PC-BSD

Post-installation

As you will see, PC-BSD comes pretty much tailored with the common user in mind. Most will have little to change in PC-BSD's configuration if any. There are still several things that some people like to change that we have listed here for you.

Graphics card configuration

You are asked to configure your graphics card right after installing PC-BSD. To find out what driver you should use, have a look at the list of common graphics cards and drivers.

Installing applications

Like popular commercial operating systems, PC-BSD makes software installation a breeze. The same way Microsoft Windows uses a setup.exe or .msi file and Mac OS X uses setup.dmg, PC-BSD uses an executable setup file with a .pbi extension, standing for PC-BSD Installer. As you will see later in this guide, to install applications, you follow 3 simple steps:

• Search for an application on a .pbi web site such as the PBI Directory
• Download the executable .pbi setup file onto your computer
• Double-click the .pbi file and click "Next" all the way

It is this simple. Common software that people like to install are OpenOffice.org, the codecs (to play MP3 and video), or different browsers such as Opera or Firefox.

Installing more fonts

It is easy to add more fonts in PC-BSD. There are two ways to install fonts:

• Using a fonts .pbi file: Access a web site such as the PBI Directory, search for "fonts", download your .pbi file, double-click it and install the fonts. Log out from KDE and log back in. You should be able to use the new fonts
• Using regular TrueType font files: Download your .ttf files onto your desktop, then copy them to your hidden .fonts directory. This can be achieved using the font installer as follows

Click the lower-left Start Menu (red ball) and click "Settings > System Administration > Font Installer". The Font Installer will show up:

Click "Add Fonts", select your new fonts, and add them:

When you are done, click "Ok". You will need to log out from KDE and to log back in for changes to take effect.

Windows users may feel more comfortable using the Microsoft fonts that can be accessed on the PBI Directory. After installing these fonts, PC-BSD's fonts will look like MS Windows'.

Adobe Flash

The use of Adobe Flash is getting more and more prevalent on the web in ads, flash games, video sites etc.

Until now it has only been possible to play flash movies with proprietary software, but recently an interesting and much promising project, Gnash (GNU Flash) has emerged. Gnash is an open-source Flash player able to play Adobe Flash animations and movies.

The two architectures for Flash that are being supported by Adobe are Windows and Linux. With no native FreeBSD version available yet, the only way to see Flash web content on PC-BSD is by using Adobe's Flash Player for Linux.

Following the steps below, you should be able to set up Flash in the three mainstream browsers, Konqueror, Firefox and Opera.

 a) Konqueror

The easiest way to set up Flash support in Konqueror is by downloading the Flash plugin for Konqueror from the PBI Directory. Running this PBI may take some time as it needs to download and install the plugin. Please be patient and wait until the installation is confirmed.

In order to have Konqueror know that you have installed flash, you need to search for the new plugin. Go to: "Settings > Configure Konqueror" and click the "Scan for New Plugins" button.

Note: It is recommended that you update your ports tree first (see Chapter 4.1: Installing Software using Ports). Restart now Konqueror and Flash should be working.

b) Firefox

Adobe Flash is currently not working with the Firefox PBI (FreeBSD Firefox version), even if the Flash PBI for Konqueror is installed. On many systems this Konqueror Flash PBI unfortunately makes the Firefox browser crash when it accesses a Flash containing web page. Crashing can be avoided if the Firefox Flashblock Extension is installed.

If you need Flash, love Firefox and you're not afraid to "get your hands dirty", you can install the Linux version of Firefox that can handle the native Flash plugin. To install Linux Firefox from the package repository, type as superuser in the command line:

# pkg_add -r firefox

You must have a Linux Compatiblity Layer installed on your system to install Firefox for Linux. (A Linux Compatibility layer is simplistically explained a sort of layer that translates Linux system language into code PC-BSD understands)

Now install the Flash Plugin, by typing as super user:

# portinstall linux-flashplugin

Note: It is recommended that you update your ports tree first (see Chapter 4.1: Installing Software using Ports). In case your Firefox font resolution is too big now, go to: "Edit > Preferences > Advanced > Display resolution" to decrease the resolution settings.

c) Opera

To have Flash working in Opera, it is recommended you install the Linux version of Opera from the Ports Tree. Type as super user:

# cd /usr/ports/www/linux-opera/ && make install clean

# cd /usr/ports/www/linux-flashplugin7/ && make install clean

Note: It is recommended that you update your ports tree first (see Chapter 4.1: Installing Software using Ports)

Java

The FreeBSD Foundation has a license with Sun Microsystems to distribute FreeBSD binaries for the Java Runtime Environment (JRE) and Java Development Kit (JDK), which means it is also available for PC-BSD. Should you need Java for playing games, doing online banking or anything else, download the Java PBI, install it and you're ready to use it.

Codecs

For license reasons we cannot ship multimedia codecs with PC-BSD. If we did ship codecs, you could watch movies out of the box, but PC-BSD wouldn't be free of charge. Apple and Microsoft have paid for codecs and are therefore legally allowed to redistribute them. Another reason why we cannot ship codecs is that this is illegal in some countries, e.g. the United States. It's not only the governments' laws, but also the codec's group laws (ex. the MPEG group) that restrict the distribution of codecs.

There are a couple of media players available for PC-BSD (either as PBI or installed from ports), such as KMPlayer, Kaffeine, VLC, and Xine. These media players let you play, together with the Codecs PBI, about 99% of .wmv, .avi, .qt, .asf, .asx, .ogm, .mp3, .ogg, .m4a, .mpg, DivX/Crapola, Real Media files, and embedded media. Judging from feedback on the forums KMPlayer (and to a lesser degree Kaffeine) seems to be the best player.

However, tastes and experiences are varied and many; some people can play (nearly) all media with KMPlayer, whereas others have more success with Kaffeine and Xine. Just try and see what works best for you and if you get stuck please search the for a solution.

Note 1: When you install the codecs (Win32, libdvdcss, libdvdread etc) from the ports, make sure you install the codecs before installing any media player.

Note 2: A common problem with the Kaffeine Player is that it says it cannot see the codecs when one tries to play a DVD, but it actually does. It looks for the codecs in /usr/lib but they are in /usr/local/lib. Just ignore the message and try reading a DVD.

If you really want to get rid of the message, you can move the codecs to the /usr/local/lib/ folder by putting the following in terminal (as root):

$ su -
# cp /usr/local/lib/codecs/libdvdcss* /usr/local/lib/

Close the terminal & re-run Kaffeine.

Windows Software

You may have been playing with the idea of migrating from Windows to PC-BSD. Not being able to then use some of your favourite games or professional Windows applications (e.g. Adobe Dreamweaver), may hold you back from taking the plunge. Good news for you: there are free and open-source solutions to get those programs running on PC-BSD. Please refer to this how-to in the PC-BSD Knowledge Base if you're interested.