Full-disk encryption arrives as ghostbsd 26.2 takes fright out of freebsd with a friendlier installer

A simpler path to FreeBSD

FreeBSD 15.1, released in June, was the latest point release at the time of writing. A plan to offer KDE Plasma from the installer has not yet come to fruition, leaving users to set up a graphical desktop themselves with a standard FreeBSD installation.

GhostBSD offers a more familiar desktop route for people curious about FreeBSD. Its conventional environment may also appeal to users who find Daemonarchy’s keyboard-driven, tiling desktop unfamiliar.

MATE and Xfce options

The standard GhostBSD 26.2 edition installs MATE 1.28. A community-maintained version instead uses Xfce 4.20, and both editions use the XLibre fork of the X.org X11 server. The MATE edition defaults to a dark theme and a two-panel layout reminiscent of GNOME 2. Its Administration menu includes BE Station for boot environments, Software Station for applications, and Update Station for updates.

Gershwin left out

The previous GhostBSD release also offered Gershwin, a Mac OS X-like desktop environment. It is not included in version 26.2, although development continues. Project lead Joe Maloney said packaging Gershwin had been difficult to fit into his available time. He also pointed to rapid contributions from AppImage creator Simon Peter, known as probono, which made the packaging work increasingly challenging.

Encryption joins the toolkit

Full-disk encryption is among the tools added to GhostBSD 26.2. The release keeps its focus on making FreeBSD more approachable through a ready-to-use desktop and project-provided utilities. Users who prefer open-source alternatives to those utilities can seek replacements, while using GhostBSD to reduce the setup work involved in trying FreeBSD.