Whats the best BSD for someone new to BSD

[JimmyJazz]

I was thinking of trying BSD on one of my old computers but I'm not really sure which one I should try. I know there was a thread like this before but I can't seem to find it.
I think what I want to see most of all is the speed and I don't want a distro that takes more than 1 CD to install.

[DigitalDuality]

Well that knocks out FreeBSD, not sure how many discs Net or Open are. I think, but don't quote me on it, that DragonFly is one disc. Haven't heard many reviews on it though.

[tseliot]

FreeBSD 6.0 (1CD). It's fast but you need to read the documentation to configure the xserver (i.e. create your xorg.conf) (and maybe recompile the kernel) and do things which are peculiar to BSD.

[Omnios]

I have PC-BSD which is based on free BSD on a old P2 because linux will not install on it properly. Install was painless and hardware detect was also good.

[curuxz]

*waits for bsd freak to come along and post something*.......ok he is not about. erm i asked the same kinda thing a few days ago. I think you should get freebsd (the one im trying at the mo) its only 2 disks, which aint that bad

[Quake]

Maybe you can try FreeSBIE: A fully configured FreeBSD with a working Xserver LiveCD

http://www.freesbie.org

[JimmyJazz]

I'm gonna try out that liveCD on my laptop, then probally move onto FreeBSD

[byen]

Great! Someone asked a question that has been tinkering in my mind too..
It looks as if the most popular among the BSD's is FreeBSD. I dual boot with windows and Ubuntu and was thinking about another distro...but I guess BSD would be a better option.
I have one question though.. do I really have to recompile my kernel and xorg? (*shivers*)

[Mr_Grieves]

I like FreeBSD because there is alot of applications for it. Aswell it's secure and stable. At work we had a FreeBSD installation that ran without any of downtime/reboot for 7 years
And then it ran bind/sendmail fulltime.

But.. when we powered down the server to move it.. it never came up again, hahaha. We actually had an "officiall burrial" for it.. it's was so sad.

[tseliot]

Great! Someone asked a question that has been tinkering in my mind too..
It looks as if the most popular among the BSD's is FreeBSD. I dual boot with windows and Ubuntu and was thinking about another distro...but I guess BSD would be a better option.
I have one question though.. do I really have to recompile my kernel and xorg? (*shivers*)

I had to recompile the kernel in order to add the support for the sound card of my portable computer.
It was extremely easy (there is the documentation), easier than in Linux.

The xorg.conf can be created with a command (you don't have to write all its content). You have to enable mousescroll and set the resolution (and refresh) you need.

Then you have to select the session manager (xdm, gdm or kdm) and make the Desktop Environment selectable form the session manager.

It's all written in the manual.

It's easier and faster than Gentoo (but it has much less Linux applications)