Date: Tue, 20 Nov 2001 12:59:44 -0500 From: "Steve Brown" <gtabug@prayforwind.com> To: "Anthony Atkielski" <anthony@atkielski.com>, <questions@freebsd.org> Subject: Re: home pc use Message-ID: <000401c171ed$5594fda0$660f129f@bro5637> References: <3BF9B12B.3D521A4D@nycap.rr.com> <0111191831240Q.60958@chip.wiegand.org> <20011119220243.A268@prayforwind.com> <009a01c171a9$4eedbee0$0a00000a@atkielski.com> <20011120061026.A2767@prayforwind.com> <013201c171b7$22d78cb0$0a00000a@atkielski.com>
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Well, yes I'd say FreeBSD is a "reasonable alternative" to Windows for a home/desktop. Is it -The Best- for this particular job? Maybe not, but it does what I need without ever crashing, price is right, and it's excellent for learning networking etc. I like Linux too (Slackware, Debian... not the GUI ones, could never get any of them to successfully install). Finally I found FreeBSD's FTP install, online doc's, and configuration slightly less "geeky" than Linux's (wanna see geeky? try a Debian install ;) works great once past it though). I'm not familiar with NT/2000 so I can't comment there. I'm not a "Microsoft hater", but I did make the mistake of buying a new OEM machine with Win98 pre-installed back when Win98 was unfit for a desktop or anything else outside a test-lab (HP replaced entire system twice thinking the PC was bad). So yes, I looked for a non-Microsoft alternative. Now that they've fixed Win98 it gets the other half of my drive... it now goes several hours before freezing up and usually reboots/shuts down when asked to do so. I keep it for 3 reasons: Internet Explorer is the best browser, OK'ing new hardware before delving into FreeBSD docs/archives/newsgroups to try and figure out how to make it work, and because I like to have the choice. FreeBSD: multiuser, webserving & networks, stable, powerful Windows: friendly to non-geeks, hardware & software compatability ----- Original Message ----- From: "Anthony Atkielski" <anthony@atkielski.com> To: "Steve Brown" <gtabug@prayforwind.com>; <questions@FreeBSD.ORG> Sent: November 20, 2001 6:33 AM Subject: Re: home pc use > Steve writes: > > > I've not seen FreeBSD just crash without explanation > > ever in a year of use. > > Given the design of UNIX, I was extremely surprised to see the system crash with > KDE. As I've said elsewhere, my best guess right now is that a bug in a video > driver took the system down. I hope and assume that KDE or even XFree is not > trying to bypass UNIX to perform privileged operations. > > > I have seen netscape whack X twice, just type > > startx again. > > Yes, and if Windows crashes, just wait for it to reboot! > > > It -is- less intuitive than Windows for sure; you'd > > better be interested in learning something about O/S > > and computers or you may be disappointed. > > Agreed. That's why it is not a realistic alternative to Windows, except perhaps > for geeks who like to learn about such things (as opposed to just using the > computer as a tool). > > > Actually I'm one of those who tried it 'cause I > > wanted a choice other thane Microsoft (Had the 1'st > > incarnation of Win98 at the time and I grew sick > > of fdisk/formatting on a weekly basis) > > And do you really think it is a realistic alternative? > > You should have tried Windows NT/2000 instead; it's a completely different OS, > despite appearances, and it is rock stable. Unfortunately, it also costs > several hundred dollars ... and if you need _server_ functionality (as opposed > to a desktop), it offers no major advantages over FreeBSD, and a number of > disadvantages. > > > > > To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org > with "unsubscribe freebsd-questions" in the body of the message > To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-questions" in the body of the message
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