FreeBSD?!

K

Kryyll

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Dare I bring this up on a GNU/Linux forum? Ah, screw it!

I've heard that FreeBSD(and other BSD alternatives) our super powerful, super secure, and super stable. I've personally never used it too much, but it seemed very similar to GNU/Linux(obviously because they're both UNIX-like).

Opinions on BSD?? Also, if you've used any form of BSD, please, explain you're experiences(I'm curious :)).
 


I tried to setup a Mail server on OpenBSD. OpenBSD is considered the most secure of the BSDs out of the box. Eventually I switched back to Arch; easier for me to use.

The BSDs are great for servers and rival any GNU/Linux server.
 
I'm an OpenBSD user, run it as my main desktop. FreeBSD is a nice system but the permissiveness towards proprietary stuff might not be to everyone's tastes.
 
Dare I bring this up on a GNU/Linux forum?
Opinions on BSD??
1) Their mascot is much better than Linux's.
2) FreeBSD is a * to install. The two-part procedure of installing then configuring before having a working system caused me no end of grief. I was unable to install a working system after about a dozen attempts.:oops: Installation was easy, but configuration confounded me. I believe I know what I did wrong and want to give it another try, but if the FreeBSD crowd's attitude toward proprietary software is to be believed, my next foray into BSD will probably be OpenBSD.
3) Brothers in arms.

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Edited by @ryanvade
 
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What makes FreeBSD different than OpenBSD. I know that OpenBSD isn't based on FreeBSD and thats all. Any other differences?
 
In simple terms: FreeBSD and NetBSD are both forks of a combination of the old 386BSD and 4.4BSD operating systems.

OpenBSD was forked from NetBSD in the mid 90's.

DragonFly BSD was forked from FreeBSD in '03

There are other *BSDs you may have heard of, but these are mostly "derivatives" (i.e. tracking releases of the OS they are based upon, rather than being forks).

They are all BSD operating systems which makes them similar in many ways but at the same time they do things quite differently. If you want to know more details - search the web.

FreeBSD is often described as being performance focused.

NetBSD is described as being "free, fast, secure, and highly portable"

OpenBSD is well known for being security focused.

DragonFly BSD is best understood by reading their website.

None of these projects have anywhere near the same resources or manpower as some major GNU/Linux distributions - .e.g Debian, 'buntu, Red Hat, Suse, etc.

The only way to see which suits you - if any - is to try them out.
 
I've been trying out FreeBSD 10. It seems like it's getting easier to setup a Desktop. I'm not sure I'm really seeing advantages to it though over GNU/Linux. Possibly, it's real strength is in running as a Server rather than a desktop.
 
I believe you're correct in saying it's strength is with serving. I am also trying out FreeBSD 10 and the install was easy but the Xorg configuration gave me trouble.

I also don't really see any advantage when it comes to installing packages or using the desktop. It does however, run very very nice on my old Gateway ;)
 
I've managed to get it setup without really even configuring Xorg. It seems like that must be a step needed when some default video setting isn't working or passing a test. Or if you have a video card like Nvidia.

Also, hardware support varies wildly with FreeBSD lol. It can be quite a task to get Wifi up.

I will give FreeBSD credit for their Handbook though. I'm curious about DragonFly, but I think some of their documentation is confusing. One of these days I should checkout OpenBSD.
 

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