The latest &os; releases are available here. Before you begin, please carefully read the installation instructions.
The &os; Handbook and Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) are the main documents for &os;. Essential reading, they contain a lot of material for newbies as well as advanced users. For users interested in installing a GUI, see the X Windows chapter.
Manual pages are good for reference but not always the best introduction for a novice. They generally provide information on a specific command, driver or service.
Join the &os;-Questions mailing list to see the questions you were too afraid to ask, and their answers. Subscribe by filling out the following form: http://lists.FreeBSD.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions. You can look up old questions and answers via the search page.
The &os; Forums offer another support channel. Many users have written various tutorials and lots of new users receive help there.
You can search the Handbook and FAQ, the whole web site, or the &os; mailing list archives.
The Support page contains a wealth of information about &os;, including mailing lists, user groups, web and FTP sites, release information, and links to some sources of &unix; information.
&os; is widely used as a building block for other commercial and open-source operating systems. Some of the most widely used and publicly available systems are listed below.
FreeNAS is a storage solution that can be installed on virtually any hardware platform to share data over a network. It uses ZFS to protect, store, backup, all of your data.
TrueOS is a &os; derivative with a graphical installer and impressive desktop tools aimed at ease of use for the casual computer user.
pfSense is a &os; based network security solution. pfSense software, with the help of the package system, is able to provide the same functionality or more of common commercial firewalls, without any of the artificial limitations. It has successfully replaced every big name commercial firewall you can imagine in numerous installations around the world.
Everyone has something to contribute to the &os; community, even newbies! Some are busy working with the new advocacy group and some have become involved with the Documentation Project as reviewers. Other &os; newbies might have particular skills and experiences to share, either computer related or not, or just want to meet new newbies and make them feel welcome. There are always people around who help others simply because they like to.
Friends who run &os; are a great resource. No book can replace chatting on the phone or across a pizza with someone who has the same interests, enjoys similar accomplishments, and faces the same challenges. If you do not have many friends who use &os;, consider using your old &os; CDs to create some more.
User groups are good places to meet other &os; users. If there is no one nearby, you might consider starting one!
For more information on getting involved in the community, see the Contributing to &os; article.