Date: Thu, 17 Aug 2000 17:23:51 +0200 From: "James A Wilde" <james.wilde@telia.com> To: "cyberstorm" <cyberstorm@prodigy.net>, <questions@FreeBSD.ORG> Subject: RE: BSD Inquiry... Message-ID: <000201c0085f$25e1e350$8208a8c0@iqunlimited.net> In-Reply-To: <399BEE09.F77DDD6C@prodigy.net>
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> -----Original Message----- > From: owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG > [mailto:owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG]On Behalf Of cyberstorm > Sent: Thursday, August 17, 2000 15:52 > To: questions@FreeBSD.ORG > Subject: BSD Inquiry... > > > Hello. > > I'm a Linux user and was wondering why BSD hasn't hit mainstream > yet??? Many very big sites use FreeBSD. However, it has a low profile, which I sometimes think is a pity. > The other question is... how does BSD compare to LINUX??? FreeBSD and Linux are two variants of UNIX. UNIX is generally regarded as being something of a spectrum of different variants, from BSD at one end, to which FreeBSD obviously belongs, to Sun OS at the other. Posix, from the point ov view of an inexperienced user - me - is closer to the Sun OS end of the spectrum. This basically affects the way the system starts, stops and changes run level. Run levels don't exist in FreeBSD. My subjective experience is that FreeBSD is more mature, which means it has a larger body of compatible hardware, and is more stable than Linux but my Linux experience is very limited. 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. > For my last question... is there a variety of security software for > this operating system, or does it use the same as Linux??? If not, > would you recommend a firewall and antivirus[if needed]. FreeBSD has a Linux emulation mode so a good subset of your Linux program collection should run under FreeBSD. However, FreeBSD has its own ports collection which contains a phenomenal amount of software. It runs all GNU and a huge subset of all that is available in the public domain. Ports of all major UNIX software are available for FreeBSD. Some of the major AV providers have versions for FreeBSD. There are some very good Firewall applications out there, ranging from the free to the very expensive. Two quite powerful ones are included with the distrbution, and can be installed by simply recompiling the kernel with a couple of switches set. 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! mvh/regards James To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-questions" in the body of the message
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