Is FreeBSD ideal for beginners? reddit / BSD ---------------------------------------------------------------------- [deleted] · 2021-03-10 00:09 [deleted] [View Poll](https://www.reddit.com/poll/m1kao6) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- bigpook · 2021-03-10 00:20 A beginner with no computer knowledge. Ubuntu is the only clear winner here. Suse is a possibility, if you can install it with no issues, ymmv. But even then, for a first time user, maybe. BSD is a whole different beast. You need your unix kung fu for this one. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Ashli_unix · 2021-03-10 00:57 If there's something specific in my mind, yeah. Don't know enough about that make that statement. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Ignorad · 2021-03-10 01:15 This isn't life or death, and you aren't locked into your choice forever. Just pick one, see if you like it. If not, move on. All three are quite unique. General shell commands will carry over, but as you observed, all use unique package managers to install software, different startup systems, etc. I personally can't stand SUSE, I don't like the way Ubuntu has systemd and is geared towards Ubuntu cloud. So that leaves FreeBSD. It's good. But it still depends on which OS does what you actually want to do. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- reviewmynotes · 2021-03-10 03:30 FreeBSD was better than Linux when I was a beginner because it has very good documentation. It still does, and I've heard from many people that Linux still doesn't. Check out the FreeBSD Handbook at freebsd.org/handbook to see what I mean. The FreeBSD equivalent to apt is pkg. I found it very easy to learn. You can also easily update the OS with freebsd-update. Both of these are well documented in the Handbook, including examples. One thing to note: You mentioned Ubuntu and SuSE. Those are both Linux distributions. FreeBSD isn't. It's a completely different operating system that is directly descended from Unix while Linux is inspired by Unix and considered "Unix-like." ---------------------------------------------------------------------- BlatantMediocrity · 2021-03-10 04:05 Pick what suits your needs. FreeBSD is pretty neat, but you’re going to need to make sure the software you want and the hardware you have is compatible with the OS. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ight-bet · 2021-03-10 04:27 I suggest arch. I had never used Linux until my operating systems class in college. The break before I decided to install arch and learn how it works. Used it for year’s and it really helped me understand Unix. If you have a drive and natural curiosity for this sort of thing, you will be fine and you will figure it out. Once you figure it out, maybe take a few weeks even, you’ll be off to the races. Being able to at least function with arch is fairly straightforward. And it will introduce you to a lot of things and allow you to do a lot of things that you wouldn’t otherwise encounter in another distro. Just start at the end of the race if, get comfortable with it, then you really know what it is you’re looking for. Vs. going for some basic distribution and not really learning much. Or going w BSD, which in my experience is just a little more difficult to tailor than arch. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- unionize1917 · 2021-03-10 06:05 Play around with each in a virtual machine, that will give you an idea how each one works and which one will suit you more ---------------------------------------------------------------------- desnudopenguino · 2021-03-10 06:21 Do you have any familiarity with using the command line and reading manual (man) pages, and a problem saving mindset? If yes to those, give FreeBSD a shot. If no, you might need some guidance into this world starting with a more beginner friendly UI. Pcbsd (a FreeBSD derivative) was my first foray into anything unix- like. I didn't have much trouble, but I'm pretty hard headed when I want to do something. It came with a not horrid gui. But after a few months I went straight FreeBSD, then messed around in linux land for a bit, then landed on OpenBSD as my daily, and a preference between free and OpenBSD since then for other services. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- [deleted] · 2021-03-10 06:23 Honestly, I wouldn't really recommend FreeBSD to a beginner, especially due to its lack of X in its core system. I'd recommend NetBSD (or even OpenBSD) instead, which does come with X in its core system (though you'll have to compile your own system updates, but the documentation is so good that it'll be a trivial task). ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Trilkk · 2021-03-10 07:42 If you're intending to use only one OS as your daily driver, Ubuntu is probably the best option here, because it has extensive software support and you can, say, play games on it (through Steam and otherwise). A word of note about the ease of use. We should differentiate between user-friendly and beginner-friendly. "Beginner-friendly" is when it's easy to start using a system and achieve things just by looking around and googling - it's easy to do simple things, but the system is doing this by hiding complexity from you, and more complex things might be incredibly difficult to achieve. Windows and Ubuntu are "beginner- friendly" operating systems. To understand what I mean, think about the Windows registry or systemd in general, and whether or not the general user needs to ever dive into those. The other option is "user-friendly". It doesn't mean that there's no learning curve, but it's reasonably easy to look up information and the software is doing its best to help you learn through documentation and concise rules. It's important to adhere to the principle of least astonishment. The system is not hiding anything, and once you've understood how things work, they will keep working the same way without surprises or hidden features. FreeBSD is an "user-friendly" operating system. (No intent on OS wars here. I'm running all three in my home - FreeBSD as the media PC / server in the living room and a both Ubuntu and Windows in desktop role. Cannot comment on SUSE.) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- jaypatelani · 2021-03-10 08:23 I am not sure how Linux Rolling works but NetBSD has daily stable updates. And very stable OS for daily use has bit of learning curve. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- sehnsuchtbsd · 2021-03-10 08:49 As a teen, coming from Windows, I've started with OpenSolaris and moved to FreeBSD a couple of years later. I didn't touch Linux up until around 2018. With the proper dedication and will to learn, I think it's perfectly feasible. BSD is simpler and easier to understand once one overcomes the entry barrier ---------------------------------------------------------------------- [deleted] · 2021-03-10 08:57 [removed] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- FUZxxl · 2021-03-10 11:09 FreeBSD is good for beginners who have a general aptitude towards technology and are willing to read manuals. Otherwise I wouldn't recommend it. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- kyleW_ne · 2021-03-10 11:23 OpenBSD a few releases back (6.6 I believe but don't kill me if wrong) got binary updates for i386, amd64, and arm64. syspatch and sysupgrade. NetBSD as far as I can tell from my most recent checking (which was just a few months back) still doesn't though. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- DanKadmos · 2021-03-10 11:56 Get GhostBSD, is the Linux Mint of the FreeBSD world. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- deannielsen2 · 2021-03-10 12:30 I'll definitely look into it! Thanks! ---------------------------------------------------------------------- dddddavidddd · 2021-03-10 14:50 FreeBSD is ideal for a beginner who likes to read `man` pages and the FreeBSD Handbook. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- deaddodo · 2021-03-10 17:40 For me, this was one reason I ended up using FreeBSD; but this was back in the FreeBSD 4.x/5.x days, when I was still on dial up and had a non-reliable connection + dumb phone. Nowadays, I probably would not have ended up on FreeBSD given how easily accessible an internet search is. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- oiwot · 2021-03-10 17:45 Really depends what your use case is... What you specifically want to do / learn. FreeBSD is great for some beginners, and quite inappropriate for others depending on those answers. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- [deleted] · 2021-03-10 20:12 [deleted] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- NitroNilz · 2021-03-12 00:46 Then also NomadBSD.org