Date: Tue, 28 Mar 2006 17:11:05 -0500 From: DAve <dave.list@pixelhammer.com> To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Why are so many people using 4.x? Message-ID: <4429B479.7000408@pixelhammer.com> In-Reply-To: <20060328213953.GA2682@xor.obsecurity.org> References: <200603281234.11850.satyam@sklinks.com> <4429A37D.2020500@pixelhammer.com> <20060328213953.GA2682@xor.obsecurity.org>
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Kris Kennaway wrote: > On Tue, Mar 28, 2006 at 03:58:37PM -0500, DAve wrote: >> Joseph Vella wrote: >>> I notice a lot of references to version 4.x. Is there any overwhelming >>> reason why its use seems to be still popular. I'm wanting to set up a >>> server (just for play) on my home network using a PII machine. Am I >>> better off using an older version for such old equipment? If so, do any >>> particular versions stand out? >> If I had my choice I would use 4.10 instead of 5.X. No real bias against >> the changes or decisions made in 5.X, and I don't want to start an >> argument. But my 4.x servers just run, and run, and run. I've never had >> to ask a question or had any issues when patching or installing >> software/hardware on my 4.X servers. 4.X just seems more stable and more >> mature to me, which is what attracted me to FreeBSD 7 odd years ago. >> >> If you want to *learn* FreeBSD I would recommend 4.X as there is lots of >> information, forum data, HowTo, example information already out there. > > Except that over the next year all support for 4.x will be terminated > (and in practise 4.x is already largely unsupported), so you'll be > basically on your own with a lot of stuff. Though he could install 6.1 as one of his many reinstalls. It seems people who really want to learn the how and why will reinstall at least a few times, every one I know has ;^) It is likely that any issue he might run into installing 4.X could be answered by most experienced users on this list, right off the top of their heads. He doesn't state if he is new to Unix, if he were, Half Price Books would likely have hardcopy that covers 4.X. Google would certainly have more information on 4.X than on 6.X. But yes, you do have a very valid point. He will be using 6.X eventually, and the changes between 4.X and 6.X are not trivial. I retract my statement, it is probably better to go ahead and start learning 6.X now. > Really you want to use 6.0 or 6.1 on any new system, simply because > that's the modern, supported version of FreeBSD. > > Kris I get frightened when something is no longer "modern" when it is less than a year old. http://www.freebsd.org/releases/5.4R/announce.html Good reasons to recommend 6.X would be "bug FOO is fixed", "hardware FOO is now fully supported", "FOO is now a kernel module and can be unloaded or loaded at will", "disk performance is gazillion% better", etc. "Because it's new" is the reason I stopped using Linux. DAve -- This message was checked by forty monkeys and found to not contain any SPAM whatsoever. Your monkeys may vary
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