which is your personal favorite, openbsd or freebsd? and why? i''m going to make the switch, i thought i would give it a try. thx -stephen

I''ve never tried OpenBSD, but I hear that it is very nice. I have tried FreeBSD, and wasn''t too impressed with it. Keep in mind that I use linux instead of BSD, so take it with a grain of salt.

Oh, and you''re forgetting NetBSD

<img src=http://webspace.utexas.edu/~mvdepala/random/resist-ignorance.png

A few things to bear in mind with BSD. They sort of niche into servers, not desktops. Still, they have the same bells and whistles. They also tend to lag behind the current Linux library version, which is good in my mind.

BSDs have a more consistent user/admin experience however. sysctl is an example, instead of modifying /proc to tune some values, you can do so with this utility.

It also has some consistencies for starting services and such.

That being said, FreeBSD is probably the best on the desktop. The port system is nice for applications installation. OpenBSD has more security enhancements, and so might be a little much if you''re looking to just learn BSD. NetBSD is a minimalistic install, but they have it running on platforms you probably don''t even know exist =) All of them have the more "roll up your sleeves" installations, but nothing too hard. You have to do the old Xconfig routine that I don''t see on current Linux breeds.

Honestly the differences are very minor, but enough to confuse people new to Unix in general (just as Solaris differences can shake some Linux admins or vice versa).

BSD for a long time was considered technically superior by geeks to Linux in terms of performance and niched as a DNS, Web, and Squid server for many ISPs. Since then Linux has matured and has become more common place in the world.

Personally, I''m not a huge fan of the OSS license, preferring BSD (less rules on use), but any Nix is a good Nix =) I also use 15" Powerbook as my primary machine so I also slant a little to BSD when I can out of some sense of loyalty and support.

Interim

thx, i think im gonna go with freebsd

Good choice =)

http://www.freebsd.org/

And

http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/index.html

The latter has a great introduction to the FreeBSD (and mostly BSD) unique items (including kernel steps, ports, interface configuration, startup, etc). Some of it will be redundant for most Unix users, but still good if you never used BSD.

But if you''re curious about the other breeds, its pretty much the same thing. OpenBSD has its security gotchas, but all in all its the same.

Interim

I prefer OpenBSD to FreeBSD. Better documentation, best FAQ ever, and more secure by default. But its just a preference. I run OpenBSD on two machines. It is great for network edge devices. I also use it on a server that I hardly use. I run FreeBSD on my desktop, along with XP. FreeBSD was harder to get configured properly, and I couldn''t for the life of me get it to recognize any of my nics on install (I ended up burning an .iso). But, Nvidia has released more up to date drivers for FreeBSD. Not that I am using the functionality at all right now, I just thought it might be nice for down the road.

Both Distros have pros and cons; you probably won''t realize the differneces until you are experienced enough with them to not have to worry about which one is better. For most applications, it is a preference. For a first time install...FreeBSD is a more forgiving crowd than that of OpenBSD, but I have had much easier times installing OpenBSD.

Anyway, whichever way you go, enjoy!

The Tyr project is here.