PC-BSD

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PC-BSD
The PC-BSD logo
Screenshot of PC-BSD 9
PC-BSD 9 with KDE
Company / developer PC-BSD Software
OS family Unix-like (BSD)
Working state Current
Source model Open source
Initial release 2006
Latest stable release 9.1 / December 18, 2012; 5 months ago (2012-12-18)
Package manager PBI & FreeBSD Ports/Packages
Supported platforms x86, x86-64
Kernel type Monolithic
Default user interface KDE Plasma Desktop (Version 4.7.3)
License BSD licenses
Official website www.pcbsd.org

PC-BSD, or PCBSD, is a Unix-like, desktop-oriented operating system built upon the most recent releases of FreeBSD. It aims to be easy to install by using a graphical installation program, and easy and ready-to-use immediately by providing KDE SC as the pre-installed graphical user interface. It provides official binary nVidia and Intel drivers for hardware acceleration and an optional 3D desktop interface through Kwin, and Wine is ready-to-use in running Microsoft Windows software. PC-BSD is able to run Linux software[citation needed], in addition to FreeBSD ports, and it has its own package management system that allows users to graphically install pre-built software packages from a single downloaded executable file, which is unique for BSD operating systems.

PC-BSD supports ZFS, and the installer offers disk encryption with geli so the system will require a passphrase before booting.

Contents

History[edit]

PC-BSD was originally founded by FreeBSD professional Kris Moore in early 2005. In August 2006 it was voted the most beginner friendly operating system by OSWeekly.com.[1]

The first Beta consisted of only a GUI installer to get the user up and running with a FreeBSD 6 system with KDE3 pre-configured. This was a major innovation for the time as anyone wishing to install FreeBSD would have to manually tweak and run through a text installer. Kris Moore's goal was to make FreeBSD easy for everyone to use on the desktop and has since diverged even more in the direction of usability by including additional GUI administration tools and PBI packages (see Package management).

Since October 10, 2006 PC-BSD has been supported by the enterprise-class hardware solution provider iXsystems.[2][3] iXsystems now employs Mr. Moore as a full time developer and leader of the project. In November 2007, iXsystems entered into a distribution agreement with Fry's Electronics whereby Fry's Electronics stores nationwide carry boxed copies of PC-BSD version 1.4 (Da Vinci Edition).[4] In January 2008, iXsystems entered into a similar agreement with Micro Center.[5]

Release history[edit]

Version Release date FreeBSD codebase
1.0 April 29, 2006 6.0
1.1 May 29, 2006 6.1
1.2 July 12, 2006 6.1
1.3 December 31, 2006 6.1
1.4 September 24, 2007 6.2-STABLE
1.4.1.x Various 6.3-PRERELEASE
1.5 March 12, 2008 6.3-STABLE
1.5.1 April 23, 2008 6.3-STABLE
7.0 September 16, 2008 7.0-STABLE
7.0.1 October 17, 2008 7.0-STABLE
7.0.2 December 10, 2008 7.1-PRERELEASE
7.1-BETA1 March 6, 2009 7.1-RELEASE
7.1-RC1 March 27, 2009 7.2-PRERELEASE
7.1 April 10, 2009 7.2-PRERELEASE
7.1.1 July 6, 2009 7.2-STABLE
8.0-BETA January 1, 2010 8.0-RELEASE
8.0-RC1 January 27, 2010 8.0-RELEASE-P2
8.0-RC2 February 11, 2010 8.0-RELEASE-P2
8.0 February 23, 2010 8.0-RELEASE-P2
8.1-BETA1 June 6, 2010 8.1-PRERELEASE
8.1-RC1 June 21, 2010 8.1-RC1
8.1 July 21, 2010 8.1-RELEASE
9.0-ALPHA1 November 4, 2010 9.0-CURRENT [6]
9.0-ALPHA2 December 6, 2010 9.0-CURRENT [7]
8.2-BETA1 December 6, 2010 8.2-PRERELEASE [8]
8.2-RC1 January 10, 2011 8.2-RC1 [9]
9.0-ALPHA3 January 17, 2011 9.0-CURRENT [10]
8.2-RC2 January 20, 2011 8.2-RC2 [11]
8.2-RC3 February 3, 2011 8.2-RC3 [12]
8.2 February 24, 2011 8.2 [13]
9.0-BETA1 August 1, 2011 9.0-BETA1 [14]
9.0-BETA1.5 August 19, 2011 9.0-BETA1.5 [15]
9.0-BETA2 September 13, 2011 9.0-BETA2 [16]
9.0-BETA3 October 2, 2011 9.0-BETA3 [17]
9.0-RC1 October 24, 2011 9.0-RC1 [18]
9.0-RC2 November 23, 2011 9.0-RC2 [19]
9.0-RC3 December 13, 2011 9.0-RC3 [20]
9.0 January 13, 2012 9.0 [21]
9.1-BETA1 July 18, 2012  ? [22]
9.1-RC1 August 23, 2012  ? [23]
9.1-RC2 October 11, 2012  ? [24]
9.1-RC3 November 16, 2012  ? [25]
9.1 December 18, 2012 9.1 [26]

Since version 7, PC-BSD began following the same numbering system as FreeBSD. PC-BSD exclusively used KDE SC, until version 9.0, which has been customized to support tighter application integration and the PBI package management system. While manual installation of other desktops such as Xfce and GNOME was technically possible, none of these were supported and major functionality was lost when not using PC-BSD's special build of KDE SC.[27] GNOME is offered, including Xfce, LXDE and other Desktop Environments, starting with PC-BSD 9.0.

PC-BSD supports x86 and x86-64 architectures.

Package management[edit]

PC-BSD's package management system takes a different approach to installing software than many other Unix-like operating systems. Instead of using the FreeBSD ports tree directly (although it remains available), PC-BSD uses files with the .pbi filename extension which, when double-clicked, bring up an installation wizard program. An autobuild system tracks the FreeBSD ports collection and generates new PBIs daily. The generated PBIs are maintained at the PC-BSD software repository.

All software packages and dependencies are installed in their own self-contained directories in /Programs. This convention is aimed to decrease confusion about where binary programs reside, remove the possibility of a package breaking if system libraries are upgraded or changed, and prevent dependency hell. The PC-BSD package manager also takes care of creating categorized links in the KDE menu and on the KDE SC desktop.

The PC-BSD package management system aims to be similar to that of major operating systems such as Microsoft Windows and Apple Mac OS X, where applications are installed from a single downloaded file with graphical prompts, rather than the traditional package management systems that many Unix-like systems use.

License[edit]

PC-BSD was originally licensed under the GNU General Public License (GPL) because the developers were under the impression that applications using the Qt, which PC-BSD uses for its interface development, must be licensed under the GPL or the QPL. Upon discovering that there was no such restriction in fact, the PC-BSD developers later relicensed the code under a BSD-like license. In March 2009 Qt added an LGPL License.

PC-BSD 9.0 Requirements[edit]

Minimum system requirements:[28]

  • Intel Pentium II or higher
  • 512 MB RAM
  • 10 GB of free hard drive space on a primary partition
  • Network card
  • Sound card

Recommended system requirements:

  • Intel Pentium 4 or higher
  • 1024 MB of RAM
  • 20 GB of free hard drive space (to install KDE, GNOME, or lots of software)
  • Network card
  • Sound card
  • 3D accelerated video card (NVIDIA, ATI)

To play modern video games, a fast CPU is recommended, and to create a collection of music and videos, a larger hard disk drive is recommended. To use ZFS, 1 GB of RAM is required. 4 GB RAM is recommended for advanced features such as ZFS deduplication, but ZFS will use as much additional RAM as can be provided.

See also[edit]

Portal icon Free software portal

References[edit]

  1. ^ "The Most Beginner Friendly OS". Retrieved 2006-08-10. 
  2. ^ "iXsystems Announces Acquisition of PC-BSD Operating System". iXsystems.com. Retrieved 2011-06-29. 
  3. ^ Mayank Sharma (2006-10-13). "Why iXsystems bought PC-BSD". linux.com. Retrieved 2010-04-01. 
  4. ^ "iXsystems Announces Distribution Agreement with Fry's Electronics". Retrieved 2011-06-29. 
  5. ^ "iXsystems Announces Distribution Agreement with Micro Center for PC-BSD". Retrieved 2011-06-29. 
  6. ^ "First 9.0 Alpha Snapshot Available for Testing". Retrieved 2010-11-04. 
  7. ^ "Latest 9.0 Snapshot is Available for Testing". Retrieved 2010-12-06. 
  8. ^ "First 8.2 Snapshot is Available for Testing". Retrieved 2010-12-07. 
  9. ^ "PC-BSD 8.2-RC1 Available for Testing". Retrieved 2011-01-10. 
  10. ^ "Next 9.0 Snapshot is Available for Testing". Retrieved 2011-01-17. 
  11. ^ "PC-BSD 8.2-RC2 Available for Testing". Retrieved 2011-01-20. 
  12. ^ "PC-BSD 8.2-RC3 Now Available!". Retrieved 2011-02-03. 
  13. ^ "PC-BSD 8.2 Released". Retrieved 2011-02-24. 
  14. ^ "Release Announcement: PC-BSD 9.0-BETA1". Retrieved 2011-08-01. 
  15. ^ "PC-BSD 9.0-BETA1.5 Available for Testing". Retrieved 2011-08-19. 
  16. ^ "PC-BSD 9.0-BETA2 Available for Testing". Retrieved 2011-09-13. 
  17. ^ "PC-BSD BETA3 Available". Retrieved 2011-10-02. 
  18. ^ "PC-BSD 9.0RC1 Available". Retrieved 2011-10-24. 
  19. ^ "PC-BSD 9.0RC2 now Available". Retrieved 2011-11-23. 
  20. ^ "PC-BSD 9.0RC3 now Available". Retrieved 2011-12-13. 
  21. ^ "PC-BSD 9.0 Released!". Retrieved 2012-01-13. 
  22. ^ "PC-BSD 9.1-BETA1 Now Available". Retrieved 2012-11-19. 
  23. ^ "PC-BSD 9.1-RC1 Available for Testing". Retrieved 2012-11-19. 
  24. ^ "PC-BSD 9.1-RC2 Available for Testing". Retrieved 2012-11-19. 
  25. ^ "PC-BSD 9.1-RC3 Available for Testing". Retrieved 2012-11-19. 
  26. ^ "PC-BSD 9.1 Now Available". Retrieved 2012-12-21. 
  27. ^ "Can I use Gnome with PC-BSD?". PC-BSD knowledge base. Retrieved 2009-03-05. 
  28. ^ "Minimum requirement from Users handbook.". 

External links[edit]

The FreeBSD Project
FreeBSD
Notable subsystems
People
Derivatives
Related Pages
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