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PC-BSD is a complete desktop operating system, which has been designed with the "casual" computer user in mind. It offers the stability and security that only a BSD-based operating system can bring, while as the same time providing a comfortable user experience, allowing you to get the most out of your computing time. With PC-BSD you can spend less time working to fix viruses or spyware and instead have the computer work for you.

Installing the system is simply a matter of a few clicks and a few minutes for the installation process to finish. Hardware such as video, sound, network and other devices will be auto-detected and available at the first system startup. Home users will immediately feel comfortable with PC-BSD's desktop interface, with KDE 3.5 running under the hood. Software installation has also been designed to be as painless as possible, simply double-click and software will be installed.

The PC-BSD Team is proud to announce the immediate availability of PC-BSD 7.1 - Galileo Edition!

Version 7.1 contains a number of enhancements, improvements and bugfixes from the 7.0 series.

* FreeBSD 7.2-Pre
* KDE 4.2.2
* The new KDE 4 printer applet enables users to easily add and manage printers and print jobs without using the CUPS web interface.
* The Add / Remove Programs tool and the Update Manager have been consolidated into “Software & Updates.”
* The Updater Tray has been modified into a small tray-only applet that shows users when updates are available. This is far less taxing on the CPU than its previous versions.
* FreeBSD ports and packages can now be installed in a clean localbase by utilizing the “runports” command.
* Greater stability for Flash 9 allows users to get higher quality from Flash sites such as Hulu and Youtube.
* Enhancements have been made to PC-BSD's System Installer, including upgrade functionality for those who wish to upgrade / repair PC-BSD while preserving their user data.
* Fixes have been made to bugs in the Wi-Fi and Networking tools, as well as to previous Linux Emulation problems.


For a full list of changes, please refer to the changelog. Users who wish to upgrade from PC-BSD 7.0.x are able to do so via the upgrade / repair option during the installation.



Version 7.1 of PC-BSD for i386 and amd64 based platforms is available for download from our mirrors, for purchase from The FreeBSD Mall, as well as via torrent from www.gotbsd.net.

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Indexed

oh, yeah, and it supports WoW....

Does this support all hardware? eg m-audio sound cards (drivers?)
Does it support Ableton Live and Microsoft Office?
Is it absolutely free from viral and spyware vulnerabilties?
Is there a benchmark comparison with Win XP pro?
Will it run all windows compatible software? (VST and VSTi?)


I had a quick peak on the site but didn't find what I was looking for...
Sounds great!

this OS is unix based, so no spyware, no virii.... it natively supports nearly everything linux will run, and you can run windows software thru the WINE or Crossover Office applications. It has a pretty extensive hardware support, the only issue I've seen so far is some video cards proprietary drivers weren't supported. The PC I installed it on had an Nvidia 5500, and it picked it up without a hitch. As far as microsoft Office, this comes with OpenOffice, which saves to MS Office formats so its compatable. In my honest opinion, this OS already blows XP out the water, and it will only get better. To top it all off, its absolutely free. for more information on this Operating system, you can check out their forums, or head over to distrowatch and read their reviews. This will go on my laptop next.

Kewl, sounds superb! I'm gonna wait for now and check the forums you suggested before installing this.

Much appreciated after zwindows's usual crap no matter what I try to keep my system crisp and have internet at the same time.
Kudos, never heard of it but it could be that hidden gem I'm desperately looking for!

BSD has been around for a very long time as an operating system, is only in the last year or three that its become viable as a desktop replacement for the "casual" user.

first post from my PC-BSD install in Opera browser.... so far, so good... installed on an older machine, so its a lil slower than I am used to, but the machine is OLD...lol Solid Operating system so far.