What makes BSD stand out as its own system? I've been thinking about installing it in a new computer mainly for reading but I don't know much about it.
I’m going to get crucified for this… for a desktop end-user it’s basically Linux with completely different syntax, lesser hardware compatibility and limited support channels.
And less supported software! Open-source programs can often be compiled for FreeBSD but many closed-source and some open-source software won't work in FreeBSD. There is the Linuxulator, which is basically Wine but for Linux programs on FreeBSD but it doesn't have perfect Linux software support yet.
It’s rock solid. It also has a heavy emphasis on security. Numerous high-end network routers and security devices use it as the base operating system. Darwin, the open source foundation of macOS is also derived from it.
I use FreeBSD for my website and I’m actually pretty happy with it, the simplicity is a strong selling point.
It does feel sometimes like the documentation is written with a lot of assumed knowledge though, which makes it difficult to know what terms to use to find what you’re looking for… e.g. figuring out how to do major version upgrades did not feel straightforward.
Not sure about the BSDs, but for Linux you don't actually need GRUB anymore these days. On modern (i.e. UEFI) systems, you can boot the kernel directly as an EFI binary (this is known as EFISTUB booting).
It's so old and rigid. But it's stable and worth consideration. I put it in a similar camp as Debian. That said, I haven't used it in years so I don't really know the current state of things.
Its a base layer of several other, really good operating systems but I wouldnt use it by itself. If you want something lightweight just install ubuntu or mint.
I wish I could figure that out. I've tried FreeBSD on my laptop, but Bluetooth wouldn't work, I couldn't install Signal, and basic apps I use daily are not available on FreeBSD. I'm not sure who uses it or what they use it for.
afaik it’s still very good for things like DNS and a lot of different server stuff. its more minimal than linux, so has a smaller attack surface and possibly slightly better performance?
i don’t think its particularly useful for generic uses though… if you know you need it, you know you need it. if you don’t need it, you’d be better off with an OS that performs all the things you want it to adequately
Linux on my selfhosted system with email and DNS, FreeBSD on my 2nd system. 2ndary DNS and hot standby for emails. Best of both worlds. You may hack the primary, but not both.