Ceci est une ancienne révision du document !
How many members are on the FuryBSD Team?
Right now Joe Maloney is our Primary Developer. The rest of us perform minor development roles; there are currently 3-4 of us, and a growing community willing to help.
What is your name? And your role on the team?
Jaron Parsons. Primarily, debugging, web/community services management, assist in creative brainstorming on features and improvements, and minor development assistance thus far. As time permits I hope to help more with as much as I can.
What is your background? How did you get started in this field? Any suggestions to others who want to follow your path?
Currently I am Managing IT for iXsystems, Inc. Joe is Managing the Quality Engineering dept at iX as well. Joe and I both have worked together for many years. Joe and I worked for a small ISP in KS where he was the primary support technician and I was managing the dept and handling system administration. We both managed many FreeBSD systems during that time, and ran most of the ISP systems on FreeBSD, and FreeNAS servers. Prior to that, I have been in various IT positions since the mid 90s, and have been a FreeBSD user since the mid to late 90s as well.
What lead you to BSD? Why not another operating system platform?
My initial draw to BSD was simple curiosity. I had a friend talking about it, and the difference between it and linux. I think that was around the time linux had just started really, and the BSD lawsuit was ending. So I went out and tried to find a copy of the BSD and linux CDs to check them out. Unfortunately, I couldn't find BSD on any shelves, at least not in KS, and this was when the internet was served on a 2400 baud modem. Ha! I did find a copy of Linux slackware at a Hasting bookstore. Might have been the first release, I am not sure now. I installed it, used it, and just loved the feel of the unix-like shell. I finally got my hands on a copy of FreeBSD, and felt it was better organized, and better to use. I continued using it lightly for various things. My first network Firewall Router, first email and web server, and etc. When the ISP hired me, I rebuilt their services from the ground up using FreeBSD for nearly everything. The rest is history. FreeBSD has always been reliable, stable, and fast. In recent years, FreeBSD has had some struggles, just things I have picked up in forums and mailing lists over the years. BSD has been an important part of my career and wish to see it succeed. A FreeBSD desktop has always been something I had hoped for. Specifically one that left the underlying OS as much intact as possible, and built upon existing tools. My hope is FuryBSD will follow this direction. Regardless if it does, I think it will be a fun project.
Who do you see as a common user of BSD?
Currently, mostly Sysadmins or IT professionals. FuryBSD can bring more interest from standard desktop users.
What are the best resources for a new BSD user?
The Internet, Google, many various BSD related communities. The FreeBSD Handbook is your friend as well ;)
Editing configuration files is daunting for new users. Do you see this issue preventing new user adoption? Any suggestions or sources to help people develop this skill?
For users new to the *NIX world, it can be overwhelming. I think many find interest in the challenge. But, in order to get new Desktop oriented users, it would be best to build tools that make difficult tasks easier. Joe has been working on many tools to help with this, and the feedback and support from the community helps to develop these very much. Currently, it is just too many tasks for the few of us. Hopefully, more will come forward and offer to help. We are just a few guys with a passion for BSD and want to make something of it.
How difficult was it to develop the platform? Why FreeBSD as the base?
Most of the troubles are things that just need attention in FreeBSD base. Why FreeBSD.. I think I answered that above ;)
There is no software center, so everything is done by the command-line and terminal?
Currently, yes. The FreeBSD pkg system isn't hard – once you get it down, but it is a boring command-line tool. We have talked about possible graphical tools, and I am sure it will be something that is revisited again in the future.
Where do you see FuryBSD in the next 3 years?
Hopefully on every desktop! Realistically, I am hoping for a good strong following, and active development moving forward steadily. Possibly fixing some issues which can help the upstream FreeBSD, and tools to help the common PC user to jump into experiencing BSD with ease.
What is the most common use for FuryBSD?
Currently, I can see it becoming a development workstation, or standard desktop for various business uses, as well as home enthusiast.
How can someone help your project?
Join the community! Start with installing it. Explore, and provide feedback to the group. Submit Bugs, or work on the development of requested features. The more the merrier!
Thank you for your time.
Thank you for the opportunity!