From owner-freebsd-questions Thu Aug 17 18:56:24 2000 Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.FreeBSD.org [216.136.129.65]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 2A40F37BEF6 for ; Thu, 17 Aug 2000 18:51:40 -0700 (PDT) Received: from ptavv.es.net (ptavv.es.net [198.128.4.29]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id BCFDC6E3EDC for ; Thu, 17 Aug 2000 13:52:56 -0700 (PDT) Received: from ptavv.es.net (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by ptavv.es.net (8.10.1/8.10.1) with ESMTP id e7HKpdU14247; Thu, 17 Aug 2000 13:51:39 -0700 (PDT) Message-Id: <200008172051.e7HKpdU14247@ptavv.es.net> To: "James A Wilde" Cc: "cyberstorm" , questions@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: BSD Inquiry... In-reply-to: Your message of "Thu, 17 Aug 2000 17:23:51 +0200." <000201c0085f$25e1e350$8208a8c0@iqunlimited.net> Date: Thu, 17 Aug 2000 13:51:39 -0700 From: "Kevin Oberman" Sender: owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Precedence: bulk X-Loop: FreeBSD.ORG > From: "James A Wilde" > Date: Thu, 17 Aug 2000 17:23:51 +0200 > Sender: owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG > If you use Linux with one of the windows managers, such as Gnome or KDE, you > will find it much easier to stick to Linux which usually loads these in > working fashion for you and adds a phenomenal amount of applets. FreeBSD > doesn't do this. First you have to install X and then you have to install > the window manager. I have up to now used FreeBSD entirely as a text based > cli since I haven't had time to read the relevant man and handbook pages nor > the relevant chapter in The Complete FreeBSD, a book you should not tackle > FreeBSD without. You can even get a copy of FreeBSD - not the current, but > the most recent stable - included with the book for a very > favourable price. Huh? The standard sysinstall will install and configure XFree86 quite easily. Just pick the level of X support you want. (user, developer,...) Installation of KDE, fvwm2, Gnome, Afterstep, or Windowmaker is similar. FOr Gnome you even have the choice of Enlightenment or Afterstep flavors. I see no advantage to Linux on this issue. > Hope this gets you started. But don't expect the bottle-feeding from your > FreeBSD CD-rom set that you get from most Linux distributions. FreeBSD, > like other non-Linux UNIXes, is based on the maxim 'no pain, no gain' and > there's a bit of Churchill's 'blood, sweat and tears' in there, too, not to > say fighting them on the beaches! I think you make this sound much worse than it is. FreeBSD puts a lot of effort into making installation and modification of the system simple. The FreeBSD ports/package system, for example, seem far more advanced than Linux. I see the big wins for Linux in two areas. They have LOTS of people working on support of things. It may not be as well coordinated as FreeBSD, but things like PCMCIA and DVD hit Linux first. Maybe they are buggy, but if you want bleeding edge, Linux tends to sit there. It is not as robust, but it's hard to be both. The other is commercial software. You can reportedly use a Winmodem with Linux. Oracle and several other major packages are available for Linux and the Linux emulation, while very good, is not quite the same as the real thing. And, if you want support on those packages, don't say the word "FreeBSD". On the whole, I think FreeBSD is a much better choice for most users, but most potential users don't know about it. Working where I do, it's hard not to have heard about it.) R. Kevin Oberman, Network Engineer Energy Sciences Network (ESnet) Ernest O. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) E-mail: oberman@es.net Phone: +1 510 486-8634 To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-questions" in the body of the message