Difference between revisions of "Introduction"

Revision as of 01:02, 15 July 2012

Welcome to PC-BSD!

PC-BSD^[1] began in 2005 when Kris Moore presented the first beta version of a FreeBSD operating system pre-configured for desktop use. Since then, PC-BSD has matured into a polished, feature-rich, free-of-charge, open source operating system that meets the desktop needs of the beginner to the advanced user alike.

PC-BSD is essentially a customized installation of FreeBSD, not a forked derivative. Since the underlying FreeBSD system has been kept intact, you have a fully functional FreeBSD system under the hood. PC-BSD provides a graphical installer, a graphical package management system, and dozens of graphical utilities that make PC-BSD suitable for desktop use. As a user of PC-BSD, you don’t have to worry about configuring a FreeBSD system for desktop use; instead you can simply install and start using it.

The main difference between PC-BSD and FreeBSD is that PC-BSD is geared towards desktop use, while FreeBSD has been created with server use in mind. Other differences include:

• PC-BSD pre-configures at least one desktop manager during installation

• PC-BSD is installed by a graphical installer rather than a text based installer

• The PC-BSD installer supports additional features such as configuring ZFS and encryption during installation

• PC-BSD provides a graphical software management system

• PC-BSD’s rc.conf and sysctl.conf have been tweaked for a desktop environment

• PC-BSD comes pre-configured with a number of automatic scripts to perform tasks such as connecting digital cameras or USB memory sticks

PC-BSD started off as an independent project, but since October, 2006 PC-BSD is (financially) backed and supported by the enterprise-class hardware solutions provider iXsystems^[2].

The rest of this section discusses:

• PC-BSD's Goals and Features

• What's New in 9

• PC-BSD Releases

• PC-BSD for Linux Users

References

1. ↑ http://www.pcbsd.org/
2. ↑ http://www.ixsystems.com/