Easiest desktop BSD distro

[Gökşin Akdeniz]

> ...I find that the best way to familiarize myself with a distro is to adopt it as my main distro (for web browsing, email, word processing, etc.).

There is no distro in BSDworld. BSD family is complete operating system.
Linux distros are a combination of a kernel and all the tools necessary
for an operating system to work properly.

> 
> But the challenge of BSD have so far proven too much for me.  It would take too long to configure FreeBSD to my liking...
>
BSD operatings system family has many member. Each one is develeoped
with a common criteria that users and -almost- developers are the same
people. So it is not a surprise that you had trouble with the
configuration. The configuration troubles can be solved by reading the
documentation and applying it. Also the hardware has got its nasty part.
Not all hardware are BSD compatible. Some may work and some may not.
Consult the release notes before attempting to installing and trying to
configure the hardware. An unsupported piece of hardware would consume
your time for nothing but pain.
> 
> ...I'm looking for the analogous choice in the BSD world.
>
I have 10+ years old computers that could not run those Linux
distributions you had mentioned but could easily run FreeBSD and OpenBSD
current branches as well as STABLE and RELEASE. There is no analogous
choice for BSD familiy of operatings systems from my point of view
compared to Linux distros you've mentioned. There is no flash for BSD.
Ypu need Linux compatibility and Linux stuff is needed to install flash.
I do not nedd flash. No codec needed on my boxes.
> 
> So what do you recommend as my first desktop BSD distro?
>
There is no BSD distro.
>
> What desktop BSD distro is so easy to use that even Paris Hilton or Jessica "Chicken of the Sea" Simpson can handle it?
>
It is quite common that anyone can suggest PC-BSD for "easy to use"
keeping in mind "casual computer user". Though I am not sure Paris or
Jessica is "casual". I prefer FreeBSD and OpenBSD for my laptops and
desktops also for servers, network management and for all kind of
computing stuff.
> 
> Please keep in mind that I have a slow Internet connection, and these BSD distros are ENORMOUS.  It took some 12-14 hours to download PC-BSD.
> 
Well, try to install OpenBSD as it is straight forward to install.
OpenBSD doetects and configures all the hardware if supported. Installer
is text based. Just answer the questions and you are done. Desktop is
FVWM. You may not like the look and feel. You can install another
desktop or window manager via packages. The ISO files for installation
is quite small ~ 200MiB in size. Consult the OpenBSD FAQ before
downloading and installing it. Patches are released as source code not
binary. You have to compile and install patches, fallow the instructions
of the relevent patches.

And a couple of words:

Read the documentationand make sure you understand it!

Read the release notes and errata!

Check the compatibility of the hardware you have!

Backup you data!

There is no BSD distro thing!

BSD is direct descendent of UNIX! (so things are quite different in BSD
realm)
-- 
Gökşin Akdeniz (Gökşin Akdeniz) <goksin.akdeniz at gmail.com>
Anahtar parmakizi/key fingerprint = FE10 8C14 A144 4FDE BE18  D5E3 E758
F49A 8A5D F8AE
[Son kullanma tarihi/expire date: 2011-06-08]

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