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This document is a database of links related to the BSD operating systems and BSD software license.

Structure is as follows:

Operating systems

In this section, you can find official BSD OSes links (in alphabetical order) with short descriptions as can be found on their pages.

BSD Router Project

BSD Router Project (BSDRP) is an embedded free and open-source router distribution based on FreeBSD with Quagga and BIRD.

CheriBSD

CHERI (Capability Hardware Enhanced RISC Instructions) is a joint research project of SRI International and the University of Cambridge to revisit fundamental design choices in hardware and software to improve system security dramatically. CheriBSD is an adaptation of the open-source FreeBSD operating system to support the CHERI-MIPS, CHERI-RISC-V, and Arm Morello ISAs.

DragonFly BSD

DragonFly belongs to the same class of operating systems as other BSD-derived systems and Linux. It is based on the same UNIX ideals and APIs and shares ancestor code with other BSD operating systems. DragonFly provides an opportunity for the BSD base to grow in an entirely different direction from the one taken in the FreeBSD, NetBSD, and OpenBSD series.

FreeBSD

Founded in 1993, FreeBSD is an advanced operating system that powers modern desktops, servers, and embedded devices. Advanced features make FreeBSD the system of choice for many of the most pervasive embedded networking and storage devices and busiest websites. FreeBSD developers form part of a diverse and extensive community; members are welcoming and approachable. There's a focus on widespread use, and on building the best possible system. Experienced users and developers are always willing to help the less experienced.

GhostBSD

GhostBSD is a user-friendly BSD operating system built on top of FreeBSD. GhostBSD aims to provide a familiar workstation with all of the features and benefits of FreeBSD, combined with a twist that is the MATE desktop environment and a focus on user-friendliness. Available in both 32- and 64-bit versions, GhostBSD is suitable for newcomers, as well as experienced BSD users.

HardenedBSD

HardenedBSD is a security-enhanced fork of FreeBSD. The HardenedBSD Project is implementing many exploit mitigation and security technologies on top of FreeBSD.

helloSystem

helloSystem is a desktop system for creators focusing on simplicity, elegance, and usability. Its design follows the “Less, but better” philosophy. It is intended as a system for “mere mortals”, welcoming to switchers from the Mac. FreeBSD is the core operating system.

LiteBSD

LiteBSD is a variant of the 4.4BSD operating system for microcontrollers. Currently, only the Microchip PIC32MZ family is supported. PIC32MZ is an MIPS32 processor with MMU with paging support and 512kbytes of on-chip RAM. These resources are enough to run 4.4BSD.

MidnightBSD

MidnightBSD is a new BSD-derived operating system developed with desktop users in mind. It includes all the software you'd expect for your daily tasks — email, web browsing, word processing, gaming, and much more. With a small community of dedicated developers, MidnightBSD strives to create an easy-to-use operating system that everyone can use, freely. Available for x86, AMD64, and as Virtual Machines.

MyBee

MyBee is a FreeBSD-based distribution for managing containers (jail) and cloud VMs (bhyve) through a simplified API.

NomadBSD

NomadBSD is a 64-bit live system for USB flash drives, based on FreeBSD. Together with automatic hardware detection and setup, it is configured to be used as a desktop system that works out of the box but can also be used for data recovery.

NetBSD

NetBSD is a free, fast, secure, and highly portable Unix-like Open Source operating system. It is available for a wide range of platforms, from large-scale servers and powerful desktop systems to handheld and embedded devices. Its clean design and advanced features make it excellent for use in both production and research environments, and the source code is freely available under a business-friendly license. NetBSD is developed and supported by a large and vivid international community. Many applications are readily available through pkgsrc, the NetBSD Packages Collection.

OpenBSD

The OpenBSD project produces a FREE, multi-platform 4.4BSD-based UNIX-like operating system. Our efforts emphasize portability, standardization, correctness, proactive security and integrated cryptography. As an example of the effect OpenBSD has, the popular OpenSSH software comes from OpenBSD.

OPNsense

OPNsense is an open source,easy-to-use and easy-to-build FreeBSD based firewall and routing platform. OPNsense includes most of the features available in expensive commercial firewalls, and more in many cases. OPNsense® is a fork of pfSense® that in its turn has been forked from m0n0wall®.

OS108

OS108 is a fast, open, and Secure replacement Operating System for Windows and macOS. Built on top of NetBSD, OS108 provides a simple desktop-oriented operating system.

pfSense

pfSense® software is a free, open-source customized distribution of FreeBSD specifically tailored for use as a firewall and router that is entirely managed via a web interface. In addition to being a powerful, flexible firewalling and routing platform, it includes a long list of related features and a package system allowing further expandability without adding bloat and potential security vulnerabilities to the base distribution.

RetroBSD

RetroBSD is a port of 2.11BSD Unix intended for embedded systems with fixed memory mapping. The current target is Microchip PIC32 microcontroller with 128 kbytes of RAM and 512 kbytes of Flash. PIC32 processor has MIPS M4K architecture, executable data memory, and flexible RAM partitioning between user and kernel modes.

SmallWall

A long time ago, a very smart guy asked a very simple question. "Why do firewalls have to be big, slow, and hard to configure?" And he created m0n0wall. At this, it was amazingly successful. So successful that the FreeBSD-based core was used as a basis for several other projects such as pfSense, Askozia, FreeNAS, and nas4free. Recently, a grandchild of m0n0wall was spawned from pfSense, OPNSense. But, m0n0wall has retired now, and some of us still feel the need for a small and lean firewall. SmallWall is that firewall.

t1n1wall

As m0n0wall decided to close its doors, and no further development is planned, people have created this fork.

ZRouter

ZRouter.org is a FreeBSD-based firmware for embedded devices.

BSD news

In this section, you can find sites presenting news about BSD.

News sites

Podcasts

Forums and communities

Community initiatives

Forums

Meetups

Reddit

Fediverse

User groups

Learning

Books

BSD related software

Gaming

Other