Date: Mon, 12 Dec 2005 17:09:37 -0900 From: Beecher Rintoul <akbeech@gmail.com> To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Cc: Chris Whitehouse <chris@childeric.freeserve.co.uk> Subject: Re: FreeBSD starter machine Message-ID: <200512121709.52314.akbeech@gmail.com> In-Reply-To: <439E0581.4020507@childeric.freeserve.co.uk> References: <20051212040744.66038.qmail@web54201.mail.yahoo.com> <439E0581.4020507@childeric.freeserve.co.uk>
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--nextPart6003204.8Z3aChB46N Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Disposition: inline On Monday 12 December 2005 02:19 pm, Chris Whitehouse wrote: > Matt S. Gann wrote: > > I have a few questions about FreeBSD. I am just beginning to get into > > UNIX. I know a few line commands, > > but really want to get familiar and comfortable with the OS. I have > been intrugued by FreeBSD for many > years now, but I own a windows-based PC and am not keen about running > dual OS's. I would like to get a > cheap, used, small desktop or laptop to "tinker" with Unix/Linix and > FreeBSD. However, I know little > to nothing about system requirements and/or hardware compability. I was > thinking of an old 486 or Pentium > 1 to get started. Any thoughts on what I could start with? Although you can run FreeBSD on a 486 I wouldn't recommend it. Rebuilding t= he=20 system from sources took two full days. Also if you plan to run "X" and=20 something like KDE you will find it painfully slow. One of my boxes is a=20 500MHz Celeron which is quite usable. If you have a reasonably fast box I=20 concur with just adding a second drive. You can always mount your windows=20 drive and copy files into FreeBSD. Except for some proprietary apps you wil= l=20 find plenty of software in the FreeBSD ports to do just about anything you= =20 can do in windows. =20 > > A way to use your current machine for both operating systems without > dual booting is to install a second hard disk, install FreeBSD and > select which to boot from in the bios. It's a slight faff changing boot > disk but works fine and keeps the OS's completely separate. > > OT; I still have a PC I made with three HD's plugged in to a home made > ide cable with an extra connector and a three position switch on the > front which switches power to only one disk. All three disks are > effectively primary master so whichever has power when the computer is > turned on boots. I never had the courage to switch while the computer > was running! > > Whichever way you go FreeBSD is a very rewarding OS. > > Chris > _______________________________________________ > freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list > http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions > To unsubscribe, send any mail to > "freebsd-questions-unsubscribe@freebsd.org" =2D-=20 =2D------------------------------------------------------------------------= =2D------------- Beech Rintoul - System Administrator - akbeech@gmail.com /"\ ASCII Ribbon Campaign | NorthWind Communications \ / - NO HTML/RTF in e-mail | 201 East 9th Avenue Ste.310 X - NO Word docs in e-mail | Anchorage, AK 99501 / \ - Please visit Alaska Paradise - http://akparadise.byethost33.com =2D------------------------------------------------------------------------= =2D------------- --nextPart6003204.8Z3aChB46N Content-Type: application/pgp-signature -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.2 (FreeBSD) iD8DBQBDni1wVq19LUoGB+MRAhNwAJwJMg9aJ5XAJ5OrxsnW8M1n5/NyKgCgpVwQ ZzUIfGh15d6ZsQd+MxuCX3U= =vHoC -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- --nextPart6003204.8Z3aChB46N--
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