FreeBSD
![](/Images/godic/202501/14/FreeBSD_10_Bootloader3549.png")
![FreeBSD 9.1 startup with console login prompt](/Images/godic/202501/14/FreeBSD_9.1_Console_Login3549.png")
![FreeBSD 9.1 (RC3) running KDE SC, the Dolphin file manager, the Konsole terminal emulator and the Mozilla Firefox web browser from the FreeBSD Ports collection.](/Images/godic/202501/14/Freebsd3549.png")
![FreeBSD's mascot is the generic BSD Daemon, also known as Beastie](/Images/godic/202501/14/Bsd_daemon3549.jpg")
FreeBSD is a free Unix-like operating system descended from Research Unix via the Berkeley Software Distribution (BSD). Although for legal reasons FreeBSD cannot use the Unix trademark, it is a direct descendant of BSD, which was historically also called "BSD Unix" or "Berkeley Unix". The first version of FreeBSD was released in 1993, and today FreeBSD is the most widely used open-source BSD distribution, accounting for more than three-quarters of all installed systems running open-source BSD derivatives.