I'd recommend trying one of the big three. If you value performance, FreeBSD. If you like a really well-documented, simple, coherent system, OpenBSD. If you've

I'd recommend trying one of the big three. If you value performance, FreeBSD. If you like a really well-documented, simple, coherent system, OpenBSD. If you've got a real tinkerer mindset, NetBSD--like, kernel extensions in Lua, run it on anything you can find with a processor in it. They're all good. I wouldn't over-complicate it. Just look at the one with known strengths that most match what you most value and dip in. A lot of the knowledge crosses over if you want to try other ones anyway, they're all related.