BSD

I'm new to the bsd, I have used knoppix, mandrake, and some others, but I would like to try out freebsd.
What version should I use, or should I try and learn something different first before I got to BSD?

Possibly the best, or most authoritative answer is to read the FreeBSD handbook and see for yourself, so you can discover how FreeBSD differs from other Unix variants like Linux.

http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO...ook/index.html

My impression is that for GUI, there is virtually no difference. In the user land, that is, many Unix commands are identical (at least conceptually) across many Unix environments. But system administration commands and system configurations differ vastly. That is, as you descend towards the system kernel, the more difference you will see.

I would suggest against using BSD for a normal desktop machine. Don't get me wrong, I have a FreeBSD workstation, however it's primary target is not desktop.

A breakdown of which BSD is suited for which task:

FreeBSD:
Great general server. Extremely stable and fast. Pretty much anything that is disk->network or network->disk, FreeBSD is great for. (Web Server, News Server, Mail Server) This includes machine that are going to handle extreme load.

OpenBSD:
Great for secuirty. This includes firewalls, authentication servers (kerberos), VPNs (IPSEC for example) and other network security tasks.

NetBSD:
Great for odd hardware. NetBSD will run on pretty much anything. If you have some odd machine you'd like to run unix on, check out NetBSD.


There are just general overviews, it is not saying that OpenBSD won't make a good web server, or FreeBSD is insecure, it is just pointing out the strongest points of each *BSD operating system.

go with 4.ten for now.. until 5.3, anybody trying out FreeBSD for the first time should stick with the 4.x series. Though, for a single desktop machine, you probably won't have much problem either way.

FreeBSD...

I would suggest using the FreesBIE 1.0 Live CD. I have it. Its very slow on boot-up but it's worth it until you get familiar with FreeBSD. Its just like KNOPPIX but its based on FreeBSD.

Another good version of FreeBSD is 4.9. And includes Java, OpenOffice, and many other office features and applications. I have the 4 CD set, but I am to hesitant to install it on my PC. For now, I have to stick with FreesBIE live CD.

Good Luck