The full 4 CD set contains scads of programs - somewhere in the thousands, I think. I could send the listings, but I don't know where you can find them on the 'Net. Many more are also available through its "Ports" system (a wonderful package system BSD has). There's something like 5000 applications in Ports. Pretty much anything is there, or will just compile and run.
You can also download official ISO's (all 4 CD's) from the FreeBSD mirrors (some of them, at least). Some sites have really good connections (a CD in 6 hrs? pretty good for my connection)
By all means, give it a shot! The one caveat of FreeBSD is its installer is a bit confusing. But if you're careful, and read the documentation (which I probably didn't do carefully enough), you shouldn't have too much trouble.
OpenBSD, however, is more lightweight and has a simpler installer - it might be better to throw on the 486. It also has the Ports system, but only has around 1000 programs. |
