15.6 Summary

While FreeBSD is popular amongst ISPs for its performance and stability, it is quite ready for day-to-day use as a desktop. With several thousand applications available as packages or ports, you can build a perfect desktop that suits all your needs.

Once you have achieved the installation of your desktop, you may want to go one step further with misc/instant-workstation. This ``meta-port'' allows you to build a typical set of ports for a workstation. You can customize it by editing /usr/ports/misc/instant-workstation/Makefile. Follow the syntax used for the default set to add or remove ports, and build it with the usual procedure. Eventually, you will be able to create a big package that corresponds to your very own desktop and install it to your other workstations!

Here is a quick review of all the desktop applications covered in this chapter: