Lost in a tangled web...

[diortem]

Greetings, fellow computer users. My name is Diortem, and I am in a state of woe.

After a long and celebratory career in the USAF, I am now a disabled veteran. Due to my spinal injuries, I cannot do much, but I can't sit around and do nothing. I have to stay busy. I am a geek. I love fooling around with hardware and software. Unfortunately, as I aged in the USAF I was unable to dabble as much as I liked, but I did become an adept self-taught Windows and Linux user. I also went to school last year and got my Linux Administrator certification as well as A+. I love the hardware side, but I have always wanted to get into the software side.

I have been bouncing from Linux distro after Linux distro for the past five years. I have tried many of them. And this past few days, I took a swing at FreeBSD. Unfortunately, I was unable to get my internet, even tethering my phone, working. So I tried FreeBSD. It installed fine, but now that I have it installed, it is not showing in the grub. I guess I need to put a grub file within it or something, not too sure.

Anyway, what I want to do is learn dev-ops. I don't want to be the latest, greatest in the field, but I will push myself as far as I can considering my limitations. I can't sit in a chair all day, but I can bounce to and fro throughout the day (unless it's a bad day, then I'm out) and focus on learning and get things done.

I have spent the past year and a half on Fedora. It's truly amazing. But is it the best for developer learning? Maybe. It's really good, no doubt. But is it the best?

I have been watching RoboNuggie videos and that guy has me highly intrigued in the FreeBSD community and what the software as a whole offers. But I have also been looking at the licensing between Linux vs BSD. Eventually, as I learn, I want my code to help others, but at what expense? I don't want to build code or help others, then a company takes this code and monetizes it. Looking at BSD licensing anyone can put my code to use? Even corporations? And charge for it? Am I reading this right?

I don't know, but even that isn't a deal-breaker, it is unlikely I will ever write software that will change the world; you never know though. I know I can't game on BSD, no big deal, I have Windows. It was free back when they were giving away free updates to Windows 10. Yes, I still have the same laptop and desktop from then. I'm lame. *snicker*

Can I be an adept and successful developer using BSD? If so, why would one choose OpenBSD to FreeBSD when FreeBSD has a security-focused way about things, too? Before I start this dev-ops journey, I want to put myself in a position where I am happy and will continue to stay happy. RoboNuggie, that man is amazing, I love his approach to simplicity, too. I'm starting to think that BSD may be a better place for me. But how do I know for sure? What would you suggest?

Sidebar: I live out in the country. Way out in the country. I have a Mi-Fi that I cannot hardwire into. I am stuck with wireless networking. If I require hardwire, I usually tether my phone, I have 10GB a month this way, so it works out as I use this sparingly. I am also limited from anywhere in the 400Kbps - 4Mbps. Getting things up and running for me are harder as it is, but I am not afraid to battle these limitations. I will do what needs to be done and when. I am not afraid of learning. But I want you to know my internet limitations up-front... they are limiting more than I'd like, trust me.

Cheers,

_diortem