I need a challenge, although I'm afraid that BSD would be too much for me. I'm starting to grow really tired of newbie distros that are near Win clones. I want to be reckless. Is freeBSD an option for me? I looked into Slackware but eventually got mad at the partitioning. I looked at some screens of BSD at it looks amazing to me. There's only one thing I need to know - is the installation...:

1. PAIN

2. Hard, but not overwhelming

3. So easy, you can do it like RH


Heh, I just threw 3 in there for fun. I am also aware of others such as NetBSD and ... there was another one... can't remember right now though. What are these used for? What is BSD in the first place? All I know is that's sort of like Unix. Some pretty big information explaining BSD would be really appreciated here. Thanks.



EDIT: There I changed the subject. Please don't dismiss the thread because I have a "should I get this..." type thing. I do need some advice before I go through with this.

Oops.. Probably shouldn't have done a "Should I get [insert distro here] ...?" type thread. Last one for a long time, I swear. Just need some helpful advice please.

From what I've seen of your posts, no. Feel free to try but no

If you struggled with the Slackware install then you'll find FreeBSD won't be any easier, OpenBSD will prove impossible and I haven't ever used NetBSD to comment. You could give FreeSBIE a try, it's a FreeBSD-based LiveCD that you can install, comes pre-setup but the way it works is very different to linux, you'd have to learn lots of stuff again.

Great link for linux-BSD differences.

If you want to then you should give it a try. The install is not hard at all -- IF, and this is a big IF, you have read the handbook and the install documentation. It tells you everything in advance. Then you should get even more familiar with the handbook to know how to setup X and everything.

But FreeBSD is not that hard of a distro to install and use.

{Net and Open both have similar installations which are considerably more complex *looking* then FreeBSD... but they are not really harder per say.}

Anyway, I wouldn't recommend picking a distro or OS (as FreeBSD is not a distro) because it is "going to be hard." I think you should pick something because it meets your needs.

Here is an unpopular opinion....

If your interested in BSD and want to just play and look? Get a Mac.

You have the safety of the Mac gui but any time you want to dive under the covers you can.
Apple has definately put their goofy little spin on it but as a Unix Systems Admin (mostly AIX) Mac is a definate starting place if your scared of the Unix/BSD world.

I'm not pro Mac as much as I'm anti-Microsoft. But I run Mac as my work machine.

I've used fink to down load open source packages and as a x desktop.

Try it either way (Mac or FreeBSD).

Just my opinion.

-pete