Got Tachyon: The Fringe from GOG recently. I loved this game when I was a kid, and you know what? The game is still lots of fun! The graphics are still alright and it ran out of the box on Linux. My X52 even works with it!
I miss this era of short but sweet games.
Freespace is a bigger game with more ships and is more military focused. This game is more about being a mercenary/freelancer with very good voice acting and the world feels fleshed out. It’s also super easy, comparatively.