Imagine this: You have a new computer. You are considering a Linux operation system as your main os. Then again, you have also heard that BSD distributions are viable as well. Here are the five things you should consider when you are making your os choice. Note that this is a checklist that I would use. Depending on your needs there might be something else worth considering.

1. How much time do you have?

You might be a seasoned veteran with BSDs and many Linuxes. Then again if you are not, then you should really make sure that you have enough time in your hands to learn the tricks of a new operation system. Learning BSDs or Linuxes can be hard or easy. It really depends on what your goals are. If you take something along the lines of Debian or Fedora then it is a lot less time consuming than  installing the Gentoo Linux. Likewise, Freebsd setup and install can be easy and fast if you go and choose the binary route. However, if you build everything from source with ports then it will obviously be more time consuming. Continue reading →