BSD Pros and cons?

[Urban_Squrill]

What are some pros/cons of BSD(all verisons). What is it really used for?

[Siliconjunkie]

I have used FreeBSD a number of times in the past.

BSD can be used for anything that any other OS can be used for. It's a flavor of unix just like Linux.

Many feel that it is more stable/secure. It is also much more "traditional" than Linux. Going from Linux to BSD will be a real change. All the basic commands still work, but there are some subtle differences in where things are and how to do certain things.

Myself, if I had to setup a production server web/dns/mysql/mail I would probably choose BSD over Linux, it is an excellent server OS IMO.

It can be used as a desktop just like Linux can be, but you will have to tinker more to get some things running on it.

If you want to learn about Unix on a more traditional system, FreeBSD is a good choice.

[Urban_Squrill]

anymore

[SpookyEddy]

I use both OpenBSD and NetBSD alongside several Linux machines (which it would be fair to say I am more familiar with). Both are good quality operating systems suitable for a wide variety of tasks (atleast IMO) including file serving (be it smb, ftp, web, nfs etc), networking (including packet filtering, NAT and traffic shapping) and just about anything else you can do with a modern OS.

As allready mentioned the various different projects derived from BSD are just UNIX like operating systems (in the same way that Linux is), all be it with their own querks and subtleties (perhaps one of the most obvious being the license agreement). If you have a passing familiarity with using command line based Linux systems (Slackware comes to mind) then its really not a big deal adjusting to any of teh flavours of BSD, the documentation is also relatively plentiful and easy to find.

If you have any specific questions feel free to ask, otherwise I am just going to ramble on for pages of directionless waffle

Regards

eddy

[Mate88]

Never tried none of them either, but would like too. They seem more for business and servers than a desktop OS though. And complicated for techies not for noobs.

Regards

[Urban_Squrill]

I was thinking about when the service provider installes more bandwith in my area to set up a web server/ ftp. Just for my site(yet to be built).

[SpookyEddy]

OpenBSD, NetBSD or FreeBSD would all be up to the job of providing web hosting and ftp access (I like vsftpd, easy to setup and a good reputation for security). You could also use any of them to setup a desktop OS although FreeBSD is probably the most popular choice (that said I prefer linux for desktops, all a matter of taste).

Regards

eddy