After whining over a dozen or so entries about how my VIA C3 Samuel-based test box would boot and install OpenBSD but not NetBSD, FreeBSD, DesktopBSD or PC-BSD, I’ve had a great time working in OpenBSD, and I was surprised to learn that the NetBSD 4-based live CD boots into a KDE desktop, looks great and runs pretty well, too.
I recently burned the latest DesktopBSD CD, which in its latest version boots as a live CD and will install the system. On my Gateway Solo 1450 laptop, besides the power management not working, there’s an unattractive blob that follows the cursor everywhere it goes (it’s a cute little program-dependent icon otherwise). But on a fanless desktop (there is a CPU fan, but it doesn’t run and hasn’t killed the CPU yet)
But my desktop test box has never been able to boot a FreeBSD-based CD until today, when I figured I’d give DesktopBSD 1.6 a try. It booted, configured the monitor for 1280 x 1024 (I prefer 1024 x 768 and will try it that way later) and is now up and running. If I had more time, I’d do a full install on one of my three drives that I rotate in and out of use (they sit atop a CD-RW drive, all outside the main box and connected with extra-long power and IDE cables).
The DesktopBSD KDE environment doesn’t look as nice as the one in the NetBSD live CD, and I’m not a big fan of KDE mostly because my old hardware can use all the help and speed it can get, but running both of these live CDs gives me hope that I can do some work with all NetBSD and FreeBSD in addition to OpenBSD to see what fits my hardware and goals for a desktop system.
