Date: Mon, 28 May 2001 09:59:28 -0500 From: Mike Meyer <mwm@mired.org> To: "Michael Ellis" <ellis.michael@mindspring.com> Cc: questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: FreeBSD and other questions. Message-ID: <15122.26576.889029.138962@guru.mired.org> In-Reply-To: <72482411@toto.iv>
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Michael Ellis <ellis.michael@mindspring.com> types: > I am starting to support storage equipment attached to various Unix > systems (i.e. Solaris, IRIX, HP-UA and AIX) and want/need to learn the > Unix operating system(s) using Intel/AMD systems. Any suggestions? > FreeBSD vs. Linux vs. Solaris? Value for the time and cost investment, > is as almost always, the most important consideration. Installing Solaris on Intel is a *very* trying experience. I wouldn't recommend doing that until you're already familiar with one of the other systems. Also, don't do it on a system that might boot Linux; Linux thinks Solaris data partitions are swap partitions, and uses them accordingly. If you're just interested in learning to use unix-like systems, FreeBSD is as good any of them. Personally, I find it easier to install than the others. That's because it's the easiest to install the way I want, whereas Linux distributions tend to only be easy to install the way the creators of the distribution want it installed. I also think that having a complete system from one source that includes most of the applications you want makes life a lot simpler than having one kernel, dozens of distributions, and even more application distributions. > If I purchased (BSDi) BSD Power Pack 4.2, is it easy to upgrade to > release 4.3? Yes. You might also look for the commercial release of 4.3. > Am I better off downloading version 4.3 from FreeBSD.org without the > application cd's? If you have good network connectivity, the application CD's generally don't matter. If you don't, they are a godsend. Having a "rescue CD" is also nice. I'm still waiting for someone to write up a handbook entry on how to create one of those, or to show me how so I can write it up. > Is there a simply way to upgrade the v4.2 release to v4.3 using the 4.3 > downloadable cd image? Yes. If you just boot it, it offers you an upgrade option. > Is it likely all the applications included with 4.2 compatible with 4.3? No. The base system gets bigger, and the mix tends to change with each release. > One more thing: any recommended books or publications for a newbie to > Unix? Depends on what you're trying to do. Chip already suggested some FreeBSD books. I've heard good things about "Unix for people", but can't recommend anything firsthand. > Thank you for any suggestions! I like to learn from other people's > experiences, saves TIME. One last thing: you're more likely to get a response in this forum if you configure your UMA to just send plain ascii, and not to send HTML - especially if you also include the ascii! <mike -- Mike Meyer <mwm@mired.org> http://www.mired.org/home/mwm/ Independent WWW/Perforce/FreeBSD/Unix consultant, email for more information. To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-questions" in the body of the message
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