#30daysoffreebsd — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #30daysoffreebsd, aggregated by home.social.
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Yesterday, it was a #FreeBSDday.
I finally took one of my old laptops and a spare SSD, and I tried to install #FreeBSD on it... However, things were not so smooth. My first attempt with the #ThinkPad X200 was not successful, the #FreeBSD installer hung several times during boot. However, when I changed X200 to X230i, the installation went very smoothly.
I remember that a year and a half ago, I followed @dwarmstrong and his #30DaysOfFreeBSD. It was inspirational to read about his journey, and I wanted to do sometimes somethnig similar - just test the new system and familiarize with it. Maybe now it is the right time to do it ;-)
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Yesterday, it was a #FreeBSDday.
I finally took one of my old laptops and a spare SSD, and I tried to install #FreeBSD on it... However, things were not so smooth. My first attempt with the #ThinkPad X200 was not successful, the #FreeBSD installer hung several times during boot. However, when I changed X200 to X230i, the installation went very smoothly.
I remember that a year and a half ago, I followed @dwarmstrong and his #30DaysOfFreeBSD. It was inspirational to read about his journey, and I wanted to do sometimes somethnig similar - just test the new system and familiarize with it. Maybe now it is the right time to do it ;-)
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Yesterday, it was a #FreeBSDday.
I finally took one of my old laptops and a spare SSD, and I tried to install #FreeBSD on it... However, things were not so smooth. My first attempt with the #ThinkPad X200 was not successful, the #FreeBSD installer hung several times during boot. However, when I changed X200 to X230i, the installation went very smoothly.
I remember that a year and a half ago, I followed @dwarmstrong and his #30DaysOfFreeBSD. It was inspirational to read about his journey, and I wanted to do sometimes somethnig similar - just test the new system and familiarize with it. Maybe now it is the right time to do it ;-)
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Yesterday, it was a #FreeBSDday.
I finally took one of my old laptops and a spare SSD, and I tried to install #FreeBSD on it... However, things were not so smooth. My first attempt with the #ThinkPad X200 was not successful, the #FreeBSD installer hung several times during boot. However, when I changed X200 to X230i, the installation went very smoothly.
I remember that a year and a half ago, I followed @dwarmstrong and his #30DaysOfFreeBSD. It was inspirational to read about his journey, and I wanted to do sometimes somethnig similar - just test the new system and familiarize with it. Maybe now it is the right time to do it ;-)
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Yesterday, it was a #FreeBSDday.
I finally took one of my old laptops and a spare SSD, and I tried to install #FreeBSD on it... However, things were not so smooth. My first attempt with the #ThinkPad X200 was not successful, the #FreeBSD installer hung several times during boot. However, when I changed X200 to X230i, the installation went very smoothly.
I remember that a year and a half ago, I followed @dwarmstrong and his #30DaysOfFreeBSD. It was inspirational to read about his journey, and I wanted to do sometimes somethnig similar - just test the new system and familiarize with it. Maybe now it is the right time to do it ;-)
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Day 30-30
When I decided to install #FreeBSD and stick with it for 30 days, I was motivated by simple curiosity and a question: After years of using Linux, what _was_ this entire parallel *nix universe of BSDs?
FBSD has proven educational and a real treat to use and to continue using.
I've come to appreciate the history of Unix and how these wonderful tools came about, and the community that keeps it going. Thanks to many of YOU for your comments and encouragement.
Onward!
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After performing a few installs of FreeBSD, these are my personal notes of steps taken and choices made. A distilled, short and sweet version of Chapter 2 in the FreeBSD Handbook.
Hardware used is a Thinkpad T480s with 24GB RAM, 1TB SSD, and Intel integrated ethernet/wireless/gpu. Architecture is 'amd64'.
There is always more than one way to do it. This is mine. 🙂
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Day 28-30
Moving over to the Thinkpad T480s running FreeBSD 14.0, I have weird behaviour on the touchpad under Wayland + Sway where a 3-finger tap emulates a middle click correctly, but duplicates the action ... 3-finger tap on a link opens multiple tabs, trying to paste makes multiple copies.
Touchpad works as expected under X11.
Fortunately touchpad has dedicated left/middle/right click buttons which _do_ work OK. Will dig into this a bit more later.
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Day 27-30
Default font size in the vconsole is pretty small for my eyes on a 1920x1080 laptop display.
Here is a nice selection of terminus fonts of different sizes, converted for use in the FreeBSD console:
https://github.com/LionyxML/freebsd-terminus/tree/masterDownload fonts and copy into /usr/share/vt/fonts.
Try the different sizes ...
# vidcontrol -f ter-u24
Make permanent by adding to /etc/rc.conf ...
allscreens_flags="-f ter-u24"
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Day 25-30
Installed FreeBSD 14.0 on a Thinkpad T480s. Using lessons learned so far on my test Thinkpad X230, I'm going to make this into my main laptop/desktop.
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Day 24-30
Along with setting up Sway as my FreeBSD desktop, I've setup these desktop tools:
* Terminal: foot
* Status bar: waybar
* Dynamic menu: rofi-wayland
* Notifications: mako
* Screenshots: grimshot
* Lockscreen: swaylock
* Theme: nordic-theme
* Icons: papirus-icon-theme
* Fonts: firacode, ubuntu-font -
Day 23-30
(Re-)discovering the Sway compositor on FreeBSD. I had used it briefly on Linux. Dusting off and tweaking some of my old config files. I like it!
Sway quickly gets you 90% towards a usable desktop. Its that 10% where you're replacing all your X11 tools and crafting your own desktop just the way you like it that takes some experimenting.
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Day 22-30
Tried out Wayland + Hikari on FreeBSD for a bit. Today I'm running Wayland + Sway.
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Day 21-30
Looking at the CWM window manager I discoverd _Hikari_, a window manager/compositor inspired by CWM ... but for Wayland. Bonus factor is its actively developed for FreeBSD. So that is what I'm currently running as my desktop.
More exploring tomorrow!
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Day 20-30
My default window manager on Linux is usually Openbox, and I have re-created the same Openbox configuration using the same tools on FreeBSD. Works good!
Now that I'm exploring a non-Linux operating system this month, I'm thinking its apropos to give another X window manager a go. Maybe CWM?
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Day 19-30
I like using _Newsboat_ as my RSS reader. It runs 24/7 inside a tmux pane ... now on my FreeBSD laptop home server.
# pkg install newsboat tmux
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Day 18-30
Using an old laptop as a home server, no need to leave the screen on. I use 'vbetool' on Linux to turn off/on the screen.
On FreeBSD:
# pkg install vbetool
# vbetool dpms off
mmap /dev/mem: Invalid argumentTurn off ...
# sysctl security.bsd.map_at_zero=1
# /usr/local/sbin/vbetool dpms off
# sysctl security.bsd.map_at_zero=0I strung these commands together and made aliases for 'screen_off' and 'screen_on'.
Works OK!
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Day 17-30
I ❤️ rescuing an old laptop from the junk heap and giving it a new lease on life. This time as a FreeBSD home server! :freebsd:
Thinkpad T430s was gathering dust with partially damaged screen and weak battery. Only thing replaced was the HD with a 500GB SSD.
Today secured access to the new server by setting up SSH keys and disabling password logins.
Server's first job: Store a copy of my $HOME. Created daily cronjob that syncs files to server directory.
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Day 16-30
Another day in the "30 Days Of FreeBSD" journey ... a new release of FreeBSD ... means another laptop just received a fresh install!
First install: FreeBSD 13.2 on a Thinkpad X230. Now in use as (Openbox) desktop.
Second install: FreeBSD 14.0 on a Thinkpad T430s. To be used as home server.
Onward!
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Day 14-30
"At some point I realized that I was three weeks from an operating system."
-- Ken ThompsonFinished reading a history lesson about the origins of Unix - and the birth of the BSDs - in Brian Kernighan's excellent "Unix: A History and a Memoir".
1969 ... What a year for technology: Unix, ARPANET, Apollo 11.
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Day 13-30
Instead of the usual rsync, learned today about the ZFS built-in tools of `zfs send` and `zfs receive`. First snapshot and replication of home files to external USB hard drive.
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Day 12-30
Partitioned, encrypted, and setup ZFS on my external USB hard drive. Curious to learn more about ZFS ... and the FreeBSD manpages are *excellent*. +1 for including examples! :freebsd:
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Day 11-30
Learning about the ZFS filesytem and how disk storage + encryption is handled on FreeBSD. This in anticipation of preparing an external USB hard drive for encrypted data storage (detached backup drive for 'home').
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Styling QT apps with chosen GTK themes using 'qt5-style-plugins' and adding to '.bash_profile':
QT_QPA_PLATFORMTHEME=gtk2; export QT_QPA_PLATFORMTHEMEI'm using the Nordic theme:
pkg install nordic-theme qt5-style-pluginsLooks good! :freebsd:
https://gitlab.com/dwarmstrong/dotfiles/-/blob/master/.bash_profile?ref_type=heads
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For a Linux user to try out a BSD is to reap the great benefit of traveling to a foreign country: you not only learn new things, but you also see old things in a new light.
You might even decide to move there. 🙂
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Day 10-30
A bit more Xorg + Openbox tweaking. Plus modifying a few config files in $HOME with conditionals so they will work on both FreeBSD and Linux.
Beastie is looking better by the day. :freebsd: 🙂
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Day 9-30
I find the font used on the FreeBSD vconsole to be pretty small.
The first link explains how to change it, and the second one is a selection of terminus fonts converted for vconsole use:
* https://www.micski.dk/2022/01/06/fix-small-font-in-freebsd-virtual-terminal-system-console/
* https://github.com/LionyxML/freebsd-terminus/tree/masterCurrently rocking `ter-u22`. Looks good now!
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Day 8-30
Copied home files over to the test laptop and started using as my daily driver.
Going through the Handbook and browsing the FreeBSD forum ... its straightforward to get started with this BSD. You just need to read and poke around the system and put in the time. Just like most good things. 🙂
For instance, instead of installing `networkmgr` right off the bat and putting another layer of abstraction on top of network config, I'm learning about wpa_supplicant.
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Day 7-30
Now that I have a working FreeBSD desktop (Openbox), learning a bit more about system configuration:
https://docs.freebsd.org/en/books/handbook/config/ -
Day 6-30
Sound is working OK.
I ran into a snag ... On this laptop the built-in speakers are broken, but - in Linux - headphones plugged into the 3.5mm jack *do* work.
But not (initially) on FreeBSD.
Thanks to @kzimmermann 's post I realized that the default audio output was not auto-switching from speakers to headphones.
Manually setting it - `sysctl hw.snd.default_unit=1` - set things right. Then added the new default to `sysctl.conf`.
https://kzimmermann.0x.no/articles/freebsd_desktop_part_2.html
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Day 5-30
Installed Openbox and accessories and `startx` into the window manager is working.
Dynamic menu launcher `rofi` fails with message "Failed to set locale." I have `~/.login_conf` configured with `en_CA.UTF-8` and running `locale` confirms this. Hmmm ...
Next up: Configure fonts, sound, and fix all the little paper cut issues like non-working `rofi`.
Onward! :freebsd:
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Day 4-30
Switched the default SHELL for my user from `sh` to `bash`.
This laptop has an `intel` graphics card. Xorg is now installed, and confirm its working by running `startx` and getting the default `twm` window manager.
Next up: install and tweak Openbox for FreeBSD (my window manager of choice on Linux).
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Day 3-30
Learn about the distinction between (binary) packages and (source) ports. Installed a few extra console applications courtesy of the `pkg` package manager. Apparently you are *not* supposed to mix using packages and ports on the same system? I'll dig into that a bit deeper when the issue arises where I want to compile something from the ports tree.
https://docs.freebsd.org/en/books/handbook/ports/