Adventures with PC-BSD 9.1 LXDE Part 1

Category: Linux

Hardware disclaimer and FreeBSD background

I'm a Linux user through and through but I've toyed with setting up a FreeBSD desktop for years but never got around to it. As any pedantic geek would tell you, a computer user actually never uses an operating system but rather uses the applications installed on the OS. Running PC-BSD over a Linux distribution, however, does have its differences despite the relationship between FreeBSD and Linux. It helps to be a long-time supporter and user of Linux when running FreeBSD but there are plenty of differences, which I will endeavor to elaborate in this series of articles on PC-BSD 9.1.

My recent setup of FreeBSD wasn't ideal (there is currently an issue with the ports collection), so I had the option to install either PC-BSD or the lesser known GhostBSD. My sentimentality for Gnome 2 led me to GhostBSD but Xorg issues on boot from the GhostBSD LiveUSB I created forced me to PC-BSD instead.
I installed PC-BSD 9.1 on my dependable ASUS EEEPC 1000H netbook, which runs on a first generation Intel Atom N270 processor and 2GB of RAM. Many users would no doubt balk at such paltry hardware but the beloved netbook has survived years of extensive use while running Lubuntu, openSUSE, Fedora, and even Mandriva. I'm not a power user so my expectations of a working desktop are fairly low even in this day and age of tablets and smartphones.

PC-BSD 9.1 and LXDE

The installation process of PC-BSD is friendly and comparable to many Linux distributions though it takes away much from the text-based experience of FreeBSD. I intend to run the installation again on different hardware in the future since I felt it left very little impression on me as a user, which is actually a good thing for newbies. PC-BSD 9.1 provides several desktop environments so I opted for LXDE because it was somewhat more lightweight than other desktop environments and my personal preference for it. Moreover, I had already heard reviews from other users that PC-BSD and FreeBSD in general performed much slower than Linux and wanted to anticipate any issues.

LXDE is well known for being conservative in its application set, but PC-BSD's default set of utilities was sparse even by Linux standards. There are three things that were immediately noticeable:

• There is no browser preinstalled. Although unusual, PC-BSD does make it easy to install Chromium using PC-BSD's software manager, AppCafe (more on AppCafe later).
• There is no screenshot utility. This is perhaps not an issue for most users save for those who intend to write blog posts or tutorials. Again, AppCafe saves time by offering either KDE's excellent KSnapshot and text-based and uniquely named Scrot. Concerned with KDE libraries installed with KSnapshot, I installed Scrot while attempting to remove images of body parts from my mind. Taking screenshots from XTerm was inconvenient but tolerable.
• There is no battery indicator. I was so engrossed with exploring PC-BSD, I forgot that I was running on the 1000H's prodigious battery. I worked for a couple of hours before the system suddenly blinked out. Unfortunately, AppCafe only provides very few options for monitoring battery. I installed the system monitor GKrell2, which to its credit is actually useful for the purpose of testing and reviewing PC-BSD.

Linux and LXDE users will recognize the excellent PCMANFM, XSane, LXTerminal, Leafpad, ePDF Viewer, eMacs, Vim, XScreenSaver, Openbox Configuration Manager, GDM Login Manager, and Adobe Flash Player in the LXPanel.

EEEPC1000H hardware support

PC-BSD includes a very simple Hardware Compatibility utility. To check for hardware compatibility in PC-BSD LXDE:

1. Click the LX Menu.
2. Click Preferences then PC-BSD Control Panel.
3. Click Hardware Compatibility.

PC-BSD 9.1 unsurprisingly did not detect nor support the 1000H's notorious Ralink2860 wireless card. The support wiki of both FreeBSD and even GhostBSD noted the lack of availability of drivers for the Ralink card so I wasn't really surprised. When the 1000H first came out four years ago, it took awhile for Linux distributions such as Ubuntu and Fedora to provide support for the card and it took a well-designed openSUSE release to get the 1000H's wireless card to work optimally. My research online showed that some users have had success with beta drivers for the Ralink though I myself had no luck when I followed the tutorials online. For most users, this would be a deal breaker, but I intend to learn FreeBSD using the system more than anything else and Ethernet support was enough for that purpose.

PC-BSD LXDE does not always immediately detect or mount connected USB storage devices and SD cards. I must confess Windows, MacOSX, and Linux distributions spoiled me in this regard and was nonplussed when I had to right-click the Mount Tray on the LXPanel notification tray and click Rescan devices.The system inexplicably was also able to detect a SanDisk 8GB SD card but not a 512MB PQI SD card.

Sound and display worked fine though touchpad performance out of the box was dodgy compared to previously installed Linux distributions. Thankfully, PC-BSD had no such issues with my Microsoft Mobile Wireless Mouse 3500.


I'm hesitant about commenting on Bluetooth support for the 1000H. I enabled the Bluetooth card in the BIOS so I wouldn't have to switch it on manually as I used to do in earlier Linux releases that didn't support the FN keys. PC-BSD was able to detect the Bluetooth card and the installed Bluetooth Manager offered steps to set up the PIN and pair it with Bluetooth devices.

I tested the Bluetooth with my aged Nokia E63 and my iPod Touch. The iPod indicated it didn't support pairing with the device while PC-BSD displayed an error when attempting to connect with the Nokia E63. Again, perhaps a different Bluetooth utility is required as I did in Linux where BlueDevil performed much better than default Bluetooth utilities.

Overall hardware impression was all right despite Bluetooth issues and a nonexistent wireless support. It reminded me of my initial teething experience with early Linux distributions with inconsistent hardware support.

On the 1000H, PC-BSD boots up at a respectable 1:10.1, which is on par with a Windows 7 workstation and openSUSE 11.x KDE, which significantly loads slower than other Linux distributions at the time. Shutdown was a bit more disappointing however at 28 seconds, which is better than a poorly maintained Windows system but not exactly sterling compared to a standard install of Ubuntu or Fedora. With no additional tweaks, PC-BSD 9.1's RAM and CPU usage swung inconsistently to 90% and 23%. Applications definitely launch slower than I was used to but was generally usable on the netbook. The combination of the 1000H's humble components and PC-BSD LXDE isn't ideal for power users and speed fanatics however.


Continued in Adventures with PC-BSD 9.1 LXDE Part 2: Applications and AppCafe