guide to bsd for linux users?

[tommyj27]

does anyone know if something like this exists? a guide for someone familiar with linux to doing some basic things with bsd. i've got a dual boot set up on my laptop but i'm pretty well lost when i try to do much of anything, mounting disks, setting up ethernet, etc.

[serz]

You can downlod the FreeBSD handbook from its site I think.

[scott_R]

"Sam's teach yourself FreeBSD in 21 days" (or something like that), was a pretty decent book. If you're looking to get it up and running instantly however, it may not be what you want. On the other hand, if you really want to look into using freebsd and you're familiar with using the console, it's a good starter book.

The reason I'm saying that last part is because the author has you install freebsd with most of the goodies turned off (X-windows, kde, most of the services), and then you walk through it and install them. It even taught me some more arcane things that I could apply towards linux.

Granted, it's not a perfect reference, and it's perhaps not great for a newbie switching from Windows to FreeBSD, I did find it a good book for a linux user to start with. It comes with a cd, and it's most recent printing is 2003.

I borrowed it from a local library, but liked it enough to buy it outright to support the author.

[Alex Cavnar, aka alc6379]

As it was said earlier, the FreeBSD handbook is freely downloadable.

I bought mine as part of a BSD powerpak, but the complete text of it is available online. Try browsing www.freebsd.org for the link to that. It will walk you through everything from the install, to administration, a little security, and even some advanced topics, like using vinum software RAID and others.