Minimal skills

[Vincent DEFERT]

A virtual machine only adds complexity when using bhyve.
If you use VirtualBox (on Windows or Linux), you don't have this complexity.

What is interesting in using a VM is that it helps a novice learn 
FreeBSD one step at a time.
VM managers emulate very old hardware, so the installation is guaranteed 
to succeed.
The novice user will thus only have to learn basic notions such as 
device naming conventions, disk partitioning, shell interpreters, common 
Unix commands...

Then, when all this becomes familiar, the user is no longer so novice ;) 
and can much more easily deal with installation issues on real hardware.

I also think it makes no difference for someone knowing only Windows or 
MacOS to learn FreeBSD or Linux first.
FreeBSD Handbook's introduction to Unix is the best one I've ever read, 
so discovering the Unix world through FreeBSD seems pretty sensible. :)
Plus FreeBSD's community is overall very helping. :)

Am 04.06.20 um 10:03 schrieb ralf.mardorf at rocketmail.com:
> PS: I forgot to mention the second reason speaking against a virtual
> machine. A virtual machine adds an additional layer. You need to learn
> how to handle the host/guest layer, this makes gaining basic knowledge
> more complicated.