What's FreeBSD?

FreeBSD is an operating system with a Unix lineage. If you know Linux, it's not so different overall. If you know macOS, it's not so different if you use the command line. If you know Windows, it's a whole new world.

References for Newcomers

• freebsd.org - the project website
• FreeBSD Handbook - overview of the entire OS
• FreeBSD Manuals - details on specific topics
• mailing lists - various project discussions
• IRC channel #freebsd on Libera - community support

The Docs on this Site

I wrote the docs on this site for two reasons: personal notes and helping others discover FreeBSD.

I found getting started with FreeBSD challenging. Not challenging in an "it's hard" sense, but challenging to even come up with a reason why to use it at all. I've happily used Linux systems for decades, so I needed to be convinced of benefits to justify the overhead to switch. Ultimately, I found my reasons. I'm sharing them here in hopes they might be useful to someone else. In particular, I've summarized what I like about FreeBSD compared to Linux equivalents.