@nprofile1q...
Honestly, Linux is pretty far into the "it just works" category nowadays, but if you'd prefer a more unixy experience, and don't mind a daily supplement of RTFM (😄), the BSDs are pretty great.
I'm still a n00b (always a n00b, but that's ok!), but here's kind of how I see them:
FreeBSD: Very full-featured, ZFS by default, which is amazing, has the most (monetary) support, tends to support newer hardware the best. Requires some RTFM to get a GUI (but this is changing soon). Easy-to-use TUI installer
OpenBSD: Very secure, somewhat minimalist mindset, tends to work well on hardware it supports, lacking a modern filesystem (UFS/FFS only). Gives you a basic X11 GUI out of the box. Relatively easy-to-use prompt/script-based installer. Forked from NetBSD in the 90s
NetBSD: Supports architectures you've completely forgotten about. "Of course it runs NetBSD." A very portable/standard base for development (very standard unixy/bsd-y things, not as eccentric). Ask around before buying hardware to make sure it's well-supported. Needs more funding (I hope to contribute a little next year, if things go well). Includes things (like ZFS, bluetooth, FFS "softdeps") that OpenBSD has jettisoned or avoided for maintainability reasons. Lead dev is active on Fedi, and helpful. Lacks full-disk encryption.
DragonflyBSD: Haven't tried this one yet. It was forked from FreeBSD in the 2000s, and has its own modern filesystem called HAMMER2.
GhostBSD: a desktop-oriented FreeBSD "distro" with a graphical installer. Wasn't able to get it working the last time I tried it
NomadBSD: a desktop-oriented FreeBSD "distro" that runs from a persistent USB, or can be installed. Worked decently well for me when I tried it
I mostly run FreeBSD, Linux, and OpenBSD.
Holler any time I can be of assistance.
Cheers, and happy holidays!
Honestly, Linux is pretty far into the "it just works" category nowadays, but if you'd prefer a more unixy experience, and don't mind a daily supplement of RTFM (😄), the BSDs are pretty great.
I'm still a n00b (always a n00b, but that's ok!), but here's kind of how I see them:
FreeBSD: Very full-featured, ZFS by default, which is amazing, has the most (monetary) support, tends to support newer hardware the best. Requires some RTFM to get a GUI (but this is changing soon). Easy-to-use TUI installer
OpenBSD: Very secure, somewhat minimalist mindset, tends to work well on hardware it supports, lacking a modern filesystem (UFS/FFS only). Gives you a basic X11 GUI out of the box. Relatively easy-to-use prompt/script-based installer. Forked from NetBSD in the 90s
NetBSD: Supports architectures you've completely forgotten about. "Of course it runs NetBSD." A very portable/standard base for development (very standard unixy/bsd-y things, not as eccentric). Ask around before buying hardware to make sure it's well-supported. Needs more funding (I hope to contribute a little next year, if things go well). Includes things (like ZFS, bluetooth, FFS "softdeps") that OpenBSD has jettisoned or avoided for maintainability reasons. Lead dev is active on Fedi, and helpful. Lacks full-disk encryption.
DragonflyBSD: Haven't tried this one yet. It was forked from FreeBSD in the 2000s, and has its own modern filesystem called HAMMER2.
GhostBSD: a desktop-oriented FreeBSD "distro" with a graphical installer. Wasn't able to get it working the last time I tried it
NomadBSD: a desktop-oriented FreeBSD "distro" that runs from a persistent USB, or can be installed. Worked decently well for me when I tried it
I mostly run FreeBSD, Linux, and OpenBSD.
Holler any time I can be of assistance.
Cheers, and happy holidays!