New to BSD, which BSD should I use? reddit / BSD ---------------------------------------------------------------------- [deleted] · 2021-01-06 12:16 [deleted] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- gumnos · 2021-01-06 12:34 Try several and see which you like the best? I have multiple BSDs running on various machines—OpenBSD on some, FreeBSD on some (including the daily-driver on which I'm typing currently), and have dabbled with PC-BSD/TrueOS & HardenedBSD (both of which are modified FreeBSD). I've not dabbled with GhostBSD. Each has their strengths and weaknesses and without knowing your use- case (server? desktop? gaming? multimedia? laptop-vs-desktop? niche hardware?) it's hard to give any sort of meaningful answer. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- freepackets · 2021-01-06 13:25 If you are leaning the internals, try to read [the design and implementation of the FreeBSD ](https://www.amazon.com/- /zh_TW/gp/aw/d/0321968972/ref=dp_ob_neva_mobile) . Install FreeBSD 11.4 with source code, read the book and the source code side by side then you will learn a lot. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- chrisvanderhaven · 2021-01-06 13:59 I went the direct route at first, and installed FreeBSD 12, along with KDE on a laptop. I tried that briefly, and then switched to GhostBSD, and absolutely love it. The only thing I wish is that the GhostBSD forums were more active, but you can get help here if you need it. I regularly use this subreddit to find solutions to any issues I've had. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- thedaemon · 2021-01-06 14:11 Us GhostBSD users hang out in Telegram. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- thedaemon · 2021-01-06 14:13 GhostBSD is my recommended BSD. FreeBSD with OpenRC under the hood and a few nifty things for desktop users. It’s my daily driver. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- chrisvanderhaven · 2021-01-06 14:16 I'll have to check that out. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- [deleted] · 2021-01-06 14:22 [deleted] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- joefarmer13 · 2021-01-06 14:29 Depends a lot on what hardware you're going to run it on... ---------------------------------------------------------------------- teksimian · 2021-01-06 16:16 What do you like better about ghostbsd over freebsd? ---------------------------------------------------------------------- pacmanlives · 2021-01-06 16:51 No IRC channel for GhostBSD on Freenode? ---------------------------------------------------------------------- crocflamingo · 2021-01-06 16:57 OpenBSD, freebsd and freebsd distros are all cringe ---------------------------------------------------------------------- chrisvanderhaven · 2021-01-06 17:00 Everything was pre-built in the Mate desktop environment. When I installed FreeBSD, I had to manually install the desktop, which basically had nothing in it. I'm new to 'nix, and even the desktop environment installation process took me several attempts to get right and functional. I wanted something usable right from the start, that I could learn as I used it. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- SlickWatson · 2021-01-06 17:12 FreeBSD ---------------------------------------------------------------------- thedaemon · 2021-01-06 17:17 #ghostbsd but you won’t get a fast response. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ptrlpk · 2021-01-06 17:26 The project of which you like the documentation most ---------------------------------------------------------------------- tehtrb · 2021-01-06 18:03 Depends on what you want to do. For a server I'd go OBSD anywhere I can, for the beautiful simplicity and cleanliness of the tools and system. For general-purpose "easy" desktop use, I would choose something FreeBSD-based, simply for the much bigger pkg collection. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- CharlieJones1957 · 2021-01-06 18:47 in my not so humble opinion, based in experience with GhostBSD, it's s-l-o-w, so I'm more seriously thinking about OpenBSD now, and also, maybe Minix... ---------------------------------------------------------------------- [deleted] · 2021-01-06 19:03 [deleted] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- pacmanlives · 2021-01-06 19:04 No need to yell at me 😝 Markdown will get ya every time ---------------------------------------------------------------------- [deleted] · 2021-01-06 19:12 [deleted] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- vegaart2003 · 2021-01-06 19:18 FreeBSD is, generally, the best starting point (unless you have specific requirements like security or so). ---------------------------------------------------------------------- thedaemon · 2021-01-06 19:41 Silly markdown. Didn’t know it worked. #haha ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Tireseas · 2021-01-06 20:23 What you need to understand is The various major BSDs are NOT like Linux distros. In other words they're not a community kernel, (usually) GNU userland, and various FOSS projects bolted together into a gestalt OS. They're separate operating systems entirely, each developed in a single tree by one team. As for which to try, I'd say FreeBSD would be the most end user centric though OpenBSD can be very nice if your hardware is supported. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- xplosm · 2021-01-06 20:37 If only there were a KDE community edition like in the past. Or at least a section in the installer to select your DE. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- xplosm · 2021-01-06 20:38 >For a server I'd go **OBSD** anywhere I can You mean OpenBSD? If so, it's important to use the official names specially for newcomers so they can do their own research or select it right away. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Foxhkron · 2021-01-06 21:30 I have had a decent experience with OpenBSD ---------------------------------------------------------------------- blackhaz2 · 2021-01-06 21:59 RIch, almost bazaar-like general-purpose FreeBSD vs clean, small-town pure OpenBSD. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- _-Hex · 2021-01-07 02:38 I guess you should look first at what software you are looking to use with the machine as well as looking at specific features that a *BSD is bringing to the table. For example, you can check openports.se for OpenBSD software and freshports.org for FreeBSD. For OS specific stuff, FreeBSD has ZFS, jails and poudriere among others. OpenBSD on the other hand has a leaner codebase, stellar documentation and sane and secure defaults among others, this means that if your hardware is supported, you're basically as good as plug and play. Check those out to know which would make sense for your use case. In my humble opinion, I think it would be wise to start with something leaner and smaller if your use case allows you to do so and only consider other "bigger" options on the merit of the additional features that they bring in. In my use case, I run OpenBSD on my main laptop for daily stuff because all of the software that I need are available in their ports collection and I use FreeBSD for my home server because of ZFS. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- mcandre · 2021-01-07 05:08 Please use Ghost and fix their stuff for System76 hardware pretty please. The CLI is solid but my god, the GUI login screen loops forever it's the worst. And it's 2021 with no WiFi driver in stable. OpenBSD is rather a cute project I wish their packages would alias properly instead of breaking my provisioning scripts week after week. Dragonfly is like that x10. No regrets with FreeBSD from a CLI perspective, esp. Vagrant VM's. OpenBSD has one of the snappiest, fastest Packer builds I've ever seen, the initial OS install is great. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 3G6A5W338E · 2021-01-07 06:24 Either netbsd or openbsd. Probably the latter, unless your hardware is old or exotic. The reason is sane default settings and quality of documentation. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- DamienCouderc · 2021-01-07 10:58 Is this a thing in the actual Linux scene that nobody knows about search engines ? This question has already been asked so many times here that I don't understand how it can be missed. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- thedaemon · 2021-01-07 17:31 You can install the DE or WM of your choice and choose whichever one you want at the login screen. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- xplosm · 2021-01-07 17:39 Oh totally. It's just the hassle of removing all GTK+ packages and replacing with Qt/KDE packages including the DM. Reconfiguring policies and the sort. In that case it's not saving much than installing FreeBSD from scratch. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- nahnah2017 · 2021-01-08 11:31 That recommendation is far, far away from necessary when one doesn't know which BSD to install yet. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- freepackets · 2021-01-08 13:54 As far as BSD is concerned, there are not many good choices. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- jf4488 · 2021-01-09 11:45 Gaming on BSD? How does that work? Sounds interesting ---------------------------------------------------------------------- thedaemon · 2021-01-19 17:04 Wine and Linuxulator mostly. Some native ports. Homura is a good port to setup wine Steam. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- drunksciencehoorah · 2021-01-24 17:11 OpenBSD's 'the most secure OS', no? Or is that just marketing?