· Consumer Review · 3 min read
Warming Up to BSD
A quick introduction to the BSD family of Operating Systems with a few comparisons and differences betweem BSD and Linux.
I’ve been dabbling with BSD lately. So what does that mean? BSD stands for Berkeley Software Distribution, and it is a set of Operating Systems based on Unix philosophies and designs. As far as Operating Systems go, BSD is still more common on servers that make up crucial infrastructure rather than found on a laptop with the intent of running a browser. BSD is a labor of love for enthusiasts. Less than 0.02% of the market share of Desktops is represented by BSD alone, a top fraction of a percent1.
The core three BSD distributions are FreeBSD, OpenBSD, and NetBSD, but more on that later. BSD is similar to the Linux environment (both are built on Unix philosophies), but has several key differences:
Licensing. BSD licensing leaves the developer free to expand on openly available software for proprietary means. Sony and Nintendo are two major corporations that have implemented FreeBSD into their consoles for commercial success. Linux licensing requires that you redistribute the source code to your contribution.
Structure. With Linux, you are getting a kernel. Linux distributions are a kernel plus a userland built on top of various third-party software to give you the experience of an Operating System. BSD, in contrast, is an entire Operating System. A graphical environment takes extra effort to implement, but everything is included.
Portability. While Linux is known to run on just about any processor, BSD is built for servers. Make no mistake, however, workstations are perfectly feasible for BSD, especially with forks such as GhostBSD and MidnightBSD.
Security. BSD does not take security lightly, but Linux can be hacked to work regardless of the security implications.
Now, let’s talk about the primary three branches of BSD: FreeBSD, OpenBSD, and NetBSD. What makes each Operating System stand out, and what are some example use cases? Both FreeBSD and NetBSD started life in 1993. OpenBSD was forked from NetBSD in 1995. Each derivative is available for download for free, and is free to install and use as the end user sees fit.
FreeBSD
FreeBSD aims to be a general purpose Operating System that runs a wide variety of applications while remaining highly scalable. In order to accomplish this goal, FreeBSD puts their focus on just a few CPU architectures. 
OpenBSD
OpenBSD is security-focused: “Secure by default” philosophy, code auditing, good documentation, integrated cryptography, and adherence to strictly Open Source licensing help secure trust in the hardware communicating correctly with the kernel. 
NetBSD
The biggest aim for NetBSD is portability. It runs on a wide variety of 32-bit and 64-bit processors, and plays nicely with other Operating Systems that might share a hard drive. NetBSD places emphasis on correct design, well-written code, stability, and efficiency.
As stated earlier, there are derivatives. Several derivatives make use of graphical environments that are common in the Linux world as well: Gnome, KDE, XFCE, etc. DragonflyBSD, MidnightBSD, GhostBSD, and NomadBSD come to mind. These all make great workstations, but they are opinionated in ways that the core three wouldn’t take the customization choice from you.
In Conclusion
There is a huge learning curve in front of me, and I have the freedom to build to my needs. I knew that’s what I was getting into with Linux, but seeing everything come together on BSD has been absolutely delightful.
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