I am a Linux user and am considering trying BSD. What would be the best entry point for BSD?
Is UbuntuBSD a good option to start with?
I have Thinkpad T400.
Thinkpads are generally well supported. UbuntuBSD is a very new project and it probably lacks some polish that you will find on other BSDs.
I've used both FreeBSD and OpenBSD and for me the split really depends on what you're after. Recently though, I've been using OpenBSD mostly. The install is dead simple (assuming you're not after complicated multi boot setups which require some fiddling). It may look arcane as it's just a script with no fancy GUI bangs but it get the job done very well.
I haven't installed FreeBSD recently, so I wouldn't be able to compare unfortunately.
In any case, both projects have extensive documentation that is a couple of levels above your average Linux distro doc. Make sure you consult it before hitting IRC / mailing lists with questions and you'll be fine.
Each BSD is often associated with a specific use case but I've found that they work just fine for desktop usage.
Every time I get ready to make a bootable USB for BSD I somehow get hung up on exactly what to do. One thing about Linux that is great is the relative ease of setting up bootable iso. Could you point me to some sort of tutorial that could speed up my transition from Linux to BSD?
Are you looking for a bootable iso to have a live system to play with, or just prepare the install media ?
If it's for a live system, I'd recommend setting up a VM on your current host, and do the install in there.
For the install media, the OpenBSD FAQ lays it all out [1]. As the OS supports multiple platforms, there is information that you do not need (sparc, sparc64, ...). To install on amd64 from a bootable USB, download the installXX.fs from a mirror (where XX is the version), verify the checksums and run :
dd if=installXX.fs of=/dev/sdX bs=1M
Beware of tutorials -- very often, they are valid for a given version of OpenBSD and may fall out of date.
Section 9 from the OpenBSD FAQ is called "Migrating to OpenBSD", so I guess it's a good start.
If you don't want to read the whole FAQ first, then read just enough to install the base system. When you've achieved that, read the afterboot and packages manpages, and again enough of the FAQ to proceed with the other tasks you want to do (configure networking, the firewall, ...).
As this is a laptop, PC-BSD could be a good choice which is FreeBSD tuned to desktop usage. Plain FreeBSD is also not a bad choice. The other major BSDs have clear niches while FreeBSD is probably the best supported, most popular and is strong in the broadest range of areas. I wouldn't bother with something obscure like Ubuntu BSD unless you're actually keen to help out with improving it. I'd find the opposite more interesting: some sort of BSD/Linux.
