PC-BSD or back again with Mac OS X?

[bebuxe]

ok, but if you really (i mean really) want pcbsd into your new system you need to set something up something with lots of ram if you are going to run XBMC, VLC or mPlayer, and audio Amarok or Banshee.

my best recommendation, if you are a cheap minimalist (like me), is to install FreeBSD, get a nice wm like openbox, Metacity, jwm etc. (I plan to use wmii echinus wm, musca, or scrotwm; you can still use a de like xfce or lxde if you want (not necessary))

install mplayer (or an alternate that's simplier than this one, unless you want all its features) and nice simple front end (go to the site: http://www.mplayerhq.hu/design7/projects.html, there's too many to count, some simple hits i found: namp, GtkPlayer, libplayer, noname, XULPlayer (FOR MOZILLA XUL i.e. firefox (if its the web browser u plan using)) (Parole?)

web browsers... --There are three that were mention to me that are safe, nice (has the mere necessities (CSS, ECMAScript, etc...) and succinct over Mozilla's products, but I forgot their names (actually deleted the bookmarks)-- You may find them before my next response to you. But I do mind you might use FLASH and some other things that require heavy usage of ECMAScript, which another browser maybe better (i.e. mozilla's? gnash?). I'll edit this later, too sleepy.

word processor, initially i was about to say abiword, lyx, TEA, Andrew User Interface System (Andrew), Groff, or libreoffice, but thinking minimalist ted, GNU TeXmacs, troff, Heirloom's troff, or vi. (Siag office when its well and ported into freebsd)

And the rest is setting up many configs in freebsd, and wollah, you got your optimum freebsd install for your entertainment purposes.

AV duties? please elaborate. cross system streaming? If you mean this, Audio_and_video_connector, then piping work via mplayer to your AV devices in freebsd is a jimmy (really easy). I know for sure there people who have done it. Maybe do a google search with keywords like: freebsd tv output, freebsd tv out, freebsd tv card, etc.... I believe some in here did just that, or is attempting to do it (reproduce it), i think in multimedia forum here.

[burak]

Yes, I'm a cheap minimalist and generally I'm all for minimalism. And I appreciate what you're trying to do: pointing out the most reasonable and the best alternatives. But I fear (perhaps mistakenly) they're more fitting for experts.

I'm just a driver, not an auto mechanic. Though I can try to learn some simple things (to use PC-BSD), I can't be an expert to make my own car (setting FreeBSD and config files, installing codecs, flash, Java etc.).

Those vms you mention frighten me a bit too. The tiling ones and others might be light and minimalist, so better, but I feel a more mainstream route would be safer for me. Besides, even if they're easy to set and use, my nephew may dislike them. So, a standard vm might be better for converting others as well, at least converting my nephew.

A couple of years ago I've installed on this machine Fink and then an old version of KDE over OS X. It was a frustrating work (and the outcome expectedly not very satisfying). At the end the machine kernel panicked and went to service. Other than that I installed MacTex and could use LyX to produce two books. These are the only examples of my "technical ability"!

I need Libreoffice as it has footnote and endnote capability and is compatible with MS Word. I exchange documents with PC/Mac, i.e. Word, users.

By AV, I meant audio and video and I use just two channels. My audio and video files reside on a WD network drive. And I need an audio app with playlist capability as well as an app for tagging and ripping. Can I use remote with XBMC, along with something like Amarok, VLC etc.?

Lots of RAM? 4 GB any good? Seems not costing a fortune. I'll be using Libreoffice, a PDF viewer, a dictionary app, Firefox and an audio player app at the same time. And the other intensive work might be an occasional Handbrake use for Blurays.

My analogies and fears may be groundless and just stem from my ignorance. If so, I'm ready to be put right and encouraged. If all I need to do is to follow some simple-to-implement instructions once and for all, even if it takes some time to finish, it's fine. But if I'm to be in a constant struggle with setting something up again and again and am required to be an expert by an arduous study, it's out of my reach unfortunately.

[thnewguy]

I would definitely advise not trying to build a minimalist system from FreeBSD. It's not a good place for a newcomer to the BSDs to start. Given the software you'll be running it'll be much easier to install PC-BSD, as it'll have most everything set up automatically for you.

I've found around 2GB seems to be a good amount of RAM for PC-BSD. More is always nice, but probably not required for some web browsing, office work and multimedia.

[burak]

Many thanks, thnewguy. Appreciated.

[bebuxe]

then considering your nephew,

freebsd, openbox, abiword, mplayer, namp, netsurf (or amaya; links?)*, and any Graphics card that support s-video (ati radeon?), then you are fine.

http://www.x.org/wiki/RadeonTVbuildHowto
http://www.x.org/wiki/radeonTV

read last edit reason by bebuxe below if you like.

[burak]

bebuxe, I promise, one day, if I somehow get hold of it, I'll build a most minimalist system based on FreeBSD on another partition, if not for my nephew, then for your honour.

All the best.

[bebuxe]

hehehehe, I am just thinking to help you, so how could it be for my honour? But I somewhat disagree with thnewguy in that you should start with pcbsd for an easier method to learn *BSD. I believe the best method to learn is with real hands on experience, so if it is your choice to use FreeBSD in the future, either make a simple partition for it so you can boot, use mfsbsd, or get a simple machine (basic to the core) to test. And above all read the handbook, get a book at your library about Freebsd or Unix (absolute freebsd 2nd edition (freebsd v7)), and find a local community of hackers or Freebd users. You can never know how fruitful it will be to learn your desire system operating your machine until you try.


*just killing time before i get to the next class

[thnewguy]

Oh, I think I'm in agreement. If one's primary goal is to *learn* BSD, then plain FreeBSD is the best way it go. It would certainly force a person to learn and they have a great Handbook.

However, if the primary purpose is to *use* BSD and the person has no previous experience, then FreeBSD will result in a very steep, probably frustrating learning curve. Even moving from OS X to PC-BSD a person will have a bit of a learning curve, but it'll be a lot easier to move into.

[bebuxe]

That's is why I told him just to get a copy of dynebolic if he is not interested in learning Freebsd. The distro has everything he would need to set up a nice dos, including the word processor, media player apps (with nice GUIs), and a web browser. And install freebsd on the machine for practice, since dynebolic works all on ram (unless he really wants it on disk, then he can make a partition for it and add an entry for it in Freebsd multi os MBR, even for just writing into his share files partition (that may be in NFS)). wifi, he is going to have to install then.

[burak]

bebuxe, my previous reply has been said tongue in cheek with a very friendly manner. Hope, the language barrier hasn't interfered and it's passed as it's intended.

thnewguy says what I would say myself. I'm not young, skilled, educated and enthusiastic enough to study and learn FreeBSD, though I may be silly enough to try anything other than OS X.

You may ask "Then what are you doing here?" It's a kind of escape, if you like. And I just like to "think different". It'll certainly not be a free lunch as I'll be making donations and probably paying more for hardware than a Mac Mini. Yet again, I'd like to be part of it if I can.

I'm saying these to correct any possible misunderstanding arising from my presence here. That is, just because I'm here, please do not suppose I'm not a regular fool able only to use a Mac. I've just thought (maybe mistakenly) that with some perseverance I would use PC-BSD and that it is stable having also a future.

Now, reading in another thread about an experienced user having issues with XBMC is telling, but I would postpone this little convenience to a later fix. Yet, even before beginning, things seem very complicated in choosing a right OS and I feel confused. Remember, I'm from the land of plug-and-play Mac OS X.

I've no idea about Dynebolic (latest stable release December 2007). Can I "easily" install LibreOffice? Goldendict? PDF viewer etc. Should I now try to examine that distro? Read reviews (found one from 2006)? And so on? Isn't BSD (PC-BSD) more stable than Linux distros? Linux Mint is touted to be the best alternative for the likes of me. Yet, I wouldn't consider leaving Mac just for it if I haven't come across PC-BSD. Am I wrong? Should I forget PC-BSD and look into Dynebolic (if not FreeBSD) and base my decision accordingly?

Or I'd rather buy a Mac Mini and install Dynebolic on a partition for your honour?