FreeBSD 15.1 lands, but desktop dabblers still have to draw their own GUI

Better laptop sleep and Wi-Fi support make the beastie more portable-friendly, but getting beyond the shell remains a DIY job

After a delay when a microcode-related boot problem surfaced, FreeBSD 15.1 is now available. Laptop support is getting there, but a GUI from the installer isn't – yet. You'll have to put in some extra work if you want to have more than a command prompt.As you might expect from its version number, it's much like a point release of other, more widely used OSes: it contains lots of bug fixes, and hardware support in multiple areas is improved. For the lowdown on what has changed, the Release Notes contain a list of fixes and new features, and the one known issue – in the NFS client – is detailed in the Errata.

FreeBSD 15.1 with GNOME 47 – in its 'Lite' config, with very few additional programs

Liam Proven

Desktop use is something of an edge case for FreeBSD, but the Laptop Support and Usability Project is working on it. We gave a brief update when KDE Plasma 6.6.0 appeared back in February, but work has continued. The May status update is encouraging. Now laptop suspend and resume work, and if you wish, FreeBSD 15.1 can put laptops to sleep when their lids are closed, and wake them when the lids are opened. The team is still working on hibernation, as well as the more modern "S0ix" sleep modes.