Date: Mon, 13 Jul 1998 20:02:00 -0400 (EDT) From: CyberPeasant <djv@bedford.net> To: NetWizKid@aol.com Cc: freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG, russ_husain@yahoo.com Subject: Re: Does FreeBSD CDROM contain all the Apps and Ports ? Message-ID: <199807140002.UAA02161@lucy.bedford.net> In-Reply-To: <378ee5d8.35a99d06@aol.com> from "NetWizKid@aol.com" at "Jul 13, 98 01:37:09 am"
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NetWizKid@aol.com wrote: > Hi, > > I'm trying to switch over to FreeBSD from Linux, so far I've been impressed > with the performance reviews on FreeBSD. The only thing odd to me is that the > CD ROM I got along with a unix administration book didn't contain applications > or ports, just the bare minimum kernel and some utilities. The "official" cdrom is really 4 cdroms, for the current release, which is 2.2.6. Everything is there. (Well, darn near.) > When you install Red Hat off of the CD it installs hundered's of applications > including Netscape, Pine, Pico, SAMBA, mSQL, PERL, APACHE, firewalls etc. About 2000 at last count. All these and more :) > The installation procedure could be made a little simpler, I still haven't > been able to configure my NIC. Hey, here we are! What brand of NIC and what kind of problems? If the NIC is supported, I estimate a 48 hr max turnaround for getting it to work. > Installation should install most of the commonly used application by default. NO. I think everybody will say that. I, for example, DON'T want pine, since I think it sucks. I like elm. You might want something else. What we get in current FreeBSD is a browsable hierarchy of apps, (the ports collection), that you can pick what you want from. Really, this is superior. > More books on FreeBSD + technical support + more marketing (these are > extremely important). There's a lot out there, book-wise. Since FreeBSD /is/ Unix, books about Unix (unless SysV-specific) are about FreeBSD. (Example: W. R. Stevens' excellent volumes, most of O'Reilly's stuff, etc etc). > Multiprocessor support, support for GB's of RAM etc. Exists. (In -CURRENT ) > Support for windows, network printers, novell, etc to co-exist with other OSes > already in use by businesses. Exists. No compatibility with Windog, though, thank the gods. > Built in Fault tolerance like NT, Raid 1 and Raid 5. Exists. > A detailed HCL (hardware compatibility list). Exists. > This OS has a lot of potential, educate people about it by holding seminars > and offering classes, certifications, bundling with high end PCs, > partnershiping with hardware manufacturers and somehow providing support for > the new plug & play equipment may be by reusing NT drivers and converting them > on the fly for BSD kernel, like a transparent utility or something. It'll > take time to get to that point but hey better late than never. NEVER will I use an NT driver, or anything remotely like it. Sorry. I think you'll find that most Unix users of all flavors agree on this. If mfgr's release their specs, true native drivers will appear in the twinkling (well, not so fast) of an eye. With free source! Now if you can convince a mfg to release the source of an NT driver without an NDA, then maybe somebody could port the interesting parts of it. I don't think that the NT driver interface is very amenable, though. (Can't even run a Linux driver in BSD, or a NetBSD driver with !NetBSD...) Driver code is too tricky. > OK, now my question: > I was wondering if there is a CD I can buy which contains all of the apps and > ports available from your ftp site. The other question was, in the ports Yup. Walnut Creek (www.cdrom.com) sells it for US$40.+shipping. 4-cd set. > section it says that you can download all of the ports and the size is only > 4MB, is it just the list of all the ports or it a reaaally compressed file > which contains all the sources for the listed ports ? A big nice directory tree, containing everything /except/ the source. The source is on another part of the CDROM or can be snagged on the fly from the net, when building the port. > Keep up the good work, I apprecaite that you took the time to read. I just > don't want UNIX to wipe out off of the industry it is losing its share in the > market to NT and only people like you can do something about it. I can only > hope and offer my suggestions. Rumors of the Death of Unix have been circulating since the early 1980's. THey have been greatly exaggerated. THe NT threat to the server market is greatly overstated. In the low-end workstation field, the situation is a little different. Dave -- Sancho Panza: `Microsoft Windows NT Server is the most secure network operating system available.' Don Quixote: `You are mistaken, Sancho.' To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-questions" in the body of the message
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