Reader supplied reviews for NomadBSD
Average rating
7.9 from 34 review(s)
Version: 140r
Rating: 1
Date: 2023-12-29
Votes: 1
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NomadBSD is a theoretically great idea that does not work in practice.
It's a nice system, and the OpenBox interface is a billion times better than the badly cludged Linux DE on FreeBSD offerings by others. This is probably because OpenBox is not really a 'desktop environment' per se, but an interface that runs well atop a server, which is essentially what FreeBSD is.
The idea of a live FreeBSD is brilliant, and NomadBSD fundamentally works as a live system. Settings can be customised on the fly, and the live system can be installed to a real hard drive, keeping ones personal settings.
But it's not possible to tell whether it's a real full install or simply a clone of the live USB version with the continued option to edit personal settings.
For a start, the install to a hard drive is unusually fast, under 10 minutes, the same as decompressing the disk.img and writing it to a USB pendrive: literally erasing the drive, writing a bootable file system and copying the live OS to the drive.
But then, it is impossible to update or upgrade the system, or add software, which suggests that it is no more than a static FreeBSD with a very nice GUI. The OctoPkg application is essentially useless, because it can do nothing more than read the package lists. Even running 'sudo freebsd-update fetch' in the terminal does nothing more. It's not even possible to add the Linux compatible repositories, in spite of what the NomadBSD handbook instructs.
So NomadBSD is not really what it claims to be.
It lacks the genuine persistence of a live (Linux) system in which software can actually be added and removed, and it lacks even the capabilities of a genuine frugal install that can do the same (e.g. Puppy, EasyOS, or Slax), so it is not truly a 'live' system.
I hope that this project continues, but thus far, it only proves that FreeBSD is a server system, not a genuine live system in the Linux sense.
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Version: 132r
Rating: 10
Date: 2023-11-23
Votes: 23
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I'm impressed: it works perfectly on a Dell Latitude, out of the box. Fast and light (the window manager is Openbox). Excellent OS to try out FreeBSD without any configurations/adjustments, especially in order to check the drivers before installing the whole OS permanently.
Tests on other machines:
Lenovo Yoga: everything works except for the WiFi chipset (missing BSD driver)
Unknown Chinese laptop: everything works except for the WiFi chipset (missing BSD driver)
Considering that FreeBSD (just like other BSDs) was born for servers and not desktops, the result on these laptops is impressive.
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Version: 131r
Rating: 2
Date: 2023-09-08
Votes: 0
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With high hopes, tried installing in a 2012 AMD four core Gateway machine and it got stuck in a "root mount waiting for: CAM" loop and finally booted 15 minutes later. It did this with EVERY boot. The file the forum suggested editing to correct that was empty. Suspend may have worked but there was nothing I could do to get it to resume other than power off and reboot. The desktop is nicely organized, it found the wifi card, seemed to adjust the graphics well, Firefox worked ok but too slow to play videos that were fine on Linux. Sorry to be a downer here. Have been a Debian Linux user for a decade, always on the lookout for something simplified but this just didn't work. Tried it on a 2013 Dell Intel machine with only somewhat better results. Maybe a good work in progress but not ready for prime time just yet.
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See all 34 reader reviews of NomadBSD...
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