FreeBSD Foundation Executive Director Tries Daily Driving FreeBSD on Laptop

Recorded: May 24, 2026, 4:58 p.m.

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FreeBSD Foundation Executive Director Tries Daily Driving FreeBSD On Laptop
Written by Michael Larabel in BSD on 24 May 2026 at 10:02 AM EDT. 13 Comments

With FreeBSD having worked on improving its laptop support over the past two years with some big changes and ongoing efforts for making a nice KDE desktop experience on FreeBSD, FreeBSD Foundation's Executive Director has been trying to daily drive FreeBSD on laptops.
Similar to the Linux Foundation Executive Director at least in the past being seen at conferences running Apple macOS, it turns out FreeBSD Executive Director Deb Goodkin until recently hasn't been running FreeBSD as the daily OS on her laptop/desktop hardware. Deb Goodkin presented at last week's Open Source Summit hosted by the Linux Foundation in Minneapolis on her experience trying out FreeBSD on modern laptop hardware.
As the Executive Director of the FreeBSD Foundation since 2005, she noted in the past every time she tried running FreeBSD on laptops "it felt like a mountain" and ultimately getting stuck and it being time consuming. Using a Framework Laptop, she tried FreeBSD as a daily driver for at least 10 minutes a day.
With the Framework Laptop, the touchscreen "just worked" as did other basic functionality from the KDE desktop on FreeBSD, including peripherals like a wireless mouse.
Among the challenges were Zoom failing for video calls but eventually working, the web camera took steps to enable, and Microsoft Teams only partially worked. With the help of online resources, ultimately she was able to succeed in her journey of running FreeBSD daily on a laptop.
Those wishing to learn more about Deb's experience running FreeBSD on laptop as a daily system can see the presentation assets from OSS 2026 on the presentation page.

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The FreeBSD Foundation Executive Director, Deb Goodkin, explored using FreeBSD as a daily operating system on modern laptop hardware as part of ongoing efforts to improve laptop support and enhance the KDE desktop experience on FreeBSD. Prior experiences with running FreeBSD on laptops had been characterized by significant difficulty and time consumption. Goodkin shared her experience at the Open Source Summit hosted by the Linux Foundation regarding this trial. She utilized a Framework Laptop for this endeavor, aiming to establish FreeBSD as a practical daily driver. Basic functionality, such as the touchscreen operation and other core elements of the KDE desktop environment, functioned as expected on the system, including proper integration of peripherals like a wireless mouse.

Despite these initial successes, the process encountered several technical obstacles. Specific challenges included issues with video conferencing applications, where Zoom initially failed for video calls, and difficulties in enabling the web camera. Furthermore, the Microsoft Teams application only functioned partially. Ultimately, Goodkin managed to overcome these hurdles and successfully established FreeBSD as a functional daily system on her laptop through the utilization of external online resources. This successful journey illustrates the challenges and eventual attainability of implementing FreeBSD on contemporary laptop hardware for daily use.