Chapter 6 Commercial Applications

Note: This section is still very sparse, though we are hoping, of course, that companies will add to it! :) The FreeBSD group has no financial interest in any of the companies listed here but simply lists them as a public service (and feels that commercial interest in FreeBSD can have very positive effects on FreeBSD's long-term viability). We encourage commercial software vendors to send their entries here for inclusion. See the Vendors page for a longer list.

6.1. Where can I get an Office Suite for FreeBSD?
6.2. Where can I get Motif® for FreeBSD?
6.3. Where can I get CDE for FreeBSD?
6.4. Are there any commercial high-performance X servers?
6.5. Are there any Database systems for FreeBSD?
6.6. Can I run Oracle® on FreeBSD?
6.7. Are there any commercial web browsers available for FreeBSD?

6.1. Where can I get an Office Suite for FreeBSD?

The open-source OpenOffice office suite works natively on FreeBSD. The Linux® version of StarOffice, the value-added closed-source version of OpenOffice, also works on FreeBSD.

FreeBSD also includes a variety of text editors, spreadsheets, and drawing programs in the Ports Collection.

6.2. Where can I get Motif® for FreeBSD?

The Open Group has released the source code to Motif 2.2.2. You can install the open-motif package, or compile it from ports. Refer to the ports section of the Handbook for more information on how to do this.

Note: The Open Motif distribution only allows redistribution if it is running on an open source operating system.

In addition, there are commercial distributions of the Motif software available. These, however, are not for free, but their license allows them to be used in closed-source software. Contact Apps2go for the least expensive ELF Motif 2.1.20 distribution for FreeBSD (either i386™ or Alpha).

There are two distributions, the “development edition” and the “runtime edition” (for much less). These distributions includes:

OSF/Motif manager, xmbind, panner, wsm.
Development kit with uil, mrm, xm, xmcxx, include and Imake files.
Static and dynamic ELF libraries.
Demonstration applets.

Be sure to specify that you want the FreeBSD version of Motif when ordering (do not forget to mention the architecture you want too)! Versions for NetBSD and OpenBSD are also sold by Apps2go. This is currently a FTP only download.

More info: Apps2go WWW page
or: <sales@apps2go.com> or <support@apps2go.com>
or: phone (817) 431 8775 or +1 817 431-8775

Contact Xi Graphics for an a.out Motif 2.0 distribution for FreeBSD.

This distribution includes:

OSF/Motif manager, xmbind, panner, wsm.
Development kit with uil, mrm, xm, xmcxx, include and Imake files.
Static and dynamic libraries (for use with FreeBSD 2.2.8 and earlier).
Demonstration applets.
Preformatted manual pages.

Be sure to specify that you want the FreeBSD version of Motif when ordering! Versions for BSDI and Linux are also sold by Xi Graphics. This is currently a 4 diskette set... in the future this will change to a unified CD distribution like their CDE.

6.3. Where can I get CDE for FreeBSD?

Xi Graphics used to sell CDE for FreeBSD, but no longer do.

KDE is an open source X11 desktop which is similar to CDE in many respects. You might also like the look and feel of xfce. KDE and xfce are both in the ports system.

6.4. Are there any commercial high-performance X servers?

Yes, Xi Graphics sells Accelerated-X products for FreeBSD and other Intel based systems.

The Xi Graphics offering is a high performance X Server that offers easy configuration, support for multiple concurrent video boards and is distributed in binary form only, in a unified diskette distribution for FreeBSD and Linux. Xi Graphics also offers a high performance X Server tailored for laptop support.

There is a free “compatibility demo” of version 5.0 available.

Xi Graphics also sells Motif and CDE for FreeBSD (see above).

More info: Xi Graphics WWW page
or: <sales@xig.com> or <support@xig.com>
or: phone (800) 946 7433 or +1 303 298-7478.

6.5. Are there any Database systems for FreeBSD?

Yes! See the Commercial Vendors section of FreeBSD's Web site.

Also see the Databases section of the Ports collection.

6.6. Can I run Oracle® on FreeBSD?

Yes. The following pages tell you exactly how to set up Linux-Oracle on FreeBSD:

6.7. Are there any commercial web browsers available for FreeBSD?

Yes. Opera is a multi-platform web browser and is available for FreeBSD. See www.opera.com for details. A version of Opera, paid for by banner ads, is also available in ports.