PC-BSD, one of the world's most overlooked OSes

GNU/Linux distros such as Ubuntu, are well know and popular among l33t computer users that prefer something more robust and open source rather than Windows or Mac OS X. I myself been through loads of various GNU/Linux distros, some were a nightmare to deal with, others were relatively easy but with their flaws, like Ubuntu.

Today I can claim that I officially abandoned Ubuntu, since I've just installed PC-BSD. The installation process went smoothly, didn't require from me figuring out anything it was very easy and straightforward and only took 15 minutes for the whole system to be set up and ready, versus an hour for Ubuntu. Even better, Programs are simply installed by downloading the PBI executable file and double clicking on it for it to be installed, through an easy installation wizard, just like Windows. Unlike various GNU/Linux distros where you have to use a package manager or do it through the terminal. Only flaw I've noticed was that NTFS partitions weren't mounted automatically, had to manually mount them myself. Also there seems to be a less applications available for it (in binary format) in compare to GNU/Linux, but you can always install from source.

What drove me away from Ubuntu was its instability. Couple of weeks ago, and for some unknown reason, Ubuntu suddenly stopped allowing any resolutions higher than 800x600, tried reinstalling the graphics card driver, but to no avail. Gladly, PC-BSD automatically recognized my driver and allowed me to set the resolution to the maximum allowed by my Plug&Play screen, 1600x1200. I'm one of those people who can't live with less.

To learn more about PC-BSD, visit PC-BSD.org also check the PBI directory for popular PBI executables, you might also find some PBIs for your favorite programs elsewhere. As I did with VLC, which isn't available at the PBI directory.

PC-BSD comes with KDE as the default Windows manager, I've never been a fan of KDE and probably never will be. I'd rather have GNOME as the default and that what I'll look into. Until then I'll have to live with KDE.

I'll post screenshots later, and keep you updated with more. For now sadly, I'll be working on Visual Studio 2005 on Windows XP. Hopefully once DotGNU 1.0 is out, I wont find myself confined to the Windows environment, using Visual Studio never been my choice, but that is what the project members decided on, and are work is expected to run on Windows.