Review: GhostBSD 23.10.1
GhostBSD does a good job, in my opinion, of doing what it sets out to do: provide a pre-configured, desktop operating system which is based on FreeBSD. The project offers a fast, stable, and wonderfully easy to set up desktop platform. I really like how fast and clean MATE is and how GhostBSD makes installing FreeBSD a point-and-click experience.
GhostBSD has added a few convenient utilities too, such as the network manager (networkmgr) and the Software Station. I still found the network utility to be less useful than Network Manager on Linux (it was unable to connect to local wireless networks), but that may be an issue with the underlying network device driver rather than networkmgr itself.
I feel the above point highlights the main drawback to trying GhostBSD. The project does a great job of installing and configuring FreeBSD to be used as a desktop operating system. In this aspect, I cannot find fault with it. However, GhostBSD also inherits its parent's weaknesses when it comes to desktop computing. Wireless drivers, running closed source applications such as Steam, and running less popular open source applications all run up against the limits of what FreeBSD is currently able to do when compared to Linux. GhostBSD is great if you have a wired network and want to run popular open source applications exclusively. It shines in this area. However, when stepping a little outside of this well-trodden ground the platform bumps up against its limitations.