NOTE: This is historical content that may contain outdated information.
iXsystems announced today the release of PC-BSD 7.0 Fibonacci Edition. PC-BSD is a fully functional open source desktop operating system based on FreeBSD 7.0-STABLE. FreeBSD is one of the most used UNIX-like operating systems in the world and is widely renowned as the most stable and secure server operating system. PC-BSD has a Push-Button Installer (PBI) wizard developed exclusively for PC-BSD that lets users download and install a wide range of available applications in a self-extracting and self-installing format.
PC-BSD 7.0 Fibonacci Edition is suitable for server as well as desktop use. The ULE scheduler greatly improves system performance and responsiveness, giving PC-BSD improved symmetric multi processing (SMP) performance over Linux. The Warden, a new administration utility, provides an easy to use framework for creating and managing FreeBSD Jails, with 3 control interfaces (GUI, dialog-based, and command-line). In addition, the improved GUI Installer allows users to set up a server with ZFS/UFS+J partitions, enabling setup of a server with ZFS in just a few minutes (including custom partitioning).
Combining a usable desktop with the advancements of the FreeBSD 7.0 operating system results in a very fast and versatile OS,” says Matt Olander, CTO of iXsystems. “Bringing PC-BSD up to FreeBSD 7.0 brings massive performance gains along with an easy to use graphical environment that makes server tools more widely available. The integration of the KDE 4.1 desktop window manager has brought a paradigm shift in productivity and usability.
Highlights of the Fibonacci Edition include improved support and stability for Wine (a compatibility layer for running Windows programs), improved support with the Firewall Manager GUI, improved PBI installation support, and an improved PBI thumbnailer that displays embedded icons for large installers properly. Other new built-in features include KDE Version 4.1, Dual-Head Monitor configuration support via the X GUI setup tool, a new sound-detection method reporting via GUI any problems with auto-detect, and an optional filesystem selector that supports UFS2, UFS2+Softupdates, UFS2+ Journaling, and ZFS.
Fibonacci beta testers are raving about the performance enhancements associated with this most recent edition of PC-BSD. “I am not a UNIX guru or anything, I just use PC-BSD in addition to my Mac. PC-BSD with Wine pretty much takes care of anything Windows-related that I need to run. I quit using Linux after I started using PC-BSD because I just feel at home with it. I really do like the direction Kris and the team is taking the OS with KDE 4.x and this latest version is definitely showing performance improvements for me,” says Bill Leeper, a retired computer consultant.
PC-BSD Fibonacci Edition can be downloaded from http://www.pcbsd.org. It is also available for retail sale at http://www.freebsdmall.com in a DVD version as well as on a USB flash drive, with both regular and network install options.
About PC-BSD
PC-BSD is a rock solid, fully functional desktop operating system running FreeBSD version 7, with a KDE desktop interface and graphical system installer. Its PBI system, developed exclusively for PC-BSD, lets users download and install their applications in a self-extracting and installing format.
About iXsystems
iXsystems, Inc. is a leading provider of high-performance computing clusters, blade servers, rackmount servers, and storage solutions to the global marketplace. iXsystems supplies FreeBSD, NetBSD, OpenBSD and Linux servers to a wide cross-section of industries. iXsystems also supports and maintains the PC-BSD project. The company is headquartered in San Jose, CA.
