MidnightBSD 3.0.0
Nate Drake almost gets lost in the labyrinth that is MidnightBSD – a surprising open source alternative to Linux.
IN BRIEF
MidnightBSD’s stated goal is to be user-friendly. You can install Xfce during setup, which is a plus. It’s let down by minimal preinstalled apps and a clunky package manager.
SPECS
CPU: 450MHz Mem: 96MB HDD: 10GB (15GB recommended) Builds: i386, x86_64
I f you have any version of Linux on your I computer, you’re part of a very select group, as the operating system only accounts for roughly 2.5% of all users. If this isn’t an exclusive enough group for you, why not consider joining the 0.01% who make use of BSD?
BSD is akin to Linux in that it’s a Unix-like operating system. Where it differs is that unlike Linux, which essentially is just a kernel, BSD projects offer a more complete package including device drivers, utilities and documentation.
MidnightBSD is a fork of FreeBSD and is designed to provide a user-friendly graphical desktop environment for BSD users. The Midnight in the name comes from the former pet cat of two of the lead developers. In the words of MidnightBSD release engineer Lucas Holt, “The FreeBSD project has developed a reliable server operating environment, but often usability and performance on the desktop is overlooked.”