unzipping is easy, simply get yourself a suitable Zip file, and do the following:

$ unzip archive.zip

You will see some messages about deflating the files and then you should end up with the archive decompressed to your current working directory.

Compressing is slightly more complex and works something like this:

$ zip -b . stuff *

Let's take a look at the anatomy of that command in more detail. First of all, you run zip. Pretty simple, right?

The -b . switch indicates the directory in which you want the Zip archive file to be created. In this example, I've said . (i.e. the current working directory), but you can specify any directory which will be where your .zip file ends up.

stuff in this example is the name of the archive. Your filename will be this, with .zip added to the end.

Finally, * indicates that I want to zip all the files that are in this directory. That is probably the easiest way to work as you can just set up a directory containing your files, cd to it and use the * wildcard.

Of course, it is possible to be more advanced, so if you want to take your command line zip-fu a little further, then go ahead and read the man page.

Just remember - Zip files don't support Unix permissions, ownership or anything special like that. If you need to preserve that sort of information, you'll need to use tar instead!