vermaden

> Can't add/remove disks to a RAID

You can expand ZPOOL with RAIDZ Expansion:

- https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2021/06/raidz-expansion-code...

- https://github.com/openzfs/zfs/pull/12225

By the way the author sounds like he is in love with LVM and Linux ecosystem and does not understand ZFS at all ... while he also recommends BTRFS on LVM for the same features.

If you do now know ZFS do not read it - it will only bring false information into your mind. If you know ZFS then you can go read an laugh to make your mood better :)

Thanks :)

Its quite nice but it has one big disadvantage.

Its not possible to DISABLE WORD/LINE WRAPPING which is very annoying.

I have summarized many of the points here:

- https://vermaden.wordpress.com/2020/09/07/quare-freebsd/

> xchm

Some materials (like old HP-UX training or documentation) is available as CHM files. You can convert them to something else but it the looks like sh*t ... this using xchm(1) helps here. Yes, nowadays it also does not happen that often.

Besides xchm(1) does not look that bad:

- https://www.dedoimedo.com/images/computers/2009/xchm-another...

> xev

I use that to test what keys what codes have. For example with ThinkPad W520 the keys to the left and right of the ARROW keys are 'NEXT' and 'PREV' - I always map them to Page Up and Page Down keys with ~/.xmodmaprc file:

    ! PAGE UP/PAGE DOWN
      keycode 167 = Next NoSymbol Next
      keycode 166 = Prior NoSymbol Prior

... and I use xev(1) in that process first to check what codes are before xmodmap(1) does the job and second time when the new xmodmap(1) config is loaded.

Its not daily but I also do not use nc(1) or traceroute(1) or dig(1) daily but I of course use these tools when needed.

Hope that helps.

Well, maybe not daily but everytime I configure graphics to see how hardware acceleration is doing :)

I use these X11 tools daily:

- xterm

- xmessage

- xlockmore

- xkill

- xfontsel

- xev

- xcalc

- xchm

- glxgears

For example *xte rm(1)* can is one of the most compatible terminal emulator out there and its nice to have it started each time with random color theme:

- https://vermaden.files.wordpress.com/2021/05/xterm.random.pn...

- https://vermaden.wordpress.com/2021/05/19/freebsd-desktop-pa...

With some theming in *~/.Xdefaults* both *xmessage(1)* and *xcalc(1)* look really well:

- https://vermaden.files.wordpress.com/2018/07/openbox-alt-tab...

- https://i.imgur.com/gl1Q63H.png

I still use *xfontsel(1)* to select bitmap fonts.

I lock screen with *xlock(1)* (package name *xlockmore*) to lock the screen:

- https://vermaden.files.wordpress.com/2018/06/xlock-user-pass...

- https://vermaden.wordpress.com/2018/06/23/freebsd-desktop-pa...

I also use *xkill(1)* when some X11 window misbehaves.

Hope that helps.

Regards.

I like HammerFS offline deduplication which is great for systems with low or 'normal' amount of RAM.

I would like to see that implemented in ZFS but I think it will not gonna happen :)

Yeah, Docker is unavailable on FreeBSD.

Same as Jails are unavailable on Linux systems :)

The only thing that 'excites' me in DragonflyBSD is their HammerFS - which works and its OK - but its not as usable and simple as manipulating ZFS with zfs(8) and zpool(8) commands ...

Besides that I do not see anything special on DragonflyBSD ... I have read that they have very sophisticated and fast SMP implementation ... but a lot things just are absent there - like on OpenBSD land. No virtualization for example ... while FreeBSD has *VirtualBox* and *Bhyve* and *Xen DOM0* ...

*WINE* probably does not work (or does not work well) as last WINE commits for DragonflyBSD are from almost a decade ago:

- https://source.winehq.org/git/wine.git/?a=search&h=HEAD&st=c...

FreeBSD also has *VNET Jails* while DragonflyBSD only has 'classic' Jails.

FreeBSD comes with GEOM for storage which is just great - https://is.gd/bsdstg - more here. I myself also wrote *lsblk(8)* implementation for FreeBSD - this is also missing on DragonflyBSD.

Hope that helps.

> Do you find issues with software not packaged for FreeBSD?

For example?

I use Cargo packages for some software that was not in the Ports and it worked well. Also downloading binaries for both FreeBSD and Linux and running them works. For Linux version I would say it depends - mostly works.

> How's the Wayland situation?

Dunno. I use X11.

> Why wouldn't I use FreeBSD?

If you need KVM virtualization or 'fat' desktop clients like Discord or Slack for example.

There are no USB 2.0 or USB 3.0 features for VirtualBox (as they are closed source and for Linux only).

There is no Opera or Brave browser as they are not open source ...

Currently 802.11ac and 802.11ax WiFi does not work on FreeBSD. There is some first work committed for Intel AX200 and AX201 likes committed to 14-CURRENT but not sure how it works. Most 802.11n WiFi cards should just work. I have Intel 6300 WiFi - which is rather old as it comes from 2011 ThinkPad W520 - but a lot newer WiFi cards also work.

Hope that helps.

One of 'the most' fun and pleasure to work with stack is FreeBSD ecosystem for me.

After switching from Linux both on desktop/laptop and servers I really got comfortable and fun on FreeBSD. Of course its has its ups and downs - like everything in life - but after using FreeBSD for about 16 years now I know one thing - this is the OS that sucks the LEAST from all of them.

Here are some thoughts to conquer:

https://vermaden.wordpress.com/2020/09/07/quare-freebsd/

Regards.

Even if, the defaults should be as bulletproof as possible ...

I would also guess that OpenBSD's SMP implementation is userland mostly. When it comes to kernel its still one big GIANT LOCKED so that is also one of the reasons why the performance is not there.

Wonder why FreeBSD is that slow at ZSTD compression tests ...

Winamp was great in 2000s ... Today Deadbeef works exceptionally great on UNIX systems. There is also Sayonara or VLC ... and tons of other usable players.

Not sure what happens on Windows systems nowadays but I always include Winamp 2.95 as part of the Windows installation that I do for family/buddies ... I just change the default 'ugly as fuck' theme to something usable and nice appealing :)

> AFAIK ZFS pools can't easily be resized > you generally have to recreate them

Not anymore. There is RAIDZ Expansion available. Happens on the fly.

- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yF2KgQGmUic

- https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2021/06/raidz-expansion-code...

ThinkPad laptops (W520/T420s/X220/...) up to 2011 - with 7-row keyboards.

Also Dell Latitude D630 laptop with great idea on the extended battery that extended up front as additional rest pad - also with 7-row keyboard.

I did not realized how great they were until they were gone ... now all laptops have these counter productive island type keyboards ...

If you would like to add all these FISH things to ZSH:

- highlighting and displaying last suggested command execution from history

- file/dir highlighting

- commands coloring and stuff

Then check 'UPDATE 1' from here:

https://vermaden.wordpress.com/2021/09/19/ghost-in-the-shell...

I can not use FISH as it does not honor the POSIX syntax for loops and stuff and I often type 'for' and 'while' POSIX loops at command line so I use ZSH. Besides that FISH is really nice shell.

Regards.

I am not sure I will remember that exactly ...

I started with FreeBSD with 5.4 while 5.0 was the first FreeBSD version with SMP support. I recall that I moved to 6.0 quite fast without touching the 5.5.

I have a screenshot from 2006/07 with FreeBSD 6.1-STABLE ... so I would suspect that it rather was 6.x series.

A decade ago I got Gigabyte-GA-7DPXDW server motherboard with dual CPU Socket A slots for CPUs.

It was meant to use server CPUs named Athlon MP but they were very expensive ... but you could get 'casual' Athlon XP (desktop) processors and easily modify to ‘be’ Athlon MP (server) ones with one single connect on the top. Two Athlon XP 2000+ along with 1 GB of ECC RAM made FreeBSD run beautifully on it :)

I have run 2 x 2 TB ZFS mirror on 512 MB machine with FreeBSD for years along with compression enabled and also other services running like Samba/NFS/Syncthing/Nextcloud/... and it worked like a charm. The only time when this machine rebooted when I needed to apply security updates for the kernel or when there was power outage as it did not had UPS backup power.

The RAM requirement for ZFS is one of the biggest myths of ZFS.

If you have lots of RAM then great - ZFS can use it as cache with ARC.

Otherwise its just as fast as disks on which its running - like every other filesystem.

The other 'big' myth about ZFS is ECC requirement - which is of course not true.

ECC RAM is useful for ALL FILESYSTEMS - not just only for ZFS.

But from all filesystems ZFS works best of all when you do not have ECC RAM.

Regards.

Just two different independent companies. Like Netflix and Apple TV for example.

Good to hear that someone finds it useful :)

Feel free to ask me directly if you will face any problems with FreeBSD - just use the 'contact' on the blog.

Regards.

FreeBSD is very nice for a well controlled and stable desktop. I use it on desktop since 2005 and did not yet saw a Linux distribution that would provide the same 'zen' experience. Especially with ZFS Boot Environments that make you bulletproof for changes and upgrades.

Maybe my guide will help you to start with FreeBSD desktop:

https://vermaden.wordpress.com/freebsd-desktop/

Regards.

Dell Latitude laptops sometimes offer this middle/third button.

Why not check FreeBSD?

Here are some arguments why it may be worth it this time :)

https://vermaden.wordpress.com/2020/09/07/quare-freebsd/

Did you not learned it through all these years?

Can you trust Microsoft on anything?

Of course not - what were you thinking ...

The ZSH shell would be actually great choice for shell in the FreeBSD Base System because it uses the MIT license.

As BASH uses the GPL3 license it does not have the chance of being included in the FreeBSD Base System because the FreeBSD project currently tries to remove all GPL3 licensed software from its base.

Details here:

https://wiki.freebsd.org/GPLinBase

Ready to use simple ZSH setup for the rescue:

https://vermaden.wordpress.com/2021/09/19/ghost-in-the-shell...

> has anyone done serious scripting in the C shell?

I recall SAP created used CSH/TCSH for its scripts but I am not sure they still do it.