Book recommendations for FreeBSD and OpenBSD
 

I'm a Linux user right now, and I'd like to get into FreeBSD and OpenBSD. Since winter is not far away at all, I'd like to go out and buy a couple of thick books about these two operating systems. Can anyone recommend something? I did run into the one called "Absolute OpenBSD", but the age of it, 2003, gives me a little outdated feeling about it (Could I use it even though it's a little old? Like would there be something new and important I'd be missing?).

They're the same... but some what different. You'll probably get confused doing both. Do one at a time for a while. The OBSD book is good and still applicable.

For FreeBSD, get http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/cfreebsd/. Greg Lehey was working on newer, not sure of the status. The Absolute BSD (FreeBSD) is also worth reading.

Thanks -X-, hehe don't worry I won't do 'em both at once, I'm not some kind of OS Einstein :P

You didn't ask, but I'd start off with FreeBSD, IMHO. Greg's book The Complete FreeBSD is excellent. Great for insomnia. Then, Open BSD seems like a nice project around December/January.

It would be great if you could post your experience later on.

I thought of the same, FreeBSD seems like a very good starting point.

Actually, I thought of writing a few simple and useful articles, like a simple guide to getting a simple desktop FreeBSD up and running, when I get some knowledge to write down, and post 'em on my website.

You might also consider the two volume Freebsd Handbook at www.freebsdmall.com. Here's what is covered:

Volume I

* Introduction & History of FreeBSD
* Installation
* Unix basics
* Using X-Windows
* Modern Desktop Environments
* Running Linux applications in FreeBSD
* Setting up audio and video playback with FreeBSD
* Configuring a custom FreeBSD kernel
* Printing with FreeBSD
* Installing FreeBSD updates over the Internet

Volume II

* Configuration and Tuning
* The Boot Process
* Users and Account Management
* Security
* Mandatory Access Control
* Storage
* The Vinum Volume Manager
* Localization
* Source Updates
* Serial Communications
* PPP and PPP over Ethernet
* Electronic Mail
* Running Network Servers
* Advanced Networking

For a look at what you might cover on-line about your own freebsd (or OBSD) experience, you might have a look at www.freebsddiary.org

Cheers--
Charles

The freebsd handbook is also a very good resource. You can get it from the freebsd mall as a printed copy or read it online at the freebsd website.

Edit: Realised someone had already recommended it.

Absolute BSD is still quite relevant. I just got it today actually. I'm pretty familiar with BSD, but this book is written assuming you don't really know anything about BSD yet. The only things it expects you know are VERY BASIC commands, like 'ls', 'cd', etc.

I think you can find a torrent for the e-book on torrentspy, although I'm not sure if that is legal or not. I think I remember seing it from a search for 'bsd'.

O'Reilly's "BSD Hacks" is a very good second book.

Like Halo 14 said Absolute BSD would be a good place to start. Freebsd Uneashed and The Complete FreeBSD arnt too bad and come with disks. But I really like the articles by Dru Lavigne.

http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/au/73
http://www.onlamp.com/pub/a/bsd/2004...SD_Basics.html