Modern PCs use the amd64 architecture, including those with Intel® branded processors. Computers with more than 3 GB of memory should use amd64. If the computer is an older, 32-bit only model, use i386. For embedded devices and single-board computers (SBC) such as the Raspberry Pi, Beagle Bone Black, Panda Board, and Zed Board, use the armv6 SD card image.
The &os; installer can be downloaded in a number of different formats including CD (disc1), DVD (dvd1), and Network Install (bootonly) sized ISO Disc Images, as well as regular and mini USB memory stick - images. Later versions of &os; are also offered as prebuild + images. Later versions of &os; are also offered as prebuilt expandable Virtual Machine images, and as SD Cards for embedded platforms.
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If you are interested in a purely experimental snapshot release of &os;-CURRENT (AKA &rel.head;-CURRENT), aimed at developers and bleeding-edge testers only, then please see the &os; Snapshot Releases page. For more information about past, present and future releases in general, please visit the release information page.
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If you plan on getting &os; via HTTP or FTP, please check the listing of mirror sites in the handbook to see if there is a site closer to you.
There are many options for installing &os;, including installation from CD-ROM, DVD, USB Memory Stick or even directly using anonymous FTP, HTTP, or NFS. Depending on the &os; version you want to install, please read through the &os; 9.X/10.X installation guide or the &os; 8.X installation guide before downloading the entire &os; distribution.
&os; can be acquired on CD-ROM or DVD from FreeBSD Mall, or one of the other CD-ROM and DVD Publishers.
For downloading past releases, please visit the FTP archive.
&os; is widely used as a building block for other commercial and open-source operating systems. The projects below are widely used and of particular interest to &os; users.
FreeNAS is an open source storage platform based on &os; and supports sharing across Windows, Apple, and UNIX-like systems.
PC-BSD 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 free, open source customized distribution of &os; tailored for use as a firewall and router.
The &os; Ports Collection is a diverse collection of utility and application software that has been ported to &os;.
For information about how you can contribute your favorite piece of software to the Ports Collection, have a look at The Porter's Handbook and the article Contributing to &os;.