 Visitor Reviews |
GhostBSD
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Reader supplied reviews for GhostBSD
Average rating
7.3 from 43 review(s)
Version: 23.10.1
Rating: 10
Date: 2024-07-21
Votes: 5
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There are big advantages of using GhostBSD over Linux.
It's native zfs support makes it an outstandingly reliable workstation.
For any user, who is interested in reliability of zfs mirrored data this OS is choice #1.
Any PC in such a role as a workstation or even homeserver does NOT need Wi-Fi driver support at first place.
When security plays a role, a smaller software repo with well maintained apps is also not harmful at all.
The updater itself could be a bit more transparent during its activities: it only displays 1 line per downloaded software package.
A human wants instead see a full display with as many downloaded packages, as possible at the very same time. Including the possibility to manually save this log in a reserved location on disk.
On the documentation side, GhostBSD seems to have not yet found a stable workflow, where to put the latest information about fixing minor issues. These hints are spread over several locations - each having its specific (dis-)advantage(s).
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Version: 24.04.1
Rating: 9
Date: 2024-06-26
Votes: 5
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I have good feelings about this distro, ven though I have only recently installed, it has impressed myself. What I was particularly impressed about that the filemanaher was able to instaly see and open a partion that is ext3 formated, something which when I tried FreeBSD there was some difficulty doing.
I also like, unlike FreeBSD, where everything is pretty much set-up out of the box, just have to make those small adjustments to make it more like what you want.
Did have difficulty (just like with FreeBSD) with slackwares lilo registering GhostBSD on the menu, so I installed slackware grub, and all is good.
Otherwise, I find it to be quick and smooth running.
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Version: 24.04.1
Rating: 5
Date: 2024-05-23
Votes: 0
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There's no real advantage on using BSD today over Linux other than for hobby.
I mean it's a joke considering in 2024, still lacking hardware support like ancient 'nix., can't even connect to wifi, seriously???
I would have been acceptable as *nix if it were around early 2000's though, come on, it's already 2024; most people won't bother stuff that can't even do basic thing as supporting common hardware right (unless there is other appealing advantage over others).
It's not their fault, I know they don't have enough developers though I believe that BSD is going to be dead soon.
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Version: 24.01.1
Rating: 10
Date: 2024-03-05
Votes: 67
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What a
RobWhat a nice surprise!
I have recently installed the latest GhostBSD version on my laptop …why?...well, honestly, I was hopelessly struggling with the FreeBSD configuration and I was curious to discover this UNIX-derived and complete OS after sticking some weeks with Debian 12 (nothing against Linux, just curious about UNIX and seduced by the idea of a holistic system). I have spent most of my life on Windows btw.
The installation process was as simple as it is in most currently available main stream Linux distros (I consider myself as moderately advances FOSS user)… meaning simple. Everything worked well out of the box (even WiFi). After using it for a while (not just tweaking the OS but doing some job on it: editing scientific texts, building reference libraries, preparing presentations, doing some statistical computing with diverse open-source statistical languages,…) I have done a very polished and smooth experience in all...with the FreeBSD under the hood!
GosthBSD is a perfect starter to discover the BSD family but it may also be used as a clean and fully operational OS, too. I have adopted it for my daily life!
Many thanks to the community for the great job!
Rob
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Version: 23.10.1
Rating: 6
Date: 2024-02-21
Votes: 1
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Good design, nice update station script and an amazing developer. However when it comes to supporting devices with nvidia and some newer intel built in graphics for example generation 13 there are mixed results. Wifi is difficult to configure here and updating from terminal instead of using the update station utility is a bad idea. For me it was too hard to configure open vpn and wireguard on this OS. Cool project but not daily driver material yet. There is no easy way to encrypt the system which is not good. I would rather not mess with manual partitioning if I can help it. Still the best desktop oriented bsd system as off 2024 and probably for the future.
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Version: 24.01.1
Rating: 5
Date: 2024-02-18
Votes: 0
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I attempted to install as a guest in virtualbox Win 11 host which went well until I tried to set the keyboard to UK with generic layout. The installer 'Next' button remained greyed out no matter which keyboard I chose. I gave up.
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Version: 24.01.1
Rating: 5
Date: 2024-02-16
Votes: 0
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Although the live version makes a good impression, I still cannot use GhostBSD
After trying out the latest release, I found that my Realtek 8723DE (on a HP laptop), still is not recognized by BSD (this is a problem I also had with freeBSD and NomadBSD).
The RTL8111/8168/8411 chipset of the fixed cable ethernet is recognized, as is the Belkin dongle. I do understand that this is a problem that could originate from the manufacturer, and not as such from the bsd dev team...but without an out of the box working wireless I consider a system in 2024 kinda useless. I also do not want to go on a quest for working dongle chipsets. I do notice that under most linux distros, the wireless card is seen and recognised and can be used...
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Version: 24.01.1
Rating: 9
Date: 2024-02-15
Votes: 15
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Very impressed with GhostBSD Xfce version - clean install on my older i3 Acer laptop.
One of the easiest installs I've ever tried, even compared with Linux Mint or Manjaro. Bearing in mind that I am a familiar with GhostBSD from the previous version.
Internet access can be problematic with the BSDs, but I simply tether my smartphone with a cable, and type on the command-line:
sudo ifconfig ue0 up
sudo dhclient ue0
and lo I have internet, and noticeably faster than linux. (Wi-Fi & bluetooth are not well supported at the moment).
Adjusting the screen brightness is also simply resolved by typing: sudo backlight 25 (or whatever value suits).
Some packages can be quite old versions - Extreme Tux Racer for example is only at 0.61_15, but most major software such as Firefox or Xfce is bang up to date.
Configuring FreeBSD (on which GhostBSD is based), can be a real pain for the desktop, but GhostBSD takes away most of the hassle - you can dive deeper (and learn loads) if you want to, but mostly it isn't necessary.
Nice to have a transparent & configurable boot system too compared to linux's systemd, & boot times don't seem vastly different.
I have a more recent AMD Ryzen 7 Acer laptop running Linux Mint Xfce (everything works well), but I find I keep coming back to my older laptop running GhostBSD, there's just something about it -> mainly faster internet!
Generally the BSDs don't seem as configurable as linux as regards partitioning - they seem to want the whole disk only, but on this laptop I'm currently dual-booting GhostBSD on an internal NVMe drive & the truly awful (SLOW) Windows 10 on the main spinning-rust drive, using the rEFInd boot-loader.
Overall, GhostBSD 24.01.1 Xfce is a very interesting & performant distro, albeit with a few rough edges here and there.
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Version: 23.10.1
Rating: 8
Date: 2023-11-29
Votes: 9
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Love GhostBSD since day one, but in the last couple of versions, I've been having quite a hard time when trying to connect to any Wifi network, either at home or at work.
Even though I confirmed for 2 or 3 times if I was punching in the correct password (which I did), the inability to connect to Wifi has been utterly disgrunting. Of course, one can always configure everything manually directly on the conf files, but that goes against the whole idea of a desktop.
Issue with detecting the built-in Wifi card is always an issue on any BSD, but nothing like a USB-dongle wouldn't fix.
Other than that, desktop works like a charm. Package management is snappy as always. Special function keys work normally on my Dell XPS and I've been using it as my daily driver.
Great job so far!
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Version: 23.06.01
Rating: 10
Date: 2023-08-26
Votes: 33
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It very good os when installing alone on its own, had no problems running in virtual machine for testing at all.
over on-top of big linux arch respin from brazil south america. Hope ghostBSD, BSDunix gets more updates later.
WiFi was only issue On my i7 zen book number fifteen edition. Tried live test afterwards and wifi worked,
must have something to do with virtual machine i'm sure as drivers run great off-of-virtualbox.
Wanted to try something new from Canada after slackwares vector linux went away not too long ago.
How sad for vector linux, very happy to see canada is producing and making BSDunix and Linux
operating systems. Many other countries opting out of linux scene too perticularly in oriental east
world, such as philippines, japan, korea, thailand, taiwan, use to be many diffrent linux arouns world
coming out everywhere, many have slowed production or are not making no more.
:( *frown* face. *Saluting* good luck Canada!
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Version: 23.06.01
Rating: 10
Date: 2023-08-18
Votes: 39
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The installation of GhostBSD on VirtualBox was a seamless process without any issues using the default settings. With 8 GB of RAM and 8 CPUs allocated, along with 20 GB of storage, the system performed faster than my host machine. It exhibited remarkable responsiveness for every task I attempted. In my opinion, GhostBSD stands out as the finest Unix-based system built upon FreeBSD. Compared to the tedious installation and configuration process of plain FreeBSD, GhostBSD eliminates a significant amount of hassle. Kudos to the exceptional work by the GhostBSD team.
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Version: 23.06.01
Rating: 7
Date: 2023-07-31
Votes: 0
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I first tried ghost bsd in 2019 or rather I wanted. After installation, it turned out that it does not handle nt partitions. Of course, it could have been installed, but I wasnt adept at bsds at the time.
I later installed it again in 2023, then on a new PC. Unfortunately, my graphics core was not handled by ghost (free) bsd, so I bought an nvidia quadro vga for only $20.
There is a picture, but it could be sharper! The picture is better under Linux!
Installation was easy. Octopkg is integrated, which is a graphical 1 click install style package management and installation application.
There was 1 error: That the data copied to the nt partition is deleted after restarting or turning it off and then on. According to the freebsd forum, this is a bug that can be fixed by umounting the nt partition before turning it off.
The Xscavenger game exits after 1 minute.
Libre office is not included in the package by default.
The virtual box failed to start with an error message.
This distro is better than pcbsd was. But it could be even better.
The screen turns off, but the power saving mode is not activated.
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Version: 23.06.01
Rating: 9
Date: 2023-07-05
Votes: 12
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After struggeling around with FreeBSD 13.1 for a year (updates made my desktop-systems unusuable several times, so
I had to do new installations) I tried GhostBSD.
I like the idea of a comfortable, easy to install desktop OS based on FreeBSD. The first try with version 22.06.18 Mate didn't work well ... hardware was not fully detected and configured. On my laptop Xorg didn't work.
So I tried version 23.06.01 XFCE a few days ago, and it works very well! I installed it on a desktop pc and a notebook. The hardware was automatically detected and configured (I only had problems with wifi on the notebook, but I configured it manually and it works now). Installation was very fast and simple and everything works very well.
Now I hope that I have a better experience with updates on GhostBSD then on FreeBSD!
I will test GhostBSD for a few months and then I will decide if I install it on my main desktop pc as my daily
driver. I will write another review after the test period to share my experience.
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Version: 23.06.01
Rating: 8
Date: 2023-06-17
Votes: 6
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I installed the this latest version onto an SSD and I find that the system is more responsive than Linux or Windows on the same computer and the experience was overall positive. However, even with its Linux like interface, GhostBSD in not for newcomers. Admittedly, I didn't have to fiddle around with my network settings this time, but I did have to change my network wifi adapter as the one I was using under Linux was not being detected.
Once online I tested Youtube, the make or break of any modern operating system. It worked flawlessly on Firefox (113.0.2) even in HD mode. However, I tried streaming the evening news on a local TV channel and then video output was less than ideal, watchable but jittery. This was fixed by altering media.benchmark.vp9.fps from 0 to 60.
Tried to playback a video on VLC and found that it didn't default to Pulseaudio like Firefox, but insists on playing though my internal PC speaker unless I manually change the audio output device to pcm1:virtual:dsp1.vp1. Apparently, the only way to fix this issue is to recompile VLC, so I have been told. Same with Frozen-Bubble!
Small things like this would make the experience a disaster for anyone not willing or incapable of trouble shooting such issues and would more than likely deter further use. GhostBSD is getting there and it is certainly an excellent operating system worth a try if you feel that you need a change. Just be aware that it isn't going to be a stroll in the park. It will be more like a walk in the woods without a clear path, but an adventure nonetheless.
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Version: 22.06.15
Rating: 10
Date: 2023-02-04
Votes: 40
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Very easy to install system. It is very customizable using both the Mate and the community Xfce version (latest release). Sound and wireless worked out of the box. Running a dual monitor setup (laptop LCD and external monitor) and both monitors were detected. It is indeed a very elegant system with very few resources used up. While at idle it uses 1.5GB of ram and CPU sits at 0 to 1 percent (intel i7). The system is very snappy and is one of the fastest systems that I have used. The only minor inconvenice is that there is no screen hardware brightness adjustment control (hopefully it can be fixed on the next release). Recommended for both new and experienced users and both will have lots of fun adjusting and tweaking it. Great job and lots of thanks and kudos to the devs for this great distro.
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Version: 22.06.15
Rating: 10
Date: 2023-01-12
Votes: 41
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Ghost bsd is a real major step from Linux to UNIX.
It is installed on a Lenovo laptop and works flawlessly. I don't even have words to approximate it. I tested almost all BSD derivatives, ghostbs is magic!!!
Congratulations to all those behind this wonderful project!
"GhostBSD provides a simple desktop-oriented operating system based on FreeBSD with MATE and OS packages for simplicity. In addition, GhostBSD has a selection of commonly used software preinstalled to make it easy on your computing journey."
Yes! This is true: "A simple, elegant desktop BSD Operating System"
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Version: 22.06.15
Rating: 10
Date: 2022-06-25
Votes: 45
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I've installed it of curiousity on a small laptop from 2015 that I only use during travels, for web browsing, text editing, YT and communicators. Everything worked well for those basic issues. Getting wireless connection was flawless. Sound worked well. Nice looking, smooth working, nothing to complain.
Pros:
+ easy to install
+ smooth working
+ MATE desktop
+ wireless connecting
+ user friendly
Cons:
- so far I haven't identified any, at least for very basic use.
Nice experience of using something really independent.
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Version: 22.06.15
Rating: 2
Date: 2022-06-19
Votes: 19
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Same ole same ole: No network card support for but a few lucky ones. Also you honestly have to put this BSD distro together yourself, although it does boot to a nice home screen. Good luck trying to get your printer to work.. etc... I don't want to disrespect Eric the developer of this BSD, he's obviously got other things to do as this is a patchwork.
Too bad, as BSD is in sore need of dedicated developers and maintainers who can craft something akin to the many Linux distros out there that are done well. GhostBSD behaves like Linux from about 1995 or so.
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Version: 22.06.15
Rating: 8
Date: 2022-06-18
Votes: 4
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I've given a rating of 8 because I have used this distro for only a couple of hours. After this short period I am left with a feeling of having spent time with a competently put together OS. I haven't successfully installed BSD prior to GhostBSD because I've not been prepared to invest time in the learning curve required to do so. It does seem that the devs of GhostBSD have tamed the installation because I had no issues at all in getting it up and running. It's not just installation the devs seemed to have polished either. All my new laptop components were recognised and worked, and my trusty old workhorse desktop PC also faired equally well.
I am a long-time MX Linux user and will continue to be. I make no comparisons between MX and GhostBSD except to say that they both claim to be easy to install, and I agree with them both. If like me you enjoy trying out distros, I do recommend taking GhostBSD for a test drive.
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Version: 22.01.12
Rating: 2
Date: 2022-04-01
Votes: 0
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Not a 1 rating because it does boot the live DVD and it does appear very fast to move from app to app etc.
I've tried GhostBSD on and off for quite some time in an attempt to finally see that it's matured into a usable operating system; to little avail.
Pros: Fast. Good looking.
Cons: No network card support for many newer hardware. Horrid help forums; they just ignore you if your issue is a challenge. No sound support for a lot of hardware; I've tried to install and use this BSD version on 18 machines now, and TWO of them successfully installed and were usable, both legacy machines (as in old) and both in a donate pile. This BSD is honestly not for modern machines unless you're lucky enough to have a type the developer has in his house.
Sad, because the thing is so good looking, even has polish to it on the desktop. But no go at all unless you have a supported machine and unless you don't need to hear any sound and don't need to go online (perhaps good for small children to play games on).
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Version: 21.11.24
Rating: 10
Date: 2022-03-31
Votes: 3
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GhostBSD running remarkably well on an almost decade old Samsung NP550P7C S05UK 15" Intel i7 3630QM, 16GB RAM DDR3, 240SSD, NVIDIA Optimus GPU. Just about everything works. Very stable. Well done GhostBSD team.This is one of the few desktop BSDs (except for MacOS) since the demise of PC-BSD that I have been able to work with.
WiFI, sound card and cort screen geometry all work with little or no to usweaking. All ports work with the sole exception of the SDXC card interface. This OS has come very close to being my daily driver. The only gripe is not being able to use WINE for a specific program. It's overall performance, however, makes me very forgiving.
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Version: 22.01.12
Rating: 10
Date: 2022-01-31
Votes: 2
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Thought I would give GhostBSD a try. Easy to install and is a solid, stable distribution. Used daily with no problems at all. Detected the wireless card on installation, wireless printing with CUPS okay. Running on a Dell Inspiron laptop. Mate desktop is highly configurable and does what it needs to do, although other desktop environments are available to download should you choose. One click will activate the Update Station and (as of writing), the Software Station has access to 31,322 packages. Online resources are on the website, forum and a lively Telegram community. Highly recommended for those wishing to use a BSD type operating system. For those who prefer a graphical installation, GhostBSD is a good option.
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Version: 21.11.24
Rating: 10
Date: 2021-12-04
Votes: 2
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Tried Ghost a few times in the past with mixed results. Been using 20.11.28 and now 21/11/24, and have now found it to be an excellent os. Ghost is intended to be a simple and stable system. Running on a modest Dell Optiplex and Lenovo Ideapad, it's quick and easy to install, quick in operation and works pretty flawlessly for me with no hardware discovery issues. The MATE desktop is attractive and configurable with the Station Tweak look changer. Maybe the reviewers who are so critical with their fussier hardware should reel it in. It's a well known fact that any BSD system can sometimes be tricky and problematic with certain hardware. Run Ghost on a suitable machine and it makes a great platform for testing and enjoying the benefits of BSD. Respect is due to this long running project, and highly recommended if you want a simple out of the box FreeBSD based experience!
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Version: 21.11.24
Rating: 1
Date: 2021-12-03
Votes: 0
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Yet another waste of a perfectly good blank DVD, and I have a whole stack that have been trashed on Ghost BSD over the years. This time, I couldn't even get past the boot-up screen before it crashed while it was trying to run it live. In the past Ghost wouldn't crash until getting into the install process. I should have expected this from a distro coming from Canada, the same country that give us Arch. At least Arch doesn't crash until after you run it for 5 or 6 months. It's time Ghost, give up the ghost, and go dormant until its backers figure things out. And please test it on several machines before you release it.
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Version: 21.11.24
Rating: 1
Date: 2021-11-28
Votes: 0
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An epic fail. The last few years GhostBSD has defied all my efforts to get it to boot up on my HP Elitebook 8560p. The boot process drags on and on until it just dies at an error.
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Version: 21.10.16
Rating: 1
Date: 2021-11-22
Votes: 0
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System is slow and buggy. Lots of ram usage. Crashes upon crashes keep happening, and no, I don’t want to report it to the developer it asks me everytime, it seems like they ignore fixing crashes here. Don’t recommend.
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Version: 21.10.16
Rating: 10
Date: 2021-10-17
Votes: 2
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It recognized all the hardware, especially the wireless card, on my 12-year-old laptop. So that's good in my book! Still checking out the OS, but the desktop looks nice and lean. Thanks to the devs for bringing bsd to newbies with the GUI!
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Version: 21.09.29
Rating: 1
Date: 2021-10-04
Votes: 0
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You can't login after install. It just loops to the login after entering your password. This is after a fresh unmodified install. Big fat -0- if you can't even login.
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Version: 21.09.08
Rating: 10
Date: 2021-09-11
Votes: 3
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Freshly installed and working great!
Installation was very quick and easy and all my hardware was detected without issue. Ram usage on first boot up with nothing open was a very reasonable 780mb.
Fonts and resolution look crisp and clean and both of my external monitors worked with no extra configuration. It was a very simple process to install neovim (0.5) straight from the pkg repos' along with the rust and rust-analyzer packages. I really like the fact that sudo is installed by default and seemed to be assigned to the first non-root user created during the setup process since I was able to run "sudo pkg install" right out of the box! This makes it very straightforward if coming from Linux.
So far, I am very impressed with Ghost Bsd.
Thank you to Eric and all the team for your hard work!
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Version: 21.09.06
Rating: 8
Date: 2021-09-08
Votes: 3
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Rated for making BSD painless to install, though it would be preferable to have X running on boot, rather than manually invoking it. I installed in Virtualbox and had an issue whereby leaving the VM for any length of time then returning to it presented a frozen interface, and I was unable to install the guest tools (Mate and Xfce both behaved like this).
However, not since the days of PC-BSD have I been able to get a unix desktop up and running this easily, and that's worth recognition.
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Version: 21.05.11
Rating: 10
Date: 2021-07-21
Votes: 1
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Hi, look here. I installed 19.10 around one year ago and enjoyed it for months. But I found I am not able to upgrade to next major version without breaking anything. So I standstill on version 19.10 for almost half year. Then I give GhostBSD 7 point rating.
Today, I found the value of this distro and I am respectful to it. So I come here to give another 10 point rating. There are still some problems, but it is trying to make BSD installation easier.
Now I installed with 21.05.11 newly and enjoy it.
I will recommend you to try it if you are seeking a choice to run FreeBSB with a openbox Desktop Environment.
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Version: 19.10
Rating: 6
Date: 2021-06-24
Votes: 0
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Good entry to taste FreeBSD. I am so happy at the first month. However, one day I found the latest update will break the DE login. And I have to revert/downgrade with ZFS to previous version. I went to their forum to find a solution, but they told me I have to reinstall the OS. It's kind of big effort for me. So I spin on current version without happy. :(
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Version: 21.05.01
Rating: 5
Date: 2021-05-14
Votes: 0
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After my trial on the Dell G5s (below), I tried it on the Toshiba Qosmio, 1st Gen Core i5, nVidia GTS 360 (which needs the 340 driver). This is the system I was planning it for, since there are no longer any Linuxes supporting the 340. I may have to install MS-DOS on this machine.
So it boots to an ncurses screen asking me to select the x config. Booting with startx, intel, and vesa works, but only at 1024. Oddly, it does not offer me a choice of an nvidia driver, whereas on the AMD machine it seemed to be looking for an nvidia card. But its usable, and may be the way I have to go. Still want to try the FreeBSD instructions for manually installing the 340.
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Version: 21.05.01
Rating: 1
Date: 2021-05-13
Votes: 0
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system is Dell G5s, Ryzen 5 (Zen 2), RADEON 5700/5700 XT.
Boots, looks for nvidia GPU, doesn't find one, tries starting amdgpu, then dies and the PC automatically reboots.
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Version: 21.04.27
Rating: 9
Date: 2021-05-01
Votes: 5
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I only tested the Mate live version on a basic gaming pc.
Extremely positive feeling, captivating graphics, very responsive and light system in everyday use.
Compared to Linux, advantage should be the compatibility of the packages for all the different editions.
So there shouldn't be a need to recompile the sources as with the different Linux distributions. I like this very much.
GhostBSD is beautiful, fluid, has everything you need without too many frills.
Only two problems:
1) RAM consumption is 1.9 GB just switched on.
I got this result on live version, could it change once permanently installed? I don't know.
2) Sound did not work, speakers or headphones do not work.
Could it change once installed permanently? I don't know.
Connection with fiber worked perfectly,
I haven't tried wifi because my pc is physically connected to the router.
Overall very very well, a good job was done.
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Version: 21.01.20
Rating: 9
Date: 2021-04-01
Votes: 9
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Definitely picky about the hardware. First tried it via DVD live disk on my main machine running an AMD Ryzen 5 CPU and Radeon RX570 graphics card, but it choked on my triple monitor setup. Couldn't get it to run in VirtualBox either. Switched over to a Windows 10 machine running an Intel Core2 CPU and Radeon HD5450 graphics card attached to a 42" LCD TV I use as a monitor on the few occasions I want to boot Win10. Got an "out of range" message and stopped me cold. Used the same machine with a 21" LCD attached and got to a desktop but the only resolution I could get was 760X640. Everything was so big I couldn't see most of the windows I opened. After putting GhostBSD on a thumbdrive I moved to a MiniPC running an Intel i5 dual core CPU and integrated Intel 3000 graphics on a 21" LCD and there it was! Installed it to a spare WD 500Gb SSD drive and it's been nothing but fun ever since. The OS looks good and although there is minimal software installed it only took a few minutes to figure out how to get the programs I use regularly up and running. It uses the Mate desktop which is what I'm used to in Mint Linux so everything looked very familiar. About the biggest glitch I found was Netflix won't work in Firefox. I encountered no other web problems even after importing my favorites from my Mint machine. Took a bit of searching to get USB drives to auto boot, but it's done and working fine. I'm really liking GhostBSD the more I use it. DistroWatch has once again brought another fine OS to my attention and garners my thanks. I appreciate all you do.
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Version: 21.01.20
Rating: 8
Date: 2021-03-12
Votes: 5
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The experience of using ghostbsd on my old sony vaio laptop was extremely positive. The system proved to be fast and stable. I admit that I didn't notice any big differences compared to Linux distributions. The software station is reasonably well designed and simple to use Software Center and octopkg is also a good alternative. Of all the BSD I have tested, GhostBSD proved to be the best option for the desktop. Congratolations to @ericbsd and team.
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Version: 21.01.20
Rating: 5
Date: 2021-03-06
Votes: 0
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not sure what to think of this
having used various Linux distros over the past 7 or so years I thought I'd give GhostBSD a try (again); I only used live USB
maybe I am just unlucky but sound didn't work on the 2 machines (PC and Lenovo laptop) I tried including an older Lenovo Thinkpad that is usually very forgiving and all Linux distros I tried work (mostly) 'out of the box'.
I had tried GhostBSD 1 year ago and graphics card now seems to be recognised and working on both machines; so some progress there; before it would only work on the Lenovo laptop!
what was also odd was very high RAM useage idle, nearly 3GB RAM?! that seems quite a lot; but then used it on a live USB. (comparing with for example Kubuntu on live USB , Kubuntu only needed around 500MB on idle)
Printer wasn't recogised (a few years old Brother printer, again Kubuntu recognised it immediately!)
I may try GhostBSD again in a year, perhaps there will be some more progress
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Version: 21.01.20
Rating: 10
Date: 2021-01-30
Votes: 3
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I love this System. I think, that tells everything ;-)
Thank you Eric & Team
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Version: 21.01.20
Rating: 10
Date: 2021-01-29
Votes: 2
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Absolutely fantastic system! Wifi works first try with my card, AMD Radeon hardware support is phenomenal, and it works. Only real complaint is that the Software Station can be slow, but other than that I recommend GhostBSD
HARDWARE
AMD A8-7600 APU
16 GB RAM
2 TB WD Green HDD
Broadcom Atheros Network Card
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Version: 21.01.20
Rating: 9
Date: 2021-01-28
Votes: 4
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In its obituary for Steve Jobs, the Economist magazine said Jobs' big win was creating products that we love. I would say Eric Turgeon has done that with GhostBSD, at least in my experience.
I just love GhostBSD, which I've been using as my daily driver for more than two months. It's fast and light and beautiful.
I'm running it on a big old Dell Latitude E5500 (Intel Core 2 Duo @ 2.261GHz with 4GB RAM). I use it as a desktop, not a laptop, so lack of Wi-Fi isn't an issue. And I don't need to print.
UPSIDES:
--It's extremely fast, light and well designed.
--LibreOffice Writer spellchecking worked out of the box with my preferred language (Canadian English) already set as the default.
--I would guess the installed applications are most, or all, of what the average person would need.
--Software Station has more than 30,000 packages available.
--It prompts you when updates are available, a good feature to have on a rolling release.
--About 10 shells are available. Fish is the default though you can choose bash at installation. To temporarily switch to another, just its name (for example, zsh). To return to the default, type exit.
DOWNSIDES:
--Wi-Fi is not yet available in FreeBSD, on which GhostBSD is based.
--Printing doesn't work out of the box. That would be OK on pure FreeBSD (or pure Arch or pure openSUSE), but not on GhostBSD (or Manjaro or GeckoLinux).
--The first time I installed GhostBSD on this old Dell Latitude, I used the default ZFS filesystem. It ran so slowly that I uninstalled it after a day. Several months (and versions) later I tried again, this time with UFS, which is lightning fast.
BOTTOM LINE
GhostBSD has steadily improved since I first tried to install it a few years ago. Out-of-the-box Wi-Fi and printing aren't available yet. But what GhostBSD does, it does extremely well.
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Version: 21.01.15
Rating: 9
Date: 2021-01-21
Votes: 2
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Works on my Desktop out of the box (easy peasy). Soundcontroll seems to be not functional (change output sink).
But on my Thinkpad (8th gen intel, Yoga) the function keys are not working correctly :(
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Version: 21.01.15
Rating: 7
Date: 2021-01-20
Votes: 0
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Looks good, but it needs to work in VirtualBox with no hacking. (I have v6.1.16.)
None of the VBox "additions" work! (video > 1024 x 768, shared clipboard, shared folders)
Also, in the Live CD GUI, I could see no way to install the OS.
After some research, I found a way to install from the command-line: sudo gbi
Installation should not require hacking.
This is a huge improvement from earlier versions of GhostBSD which wouldn't even boot.
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Latest Reviews
Project: GhostBSD
Version: 23.10.1
Rating: 10
Date: 2024-07-21
Votes: 5
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There are big advantages of using GhostBSD over Linux.
It's native zfs support makes it an outstandingly reliable workstation.
For any user, who is interested in reliability of zfs mirrored data this OS is choice #1.
Any PC in such a role as a workstation or even homeserver does NOT need Wi-Fi driver support at first place.
When security plays a role, a smaller software repo with well maintained apps is also not harmful at all.
The updater itself could be a bit more transparent during its activities: it only displays 1 line per downloaded software package.
A human wants instead see a full display with as many downloaded packages, as possible at the very same time. Including the possibility to manually save this log in a reserved location on disk.
On the documentation side, GhostBSD seems to have not yet found a stable workflow, where to put the latest information about fixing minor issues. These hints are spread over several locations - each having its specific (dis-)advantage(s).
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Project: GhostBSD
Version: 24.04.1
Rating: 9
Date: 2024-06-26
Votes: 5
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I have good feelings about this distro, ven though I have only recently installed, it has impressed myself. What I was particularly impressed about that the filemanaher was able to instaly see and open a partion that is ext3 formated, something which when I tried FreeBSD there was some difficulty doing.
I also like, unlike FreeBSD, where everything is pretty much set-up out of the box, just have to make those small adjustments to make it more like what you want.
Did have difficulty (just like with FreeBSD) with slackwares lilo registering GhostBSD on the menu, so I installed slackware grub, and all is good.
Otherwise, I find it to be quick and smooth running.
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Project: GhostBSD
Version: 24.04.1
Rating: 5
Date: 2024-05-23
Votes: 0
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There's no real advantage on using BSD today over Linux other than for hobby.
I mean it's a joke considering in 2024, still lacking hardware support like ancient 'nix., can't even connect to wifi, seriously???
I would have been acceptable as *nix if it were around early 2000's though, come on, it's already 2024; most people won't bother stuff that can't even do basic thing as supporting common hardware right (unless there is other appealing advantage over others).
It's not their fault, I know they don't have enough developers though I believe that BSD is going to be dead soon.
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Project: GhostBSD
Version: 24.01.1
Rating: 10
Date: 2024-03-05
Votes: 67
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What a
RobWhat a nice surprise!
I have recently installed the latest GhostBSD version on my laptop …why?...well, honestly, I was hopelessly struggling with the FreeBSD configuration and I was curious to discover this UNIX-derived and complete OS after sticking some weeks with Debian 12 (nothing against Linux, just curious about UNIX and seduced by the idea of a holistic system). I have spent most of my life on Windows btw.
The installation process was as simple as it is in most currently available main stream Linux distros (I consider myself as moderately advances FOSS user)… meaning simple. Everything worked well out of the box (even WiFi). After using it for a while (not just tweaking the OS but doing some job on it: editing scientific texts, building reference libraries, preparing presentations, doing some statistical computing with diverse open-source statistical languages,…) I have done a very polished and smooth experience in all...with the FreeBSD under the hood!
GosthBSD is a perfect starter to discover the BSD family but it may also be used as a clean and fully operational OS, too. I have adopted it for my daily life!
Many thanks to the community for the great job!
Rob
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Project: GhostBSD
Version: 23.10.1
Rating: 6
Date: 2024-02-21
Votes: 1
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Good design, nice update station script and an amazing developer. However when it comes to supporting devices with nvidia and some newer intel built in graphics for example generation 13 there are mixed results. Wifi is difficult to configure here and updating from terminal instead of using the update station utility is a bad idea. For me it was too hard to configure open vpn and wireguard on this OS. Cool project but not daily driver material yet. There is no easy way to encrypt the system which is not good. I would rather not mess with manual partitioning if I can help it. Still the best desktop oriented bsd system as off 2024 and probably for the future.
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Project: GhostBSD
Version: 24.01.1
Rating: 5
Date: 2024-02-18
Votes: 0
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I attempted to install as a guest in virtualbox Win 11 host which went well until I tried to set the keyboard to UK with generic layout. The installer 'Next' button remained greyed out no matter which keyboard I chose. I gave up.
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Project: GhostBSD
Version: 24.01.1
Rating: 5
Date: 2024-02-16
Votes: 0
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Although the live version makes a good impression, I still cannot use GhostBSD
After trying out the latest release, I found that my Realtek 8723DE (on a HP laptop), still is not recognized by BSD (this is a problem I also had with freeBSD and NomadBSD).
The RTL8111/8168/8411 chipset of the fixed cable ethernet is recognized, as is the Belkin dongle. I do understand that this is a problem that could originate from the manufacturer, and not as such from the bsd dev team...but without an out of the box working wireless I consider a system in 2024 kinda useless. I also do not want to go on a quest for working dongle chipsets. I do notice that under most linux distros, the wireless card is seen and recognised and can be used...
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Project: GhostBSD
Version: 24.01.1
Rating: 9
Date: 2024-02-15
Votes: 15
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Very impressed with GhostBSD Xfce version - clean install on my older i3 Acer laptop.
One of the easiest installs I've ever tried, even compared with Linux Mint or Manjaro. Bearing in mind that I am a familiar with GhostBSD from the previous version.
Internet access can be problematic with the BSDs, but I simply tether my smartphone with a cable, and type on the command-line:
sudo ifconfig ue0 up
sudo dhclient ue0
and lo I have internet, and noticeably faster than linux. (Wi-Fi & bluetooth are not well supported at the moment).
Adjusting the screen brightness is also simply resolved by typing: sudo backlight 25 (or whatever value suits).
Some packages can be quite old versions - Extreme Tux Racer for example is only at 0.61_15, but most major software such as Firefox or Xfce is bang up to date.
Configuring FreeBSD (on which GhostBSD is based), can be a real pain for the desktop, but GhostBSD takes away most of the hassle - you can dive deeper (and learn loads) if you want to, but mostly it isn't necessary.
Nice to have a transparent & configurable boot system too compared to linux's systemd, & boot times don't seem vastly different.
I have a more recent AMD Ryzen 7 Acer laptop running Linux Mint Xfce (everything works well), but I find I keep coming back to my older laptop running GhostBSD, there's just something about it -> mainly faster internet!
Generally the BSDs don't seem as configurable as linux as regards partitioning - they seem to want the whole disk only, but on this laptop I'm currently dual-booting GhostBSD on an internal NVMe drive & the truly awful (SLOW) Windows 10 on the main spinning-rust drive, using the rEFInd boot-loader.
Overall, GhostBSD 24.01.1 Xfce is a very interesting & performant distro, albeit with a few rough edges here and there.
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Project: GhostBSD
Version: 23.10.1
Rating: 8
Date: 2023-11-29
Votes: 9
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Love GhostBSD since day one, but in the last couple of versions, I've been having quite a hard time when trying to connect to any Wifi network, either at home or at work.
Even though I confirmed for 2 or 3 times if I was punching in the correct password (which I did), the inability to connect to Wifi has been utterly disgrunting. Of course, one can always configure everything manually directly on the conf files, but that goes against the whole idea of a desktop.
Issue with detecting the built-in Wifi card is always an issue on any BSD, but nothing like a USB-dongle wouldn't fix.
Other than that, desktop works like a charm. Package management is snappy as always. Special function keys work normally on my Dell XPS and I've been using it as my daily driver.
Great job so far!
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Project: GhostBSD
Version: 23.06.01
Rating: 10
Date: 2023-08-26
Votes: 33
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It very good os when installing alone on its own, had no problems running in virtual machine for testing at all.
over on-top of big linux arch respin from brazil south america. Hope ghostBSD, BSDunix gets more updates later.
WiFi was only issue On my i7 zen book number fifteen edition. Tried live test afterwards and wifi worked,
must have something to do with virtual machine i'm sure as drivers run great off-of-virtualbox.
Wanted to try something new from Canada after slackwares vector linux went away not too long ago.
How sad for vector linux, very happy to see canada is producing and making BSDunix and Linux
operating systems. Many other countries opting out of linux scene too perticularly in oriental east
world, such as philippines, japan, korea, thailand, taiwan, use to be many diffrent linux arouns world
coming out everywhere, many have slowed production or are not making no more.
:( *frown* face. *Saluting* good luck Canada!
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Project: GhostBSD
Version: 23.06.01
Rating: 10
Date: 2023-08-18
Votes: 39
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The installation of GhostBSD on VirtualBox was a seamless process without any issues using the default settings. With 8 GB of RAM and 8 CPUs allocated, along with 20 GB of storage, the system performed faster than my host machine. It exhibited remarkable responsiveness for every task I attempted. In my opinion, GhostBSD stands out as the finest Unix-based system built upon FreeBSD. Compared to the tedious installation and configuration process of plain FreeBSD, GhostBSD eliminates a significant amount of hassle. Kudos to the exceptional work by the GhostBSD team.
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Project: GhostBSD
Version: 23.06.01
Rating: 7
Date: 2023-07-31
Votes: 0
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I first tried ghost bsd in 2019 or rather I wanted. After installation, it turned out that it does not handle nt partitions. Of course, it could have been installed, but I wasnt adept at bsds at the time.
I later installed it again in 2023, then on a new PC. Unfortunately, my graphics core was not handled by ghost (free) bsd, so I bought an nvidia quadro vga for only $20.
There is a picture, but it could be sharper! The picture is better under Linux!
Installation was easy. Octopkg is integrated, which is a graphical 1 click install style package management and installation application.
There was 1 error: That the data copied to the nt partition is deleted after restarting or turning it off and then on. According to the freebsd forum, this is a bug that can be fixed by umounting the nt partition before turning it off.
The Xscavenger game exits after 1 minute.
Libre office is not included in the package by default.
The virtual box failed to start with an error message.
This distro is better than pcbsd was. But it could be even better.
The screen turns off, but the power saving mode is not activated.
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Project: GhostBSD
Version: 23.06.01
Rating: 9
Date: 2023-07-05
Votes: 12
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After struggeling around with FreeBSD 13.1 for a year (updates made my desktop-systems unusuable several times, so
I had to do new installations) I tried GhostBSD.
I like the idea of a comfortable, easy to install desktop OS based on FreeBSD. The first try with version 22.06.18 Mate didn't work well ... hardware was not fully detected and configured. On my laptop Xorg didn't work.
So I tried version 23.06.01 XFCE a few days ago, and it works very well! I installed it on a desktop pc and a notebook. The hardware was automatically detected and configured (I only had problems with wifi on the notebook, but I configured it manually and it works now). Installation was very fast and simple and everything works very well.
Now I hope that I have a better experience with updates on GhostBSD then on FreeBSD!
I will test GhostBSD for a few months and then I will decide if I install it on my main desktop pc as my daily
driver. I will write another review after the test period to share my experience.
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Project: GhostBSD
Version: 23.06.01
Rating: 8
Date: 2023-06-17
Votes: 6
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I installed the this latest version onto an SSD and I find that the system is more responsive than Linux or Windows on the same computer and the experience was overall positive. However, even with its Linux like interface, GhostBSD in not for newcomers. Admittedly, I didn't have to fiddle around with my network settings this time, but I did have to change my network wifi adapter as the one I was using under Linux was not being detected.
Once online I tested Youtube, the make or break of any modern operating system. It worked flawlessly on Firefox (113.0.2) even in HD mode. However, I tried streaming the evening news on a local TV channel and then video output was less than ideal, watchable but jittery. This was fixed by altering media.benchmark.vp9.fps from 0 to 60.
Tried to playback a video on VLC and found that it didn't default to Pulseaudio like Firefox, but insists on playing though my internal PC speaker unless I manually change the audio output device to pcm1:virtual:dsp1.vp1. Apparently, the only way to fix this issue is to recompile VLC, so I have been told. Same with Frozen-Bubble!
Small things like this would make the experience a disaster for anyone not willing or incapable of trouble shooting such issues and would more than likely deter further use. GhostBSD is getting there and it is certainly an excellent operating system worth a try if you feel that you need a change. Just be aware that it isn't going to be a stroll in the park. It will be more like a walk in the woods without a clear path, but an adventure nonetheless.
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Project: GhostBSD
Version: 22.06.15
Rating: 10
Date: 2023-02-04
Votes: 40
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Very easy to install system. It is very customizable using both the Mate and the community Xfce version (latest release). Sound and wireless worked out of the box. Running a dual monitor setup (laptop LCD and external monitor) and both monitors were detected. It is indeed a very elegant system with very few resources used up. While at idle it uses 1.5GB of ram and CPU sits at 0 to 1 percent (intel i7). The system is very snappy and is one of the fastest systems that I have used. The only minor inconvenice is that there is no screen hardware brightness adjustment control (hopefully it can be fixed on the next release). Recommended for both new and experienced users and both will have lots of fun adjusting and tweaking it. Great job and lots of thanks and kudos to the devs for this great distro.
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Project: GhostBSD
Version: 22.06.15
Rating: 10
Date: 2023-01-12
Votes: 41
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Ghost bsd is a real major step from Linux to UNIX.
It is installed on a Lenovo laptop and works flawlessly. I don't even have words to approximate it. I tested almost all BSD derivatives, ghostbs is magic!!!
Congratulations to all those behind this wonderful project!
"GhostBSD provides a simple desktop-oriented operating system based on FreeBSD with MATE and OS packages for simplicity. In addition, GhostBSD has a selection of commonly used software preinstalled to make it easy on your computing journey."
Yes! This is true: "A simple, elegant desktop BSD Operating System"
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Project: GhostBSD
Version: 22.06.15
Rating: 10
Date: 2022-06-25
Votes: 45
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I've installed it of curiousity on a small laptop from 2015 that I only use during travels, for web browsing, text editing, YT and communicators. Everything worked well for those basic issues. Getting wireless connection was flawless. Sound worked well. Nice looking, smooth working, nothing to complain.
Pros:
+ easy to install
+ smooth working
+ MATE desktop
+ wireless connecting
+ user friendly
Cons:
- so far I haven't identified any, at least for very basic use.
Nice experience of using something really independent.
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Project: GhostBSD
Version: 22.06.15
Rating: 2
Date: 2022-06-19
Votes: 19
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Same ole same ole: No network card support for but a few lucky ones. Also you honestly have to put this BSD distro together yourself, although it does boot to a nice home screen. Good luck trying to get your printer to work.. etc... I don't want to disrespect Eric the developer of this BSD, he's obviously got other things to do as this is a patchwork.
Too bad, as BSD is in sore need of dedicated developers and maintainers who can craft something akin to the many Linux distros out there that are done well. GhostBSD behaves like Linux from about 1995 or so.
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Project: GhostBSD
Version: 22.06.15
Rating: 8
Date: 2022-06-18
Votes: 4
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I've given a rating of 8 because I have used this distro for only a couple of hours. After this short period I am left with a feeling of having spent time with a competently put together OS. I haven't successfully installed BSD prior to GhostBSD because I've not been prepared to invest time in the learning curve required to do so. It does seem that the devs of GhostBSD have tamed the installation because I had no issues at all in getting it up and running. It's not just installation the devs seemed to have polished either. All my new laptop components were recognised and worked, and my trusty old workhorse desktop PC also faired equally well.
I am a long-time MX Linux user and will continue to be. I make no comparisons between MX and GhostBSD except to say that they both claim to be easy to install, and I agree with them both. If like me you enjoy trying out distros, I do recommend taking GhostBSD for a test drive.
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Project: GhostBSD
Version: 22.01.12
Rating: 2
Date: 2022-04-01
Votes: 0
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Not a 1 rating because it does boot the live DVD and it does appear very fast to move from app to app etc.
I've tried GhostBSD on and off for quite some time in an attempt to finally see that it's matured into a usable operating system; to little avail.
Pros: Fast. Good looking.
Cons: No network card support for many newer hardware. Horrid help forums; they just ignore you if your issue is a challenge. No sound support for a lot of hardware; I've tried to install and use this BSD version on 18 machines now, and TWO of them successfully installed and were usable, both legacy machines (as in old) and both in a donate pile. This BSD is honestly not for modern machines unless you're lucky enough to have a type the developer has in his house.
Sad, because the thing is so good looking, even has polish to it on the desktop. But no go at all unless you have a supported machine and unless you don't need to hear any sound and don't need to go online (perhaps good for small children to play games on).
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Project: GhostBSD
Version: 21.11.24
Rating: 10
Date: 2022-03-31
Votes: 3
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GhostBSD running remarkably well on an almost decade old Samsung NP550P7C S05UK 15" Intel i7 3630QM, 16GB RAM DDR3, 240SSD, NVIDIA Optimus GPU. Just about everything works. Very stable. Well done GhostBSD team.This is one of the few desktop BSDs (except for MacOS) since the demise of PC-BSD that I have been able to work with.
WiFI, sound card and cort screen geometry all work with little or no to usweaking. All ports work with the sole exception of the SDXC card interface. This OS has come very close to being my daily driver. The only gripe is not being able to use WINE for a specific program. It's overall performance, however, makes me very forgiving.
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Project: GhostBSD
Version: 22.01.12
Rating: 10
Date: 2022-01-31
Votes: 2
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Thought I would give GhostBSD a try. Easy to install and is a solid, stable distribution. Used daily with no problems at all. Detected the wireless card on installation, wireless printing with CUPS okay. Running on a Dell Inspiron laptop. Mate desktop is highly configurable and does what it needs to do, although other desktop environments are available to download should you choose. One click will activate the Update Station and (as of writing), the Software Station has access to 31,322 packages. Online resources are on the website, forum and a lively Telegram community. Highly recommended for those wishing to use a BSD type operating system. For those who prefer a graphical installation, GhostBSD is a good option.
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Project: GhostBSD
Version: 21.11.24
Rating: 10
Date: 2021-12-04
Votes: 2
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Tried Ghost a few times in the past with mixed results. Been using 20.11.28 and now 21/11/24, and have now found it to be an excellent os. Ghost is intended to be a simple and stable system. Running on a modest Dell Optiplex and Lenovo Ideapad, it's quick and easy to install, quick in operation and works pretty flawlessly for me with no hardware discovery issues. The MATE desktop is attractive and configurable with the Station Tweak look changer. Maybe the reviewers who are so critical with their fussier hardware should reel it in. It's a well known fact that any BSD system can sometimes be tricky and problematic with certain hardware. Run Ghost on a suitable machine and it makes a great platform for testing and enjoying the benefits of BSD. Respect is due to this long running project, and highly recommended if you want a simple out of the box FreeBSD based experience!
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Project: GhostBSD
Version: 21.11.24
Rating: 1
Date: 2021-12-03
Votes: 0
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Yet another waste of a perfectly good blank DVD, and I have a whole stack that have been trashed on Ghost BSD over the years. This time, I couldn't even get past the boot-up screen before it crashed while it was trying to run it live. In the past Ghost wouldn't crash until getting into the install process. I should have expected this from a distro coming from Canada, the same country that give us Arch. At least Arch doesn't crash until after you run it for 5 or 6 months. It's time Ghost, give up the ghost, and go dormant until its backers figure things out. And please test it on several machines before you release it.
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Project: GhostBSD
Version: 21.11.24
Rating: 1
Date: 2021-11-28
Votes: 0
|
An epic fail. The last few years GhostBSD has defied all my efforts to get it to boot up on my HP Elitebook 8560p. The boot process drags on and on until it just dies at an error.
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Project: GhostBSD
Version: 21.10.16
Rating: 1
Date: 2021-11-22
Votes: 0
|
System is slow and buggy. Lots of ram usage. Crashes upon crashes keep happening, and no, I don’t want to report it to the developer it asks me everytime, it seems like they ignore fixing crashes here. Don’t recommend.
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Project: GhostBSD
Version: 21.10.16
Rating: 10
Date: 2021-10-17
Votes: 2
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It recognized all the hardware, especially the wireless card, on my 12-year-old laptop. So that's good in my book! Still checking out the OS, but the desktop looks nice and lean. Thanks to the devs for bringing bsd to newbies with the GUI!
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Project: GhostBSD
Version: 21.09.29
Rating: 1
Date: 2021-10-04
Votes: 0
|
You can't login after install. It just loops to the login after entering your password. This is after a fresh unmodified install. Big fat -0- if you can't even login.
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Project: GhostBSD
Version: 21.09.08
Rating: 10
Date: 2021-09-11
Votes: 3
|
Freshly installed and working great!
Installation was very quick and easy and all my hardware was detected without issue. Ram usage on first boot up with nothing open was a very reasonable 780mb.
Fonts and resolution look crisp and clean and both of my external monitors worked with no extra configuration. It was a very simple process to install neovim (0.5) straight from the pkg repos' along with the rust and rust-analyzer packages. I really like the fact that sudo is installed by default and seemed to be assigned to the first non-root user created during the setup process since I was able to run "sudo pkg install" right out of the box! This makes it very straightforward if coming from Linux.
So far, I am very impressed with Ghost Bsd.
Thank you to Eric and all the team for your hard work!
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Project: GhostBSD
Version: 21.09.06
Rating: 8
Date: 2021-09-08
Votes: 3
|
Rated for making BSD painless to install, though it would be preferable to have X running on boot, rather than manually invoking it. I installed in Virtualbox and had an issue whereby leaving the VM for any length of time then returning to it presented a frozen interface, and I was unable to install the guest tools (Mate and Xfce both behaved like this).
However, not since the days of PC-BSD have I been able to get a unix desktop up and running this easily, and that's worth recognition.
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Project: GhostBSD
Version: 21.05.11
Rating: 10
Date: 2021-07-21
Votes: 1
|
Hi, look here. I installed 19.10 around one year ago and enjoyed it for months. But I found I am not able to upgrade to next major version without breaking anything. So I standstill on version 19.10 for almost half year. Then I give GhostBSD 7 point rating.
Today, I found the value of this distro and I am respectful to it. So I come here to give another 10 point rating. There are still some problems, but it is trying to make BSD installation easier.
Now I installed with 21.05.11 newly and enjoy it.
I will recommend you to try it if you are seeking a choice to run FreeBSB with a openbox Desktop Environment.
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Project: GhostBSD
Version: 19.10
Rating: 6
Date: 2021-06-24
Votes: 0
|
Good entry to taste FreeBSD. I am so happy at the first month. However, one day I found the latest update will break the DE login. And I have to revert/downgrade with ZFS to previous version. I went to their forum to find a solution, but they told me I have to reinstall the OS. It's kind of big effort for me. So I spin on current version without happy. :(
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Project: GhostBSD
Version: 21.05.01
Rating: 5
Date: 2021-05-14
Votes: 0
|
After my trial on the Dell G5s (below), I tried it on the Toshiba Qosmio, 1st Gen Core i5, nVidia GTS 360 (which needs the 340 driver). This is the system I was planning it for, since there are no longer any Linuxes supporting the 340. I may have to install MS-DOS on this machine.
So it boots to an ncurses screen asking me to select the x config. Booting with startx, intel, and vesa works, but only at 1024. Oddly, it does not offer me a choice of an nvidia driver, whereas on the AMD machine it seemed to be looking for an nvidia card. But its usable, and may be the way I have to go. Still want to try the FreeBSD instructions for manually installing the 340.
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Project: GhostBSD
Version: 21.05.01
Rating: 1
Date: 2021-05-13
Votes: 0
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system is Dell G5s, Ryzen 5 (Zen 2), RADEON 5700/5700 XT.
Boots, looks for nvidia GPU, doesn't find one, tries starting amdgpu, then dies and the PC automatically reboots.
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Project: GhostBSD
Version: 21.04.27
Rating: 9
Date: 2021-05-01
Votes: 5
|
I only tested the Mate live version on a basic gaming pc.
Extremely positive feeling, captivating graphics, very responsive and light system in everyday use.
Compared to Linux, advantage should be the compatibility of the packages for all the different editions.
So there shouldn't be a need to recompile the sources as with the different Linux distributions. I like this very much.
GhostBSD is beautiful, fluid, has everything you need without too many frills.
Only two problems:
1) RAM consumption is 1.9 GB just switched on.
I got this result on live version, could it change once permanently installed? I don't know.
2) Sound did not work, speakers or headphones do not work.
Could it change once installed permanently? I don't know.
Connection with fiber worked perfectly,
I haven't tried wifi because my pc is physically connected to the router.
Overall very very well, a good job was done.
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Project: GhostBSD
Version: 21.01.20
Rating: 9
Date: 2021-04-01
Votes: 9
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Definitely picky about the hardware. First tried it via DVD live disk on my main machine running an AMD Ryzen 5 CPU and Radeon RX570 graphics card, but it choked on my triple monitor setup. Couldn't get it to run in VirtualBox either. Switched over to a Windows 10 machine running an Intel Core2 CPU and Radeon HD5450 graphics card attached to a 42" LCD TV I use as a monitor on the few occasions I want to boot Win10. Got an "out of range" message and stopped me cold. Used the same machine with a 21" LCD attached and got to a desktop but the only resolution I could get was 760X640. Everything was so big I couldn't see most of the windows I opened. After putting GhostBSD on a thumbdrive I moved to a MiniPC running an Intel i5 dual core CPU and integrated Intel 3000 graphics on a 21" LCD and there it was! Installed it to a spare WD 500Gb SSD drive and it's been nothing but fun ever since. The OS looks good and although there is minimal software installed it only took a few minutes to figure out how to get the programs I use regularly up and running. It uses the Mate desktop which is what I'm used to in Mint Linux so everything looked very familiar. About the biggest glitch I found was Netflix won't work in Firefox. I encountered no other web problems even after importing my favorites from my Mint machine. Took a bit of searching to get USB drives to auto boot, but it's done and working fine. I'm really liking GhostBSD the more I use it. DistroWatch has once again brought another fine OS to my attention and garners my thanks. I appreciate all you do.
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Project: GhostBSD
Version: 21.01.20
Rating: 8
Date: 2021-03-12
Votes: 5
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The experience of using ghostbsd on my old sony vaio laptop was extremely positive. The system proved to be fast and stable. I admit that I didn't notice any big differences compared to Linux distributions. The software station is reasonably well designed and simple to use Software Center and octopkg is also a good alternative. Of all the BSD I have tested, GhostBSD proved to be the best option for the desktop. Congratolations to @ericbsd and team.
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Project: GhostBSD
Version: 21.01.20
Rating: 5
Date: 2021-03-06
Votes: 0
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not sure what to think of this
having used various Linux distros over the past 7 or so years I thought I'd give GhostBSD a try (again); I only used live USB
maybe I am just unlucky but sound didn't work on the 2 machines (PC and Lenovo laptop) I tried including an older Lenovo Thinkpad that is usually very forgiving and all Linux distros I tried work (mostly) 'out of the box'.
I had tried GhostBSD 1 year ago and graphics card now seems to be recognised and working on both machines; so some progress there; before it would only work on the Lenovo laptop!
what was also odd was very high RAM useage idle, nearly 3GB RAM?! that seems quite a lot; but then used it on a live USB. (comparing with for example Kubuntu on live USB , Kubuntu only needed around 500MB on idle)
Printer wasn't recogised (a few years old Brother printer, again Kubuntu recognised it immediately!)
I may try GhostBSD again in a year, perhaps there will be some more progress
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Project: GhostBSD
Version: 21.01.20
Rating: 10
Date: 2021-01-30
Votes: 3
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I love this System. I think, that tells everything ;-)
Thank you Eric & Team
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Project: GhostBSD
Version: 21.01.20
Rating: 10
Date: 2021-01-29
Votes: 2
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Absolutely fantastic system! Wifi works first try with my card, AMD Radeon hardware support is phenomenal, and it works. Only real complaint is that the Software Station can be slow, but other than that I recommend GhostBSD
HARDWARE
AMD A8-7600 APU
16 GB RAM
2 TB WD Green HDD
Broadcom Atheros Network Card
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Project: GhostBSD
Version: 21.01.20
Rating: 9
Date: 2021-01-28
Votes: 4
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In its obituary for Steve Jobs, the Economist magazine said Jobs' big win was creating products that we love. I would say Eric Turgeon has done that with GhostBSD, at least in my experience.
I just love GhostBSD, which I've been using as my daily driver for more than two months. It's fast and light and beautiful.
I'm running it on a big old Dell Latitude E5500 (Intel Core 2 Duo @ 2.261GHz with 4GB RAM). I use it as a desktop, not a laptop, so lack of Wi-Fi isn't an issue. And I don't need to print.
UPSIDES:
--It's extremely fast, light and well designed.
--LibreOffice Writer spellchecking worked out of the box with my preferred language (Canadian English) already set as the default.
--I would guess the installed applications are most, or all, of what the average person would need.
--Software Station has more than 30,000 packages available.
--It prompts you when updates are available, a good feature to have on a rolling release.
--About 10 shells are available. Fish is the default though you can choose bash at installation. To temporarily switch to another, just its name (for example, zsh). To return to the default, type exit.
DOWNSIDES:
--Wi-Fi is not yet available in FreeBSD, on which GhostBSD is based.
--Printing doesn't work out of the box. That would be OK on pure FreeBSD (or pure Arch or pure openSUSE), but not on GhostBSD (or Manjaro or GeckoLinux).
--The first time I installed GhostBSD on this old Dell Latitude, I used the default ZFS filesystem. It ran so slowly that I uninstalled it after a day. Several months (and versions) later I tried again, this time with UFS, which is lightning fast.
BOTTOM LINE
GhostBSD has steadily improved since I first tried to install it a few years ago. Out-of-the-box Wi-Fi and printing aren't available yet. But what GhostBSD does, it does extremely well.
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Project: GhostBSD
Version: 21.01.15
Rating: 9
Date: 2021-01-21
Votes: 2
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Works on my Desktop out of the box (easy peasy). Soundcontroll seems to be not functional (change output sink).
But on my Thinkpad (8th gen intel, Yoga) the function keys are not working correctly :(
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Project: GhostBSD
Version: 21.01.15
Rating: 7
Date: 2021-01-20
Votes: 0
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Looks good, but it needs to work in VirtualBox with no hacking. (I have v6.1.16.)
None of the VBox "additions" work! (video > 1024 x 768, shared clipboard, shared folders)
Also, in the Live CD GUI, I could see no way to install the OS.
After some research, I found a way to install from the command-line: sudo gbi
Installation should not require hacking.
This is a huge improvement from earlier versions of GhostBSD which wouldn't even boot.
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