From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Tue Mar 29 20:14:11 2011 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id D6E5D106566C for ; Tue, 29 Mar 2011 20:14:11 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from jhsu802701@jasonhsu.com) Received: from meso.stormserver1.net (meso.stormserver1.net [72.52.153.36]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id B112B8FC1C for ; Tue, 29 Mar 2011 20:14:11 +0000 (UTC) Received: from mn-74-5-64-245.dhcp.embarqhsd.net ([74.5.64.245]:48086 helo=localhost) by meso.stormserver1.net with smtp (Exim 4.69) (envelope-from ) id 1Q4erT-0005py-DV for freebsd-questions@freebsd.org; Tue, 29 Mar 2011 14:45:55 -0500 Date: Tue, 29 Mar 2011 14:45:27 -0500 From: Jason Hsu To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Message-Id: <20110329144527.c009ba8b.jhsu802701@jasonhsu.com> X-Mailer: Sylpheed 2.5.0 (GTK+ 2.18.9; i486-pc-linux-gnu) Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-AntiAbuse: This header was added to track abuse, please include it with any abuse report X-AntiAbuse: Primary Hostname - meso.stormserver1.net X-AntiAbuse: Original Domain - freebsd.org X-AntiAbuse: Originator/Caller UID/GID - [47 12] / [47 12] X-AntiAbuse: Sender Address Domain - jasonhsu.com X-Source: X-Source-Args: X-Source-Dir: Subject: Easiest desktop BSD distro X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Tue, 29 Mar 2011 20:14:11 -0000 I want to learn BSD. I find that the best way to familiarize myself with a distro is to adopt it as my main distro (for web browsing, email, word processing, etc.). But the challenge of BSD have so far proven too much for me. It would take too long to configure FreeBSD to my liking. I couldn't figure out what to enter in GRUB to multi-boot Linux and BSD. I tried PC-BSD, GhostBSD, and DragonflyBSD in VirtualBox. I've found PC-BSD agonizingly slow to install and operate, and KDE didn't even boot up when I logged in. GhostBSD has too many things that don't work, such as the keyboard on my laptop and my Internet connection on my desktop. DragonflyBSD didn't boot up in Virtualbox. I recommend Linux Mint as a first Linux distro. It's user-friendly, well-established, widely used, includes codecs/drivers that Ubuntu doesn't, and has a Windows-like user interface. For those with older computers, I recommend Puppy Linux or antiX Linux as a first distro. I'm looking for the analogous choice in the BSD world. So what do you recommend as my first desktop BSD distro? What desktop BSD distro is so easy to use that even Paris Hilton or Jessica "Chicken of the Sea" Simpson can handle it? Please keep in mind that I have a slow Internet connection, and these BSD distros are ENORMOUS. It took some 12-14 hours to download PC-BSD. -- Jason Hsu