FreeBSD Journal: Laptop/Desktop (January/February/March 2026)

Posted by grahamperrin@reddit | linux | View on Reddit | 7 comments

This edition focuses on Laptop and Desktop systems, highlighting the work improving usability and performance across FreeBSD. Inside, you’ll find articles like Consolations for Kernel Hackers by Tom Jones, along with an inside look at how the Foundation’s Laptop Support & Usability Project came together, written by Deb Goodkin.

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natermer@reddit

If I was the type of guy that really disliked the way Linux is going in terms of Systemd, wayland, etc... I would probably be a lot more interested in FreeBSD then trying out some fork of Debian or whatever.

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Pitiful-Welcome-399@reddit

Gentoo and void are here for you

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Natural_Night9957@reddit

Add Devuan

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2rad0@reddit

the Linux kernel itself can become a liability in the hands of the Linux Foundation which is very corpo friendly.

It's getting pretty sloppy the last few years. So bad I've started patching out all of the weird system calls they've been busy cramming into the linux kernel with dubious benefit, or little to no public discussion. Basically everything after call number 328, and a few before it.

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Ok-Winner-6589@reddit

Wait what?

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2rad0@reddit

There are a lot of features they don't let you remove when configuring a linux kernel. Most of these new system calls are never used as far as I can tell but if I see a good new call I might allow it. Some of it is rather sketchy like anything geared towards squeezing performance out of datacenter systems, so I wrote a script to patch them out and always return -ENOSYS. Next I need to rig it up to parse Kconfig format to completely block certain options from being (auto)selected. Some more complex fixups might be in the cards as well.

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grahamperrin@reddit (OP)

Letter from the Foundation

Dear FreeBSD Journal Community,

I’m excited to share our latest issue of the FreeBSD Journal, highlighting FreeBSD on modern desktops and laptops, which has been an ongoing priority for the Foundation.

Over the years, the FreeBSD Foundation has consistently invested in improving the FreeBSD desktop experience, with a goal of making it more accessible to a broader community of users. With the support of targeted funding, as mentioned in my article, we’ve recently accelerated our efforts in this area. A few articles in this issue provide a closer look at some of the work on the laptop project.

Inside this issue, you’ll learn about improving TCP responses to reordering, what a console driver is, recent improvements to power management, and how to duplicate your desktop. I also share insights into how our laptop support and usability project came together.

Happy Reading!

Deb Goodkin

Executive Director of the FreeBSD Foundation