14 DAY TRIAL // PC-BSD 10.0.3, a BSD distribution with the goal to be an easy to install and use desktop operating system based on FreeBSD, has been released and packs a large number of updated packages.
The developers of PC-BSD have explained that their distro is based on the FreeBSD 10.0-RELEASE, but there are many differences from that base. In fact, the number of changes is quite large and it would be hard to see how the two OSes are actually related.
BSD systems don't have a great track record of being friendly and good-looking operating systems, but after you try PC-BSD you will definitely change your mind. This is a complete distribution and even the picky users will find that it provides more than enough features.
Quarterly package updates are not bad at all
As the version number tells us, this is the third update in the series and the developers are not showing any signs of slowing down, although it looks like they are preparing for another major release in just a few months.
"This update includes a number of important bug-fixes, as well as newer packages and desktops. Packages such as Chromium 37.0.2062.94, Cinnamon 2.2.14, Lumina 0.6.2 and more. This release also includes a CD-sized ISO of TrueOS, for users who want to install a server without X. We are already hard at work on the next major release of PC-BSD, 10.1 later this fall, which will include FreeBSD 10.1-RELEASE under the hood," say the developers in the official announcement.
It's easy to see from what the developers are saying that users will find all the interesting amenities that you can see in Linux distros, like the latest Cinnamon desktop environment or Chromium as the default browser.
What has been changed in PC-BSD 10.0.3?
According to the changelog, Cinnamon has been updated to version 2.2.14, Chromium is now at version 37.0.2062.94, the NVIDIA drivers 340.24 have been implemented, Lumina desktop 0.6.2-beta is now available, various fixes have been added to the Appcafe Qt UI, Warden / jail creation have received some bug fixes, a bug that made the USB media to not always be bootable has been fixed, and several issues with the Xorg setup have been corrected.
Also, Boot-Environments is now able to set "beadm activate" as default, support has been added for jail "bulk" creation via Warden, a number of fixes have been implemented for the relative ZFS dataset mount-point creation via Warden, and full-disk (GELI) encryption is now supported without an unencrypted /boot partition.
If you are running a previous version of FreeBSD, all you have to do is to go to Control Panel > Package Manager > Updates and perform the necessary upgrades from there.
It's also worth noting that the server edition of PC-BSD, which is called TrueOS, has been updated as well, and a CD-sized ISO image of it has been added to the DVD.
A complete list of changes and new features can be found in the official announcement. You can download PC-BSD 10.0.3 right now from Softpedia. Please keep in mind that this is an installable image and not a Live one.