From owner-freebsd-questions Wed May 26 21: 4:58 1999 Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from ralf.serv.net (a.serv.net [207.207.72.1]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id C97391507B for ; Wed, 26 May 1999 21:04:55 -0700 (PDT) (envelope-from mcglk@ralf.serv.net) Received: (from mcglk@localhost) by ralf.serv.net (8.8.5/8.8.5) id VAA17204; Wed, 26 May 1999 21:04:53 -0700 (PDT) Date: Wed, 26 May 1999 21:04:53 -0700 (PDT) Message-Id: <199905270404.VAA17204@ralf.serv.net> From: Ken McGlothlen MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit To: Casero@aol.com Cc: freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: Linux? References: <143c6a04.247e1713@aol.com> X-Mailer: VM 6.33 under Emacs 19.34.1 Sender: owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Precedence: bulk X-Loop: FreeBSD.ORG | Can you tell me what the difference is between free BSD and Linux? They are | both based upon Unix, so what is the distinction? Actually, FreeBSD *is* Unix, adapted directly from the BSD 4.4 Lite version. Linux is strictly a Unix emulator which has come into its own in the past two years. Both have their advantages and disadvantages. For example, maximum Unix compatibility dictates using BSD Unix as opposed to Linux, but Linux is acquiring a lot of industry support right now. BSD tends to handle high network loads without bogging down---something Linux has yet to learn. Linux, on the other hand, seems to make a zippier low-load machine, so if you're just going to be using your machine for desktop stuff, it might run faster with Linux. To bridge the compatibility gap, however, FreeBSD supports Linux emulation. There is (ideally) no religious war here. There are things to like about both systems. I personally prefer the robustness and standarization of FreeBSD (and its incredible ease-of-installation), but also like Linux for other reasons. This didn't used to be the case---Linux, for a long time, had the flavor of Tinkertoys and Scotch tape, but it's improved tremendously this past year. My advice: Try 'em both. To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-questions" in the body of the message