Systems

On this page you’ll find a short introduction into different operating systems based on FreeBSD (FBSD). Please note, that the systems below are based on and tracking releases of FreeBSD, so you won’t find information of operating systems that branched off or forked in the past, e.g. MAC OS X, MidnightBSD, DragonflyBSD etc.

FreeBSD Logo (big)FreeBSD (FBSD) is an advanced Unix-like operating system developed by the FreeBSD Project. FBSD is one of the most reliable, robust and secure operating systems in the world. It is free, open source and powers some of the internet’s largest web servers, including Yahoo’s and Sony’s (more companies). Rock-solid stability and the ability to perform extremely well under heavy workloads makes this operating system a popular choice among Internet Service Providers and Web hosting companies. A cohesive userland and kernel, the ports system and regular OS upgrades are the strengths of this OS. FreeBSD is a full operating system, and not just a kernel like Linux. Stability, flexibility and security are what one needs for a good operating system, and FreeBSD has them all, whether you use it on your desktop or as server. FreeBSD is derived from the Berkeley Software Distribution (BSD), the version of UNIX developed at the University of California at Berkeley between 1975 and 1993. FreeBSD is not a UNIX clone. Legally, it may not be called UNIX, since UNIX is now a registered trade mark. FreeBSD runs on Intel processors as well as on DEC Alpha, Sun UltraSPARC processors, Itanium (IA-64) and AMD64 processors and soon on Suns Niagara servers (FreeBSD 7).

“Why FreeBSD” is an interesting article written by IBM giving some background information of FBSD.


FreeBSD is an operating system that is highly flexible and can therefore be used for various purposes:

  1. Servers (Web, Email, FTP, files etc etc)
  2. Desktop systems: PC-BSD and DesktopBSD
  3. Router/Firewall: m0n0wall and pfSense
  4. Network Attached Storage: FreeNAS
  5. Live CDs: RoFreeSBIE, FreeSBIE, Frenzy, DesktopBSD, PC-BSD, TrueBSD
  6. Portable system administrator toolkit: Frenzy
  7. Pocket Seize / Ultra light: DSBSD, nanoBSD, TinyBSD, ThinBSD
  8. PBX Server: AskoziaPBX

2 Desktop systems

PC-BSD logoPC-BSD is a desktop-oriented operating system based on FreeBSD (PC-BSD is pure FreeBSD, not a fork) and has been designed with the “casual” computer user / Windows user in mind. PC-BSD is very easy to install by using a graphical installation program, and hardware such as video, sound, network and other devices are auto-detected and available at the first system startup. Home users will immediately feel comfortable with PC-BSD’s KDE desktop interface. What sets PC-BSD apart is its package management. PC-BSD’s package management system takes a different approach to installing software than many other Unix-like operating systems. Instead of utilizing FreeBSD’s ports or packages system (although these are still available), PC-BSD uses files with the .pbi filename extension which, when double-clicked, brings up an installation wizard program. PBIs are self-contained and self-installing packages that are reminiscent of .exe files. Regardless if you have the libraries installed or not, each PBI contains everything it needs to run. All PBIs are installed in their own self-contained directories in /Programs, decreasing confusion about where the binary programs reside and reducing the possibility of breaking a package if system libraries are upgraded or changed. The PC-BSD package manager also takes care of creating links in the KDE menu and on the KDE desktop.

Differences between PC-BSD and FreeBSD

  • Website: http://www.pcbsd.org
  • Core Team/Developer: Kris Moore, Tim McCormick, Andrei Kolu, Charles A. Landemaine, Gon Martinez, Gerard van Essen, Matt Olander
  • Linux equivalents: Kanotix (Klick), Kubuntu with Autopackage


DesktopBSD logoDesktopBSD is a desktop-oriented operating system based on FreeBSD. DesktopBSD is essentially a customized installation of FreeBSD and is not a fork. DesktopBSD’s goal is to combine the stability of FreeBSD, the ease-of-use and functionality of KDE (the default desktop interface) and specially developed tools to provide a system geared toward desktop use that’s easy to use and install. Instead of the user having to go through a difficult process of setting up FreeBSD with KDE and editing configuration files manually, the DesktopBSD developers have done this already. DesktopBSD is available for the IA-32 and AMD64 platforms. DesktopBSD’s main feature, apart from being a pre-customised version of FreeBSD, is the DesktopBSD Package Manager, a graphical tool for managing, installing and updating software using the FreeBSD ports system.

PC-BSD vs DesktopBSD; similarities & differences

  • Website: www.desktopbsd.net
  • Core Team/Developer: Peter Hofer, Daniel Seuffert, Oliver Harold
  • Linux equivalents: Kubuntu, Debian, etc

3 Router/Firewall

m0n0wall logo m0n0wall is a project aimed at creating a complete, embedded firewall software package that, when used together with an embedded PC, provides all the important features of commercial firewall boxes (including ease of use) at a fraction of the price (free software). m0n0wall is based on a bare-bones version of FreeBSD, along with a web server, PHP web GUI and a few other utilities. The entire system configuration is stored in one single XML text file to keep things transparent. m0n0wall is probably the first UNIX system that has its boot-time configuration done with PHP, rather than the usual shell scripts, and that has the entire system configuration stored in XML format. M0n0wall provides a small image which can be put on Compact Flash cards as well as on CD-ROMs and hard disks. It runs on a number of embedded platforms and generic PCs. The PC version can be run with just a Live CD and a floppy disk to store configuration data, or on a single Compact Flash card (with an IDE adapter). This eliminates the need for a hard drive, reducing noise and heat levels and also increasing reliability because the possibility of a physical hard drive crash is eliminated.

m0n0wall vs pfSense; similarities & differences

There are 3 derivatives that are based on m0n0wall

  1. pfSense - Builds off of m0n0wall and adds plugins such as ntop, nmap, pure-ftpd, and more.
  2. FreeNAS - Network-attached storage OS using FreeBSD 6 and the m0n0wall web GUI.
  3. AskoziaPBX - PBX System using Asterisk for IAX and SIP client server setups, including voicemail to email.


pfSense logopfSense is an open source firewall operating system derived from m0n0wall, which, as the name implies, uses the PF packet filter from OpenBSD. Its goals differ from those of m0n0wall in that pfSense attempts to provide a heavy, feature rich routing platform. pfSense comes with an integrated package management system for extending the environment with new features. Some of the extra features that pfSense has over m0n0wall are PPPoE Server, ALTQ Traffic Shaping, CARP, multi-WAN, load-balancing, FTP-Proxy, ALIAS-system, etc.

m0n0wall vs pfSense; similarities & differences

  • Website: www.pfsense.com
  • Core Team/Developers: Scott Ullrich, Chris Buechler, Bill Marquette
  • Linux Equivalents: Leaf, DD-WRT, Open-WRT, etc

4 NAS Server

FreeNAS LogoFreeNAS is a free NAS server (Network Attached Storage), supporting CIFS (samba), FTP, NFS (Network File Protocol), RSYNC protocols, local user authentication, Software RAID (0,1,5) with a full Web configuration interface. FreeNAS takes less than 64MB once installed on Compact Flash, hard drive or USB key. FreeNAS is currently distributed as an ISO image and in source form. It is possible to run FreeNAS from a Live CD, with the configuration files stored on an MS-DOS-formatted floppy disk. There is also a VMWare disk image available. The minimal FreeBSD distribution, Web interface, PHP scripts and documentation are based on M0n0wall.

5 Live CDs

FreeSBIE LogoFreeSBIE is a Live CD based on the FreeBSD operating system, or even easier, a FreeBSD-based operating system that works directly from a CD, without touching your hard drive. Currently, FreeSBIE uses Xfce and Fluxbox as window manager. The goal of the FreeSBIE project is to develop a suite of programs to be used to create one’s own CD, with all the personalizations one likes.

  • Website: www.freesbie.org
  • Core Team/Developer: Davide D’Amico, Dario Freni, Matteo Riondato, Timothy Redaelli
  • Linux equivalent: Xubuntu


HamFreeSBIE is a live CD based on FreeSBIE and contains utilities specifically tailored to fit the needs of amateur radio operators. HamFreeSBIE is developed and maintained since February 2007 by Diane Bruce, a well-known FreeBSD developer.

Diane has created a presentation that gives a great introduction into the various available ham utilities (incl screenshots & descriptions). She has also assisted in the creation of the Hamradio ports category and has become the maintainer of over 20 of the hamradio ports.


RoFreeSBIE LogoRoFreeSBIE (Romanian Free System Burned in Economy) is a Live DVD/CD installable on hark disk. Its goal is not to create another operating system, but to promote FreeBSD and make it an educational tool and a mobile desktop too. Initially, RoFreeSBIE 1.0 was made using FreeSBIE’s scripts, but version 1.1 and higher were released with RoFreeSBIE’s own scripts. When running the Live CD all configurations and settings can be saved on a floppy, USB memory stick or email account.

  • Website: www.rofreesbie.org
  • Core Team/Developer: Angelescu Ovidiu
  • Linux equivalent: Debian, Kubuntu, etc


Frenzy BSD Logo Frenzy is a “portable system administrator toolkit” Live CD based on FreeBSD. It generally contains software for hardware tests, file system check, security check and network setup and analysis. Currently development is frozen until FreeBSD 7.0 has been released, on which the new release will be based.


TrueBSD logoTrueBSD is a LiveDVD operating system based on FreeBSD with many useful applications. All open programs will keep working even when you eject LiveDVD in order to get some data from your own CDs. Just don’t forget to insert the LiveDVD again before starting any other programs.

6 “Pocket seized”

D*mn Small BSD (DSBSD) is a small (50mb or less) FreeBSD live-CD desktop environment geared toward developers and system administrators, but there are also applications included that the average user may find useful. DSBSD comes with everything you need in a basic desktop environment.Included are the fluxbox window manager, firefox, xmms, tools to help you get work done, such as an ssh server, a mini httpd, xvncviewer, and many more applications. DSBSD’s goal is to be able to run on older hardware with little memory, as well as modern machines, while providing a responsive desktop. We support both SMP and uniprocessor machines. More architectures may come in the future.

  • Website: DSBSD
  • Core Team/Developer:
  • Linux equivalent: DSL Linux

7 PBX Server

askoziapbx.gifAskoziaPBX aims to make the power of Asterisk available to the average user in a slimmed down, embedded PC friendly form. (PBX is short for private branch exchange, a private telephone network used within an enterprise). AskoziaPBX uses Asterisk and is based on the m0n0wall development framework, making managing telephone networks easy (SIP, ISDN, Conferencing, Voicemail, call groups, call parking etc). Though this is still a relatively new project, is it a very polished system. AskoziaPBX is not a Live CD but rather an image that must initially be written to a disk (a dedicated machine is required), after which the entire system is upgradeable through the web GUI.

Wikipedia: Comparison of BSD operating systems