↓ Skip to known issues section

This document contains notes regarding DesktopBSD release 1.7, such as information about changes made since previous releases, a list of included software and currently known problems. Please consult this document before reporting problems.

This release is the last and final release of DesktopBSD and comes with FreeBSD 7.2-RELEASE-p3 as base system. It provides the user with an enhanced KDE 3.5.10 desktop, a graphical installer and additional utilities for system configuration.

	FreeBSD 7.2 as stable and secure base system
	KDE 3.5.10 as mature and easy-to-use desktop environment
	OpenOffice.org 3.1.1 as feature-rich office suite
	Pre-installed Java SE 6 environment
	X.Org release 7.4 with extensive graphics support
	Large number of enhancements and fixes

We recommend a computer with at least a 1.5 GHz CPU, 1024 MB of memory and 20 GB of disk space. Less is possible, but will result in lower overall performance.

Access to a broad-band internet connection is recommended for installing additional software over the internet.

For more information about supported hardware, please read the FreeBSD 7.2 hardware notes.

Obtain an ISO image of the installation media from the download page. Depending on the hardware of your computer, choose either the i386 DVD (for both 32-bit and 64-bit architectures) or the amd64 DVD (for 64-bit architectures only). Write the image file to a blank disc, keep the disc in your drive and restart your computer. You might have to change the boot order in the BIOS before being able to boot from the DVD. When your computer starts DesktopBSD, information about the detected hardware will appear and the system will then proceed to video mode detection. Please follow the on-screen instructions to continue either directly to the installer or to the live system environment.

Using the installer's upgrade method, you can easily perform an upgrade from DesktopBSD 1.0 or DesktopBSD 1.6. The installer will only prompt you for the partition in which DesktopBSD is currently installed.

During an upgrade, all login users, user data and user configuration in /home is kept, but the whole operating system and all installed software and system (non-user) configuration is replaced.

Before attempting an upgrade, back up important files! If you have a local web server or database, make copies of your files in /usr/local/www/ and /var/db/. Also, do not attempt to upgrade DesktopBSD releases prior to 1.0.

GRUB is only supported on the 32-bit architecture (i386); on 64-bit computers, the FreeBSD boot menu is used instead

More information about installation and configuration of DesktopBSD is available in the DesktopBSD Handbook in the Wiki.

A complete list of all included software packages is available here:

All software included on the i386 DVD

All software included on the amd64 DVD

Users of DesktopBSD 1.7 32-bit (i386) need a small update to enable the Java plugin for Mozilla Firefox. You can find detailed instructions in the DesktopBSD Wiki or download the update directly.

Please refer to the Community for information on where to get support or send a bug report.