Date: Sun, 31 Oct 1999 15:13:06 -0600 From: "Benjamin M. Manes" <maneben@charlie.cns.iit.edu> To: Carsten Holst <carsten@holstweb.dk> Cc: freebsd-newbies@freebsd.org Subject: Re: A few questions Message-ID: <Pine.SGI.4.20.9910311504290.46905-100000@charlie.cns.iit.edu> In-Reply-To: <199910312152370110.0116E383@mail.holstweb.dk>
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> I am looking for an alternative to Windows, and am currently considering freeBSD and linux. The problem I'm having is finding the difference between linux and freeBSD. Is there any? If there is, what are they? > Does anybody have links to comparisons between freeBSD and linux? For the most part, both are unix-like OSes. At your use at this point, they'll likely seem far more similar than different. Rather, you should currently pick the platform you can find the most help with, from friends, or else user groups, mailing lists, and documentation (ie, books). Linux has more in those regards than FreeBSD does, currently, and many Linux distributions are designed for new users (ie, Caldera). So right now choose which platform by how much help you think you can get. You can also easily choose both, and play around. > What would be the easiest to start out with, as I am completely new to all sorts of *nix and bsd? > I primarily use my computer for schoolwork, and some programming. The FreeBSD ports collection is extremely easy, and nicer than anything common on Linux. Also, since only FreeBSD, Inc. creates a distribution, there are far fewer holes, bugs, and other annoyances to deal with (as on Linux distributions, you can never tell how secure each is by default). Most of the tools should be available for both platforms, or any from Linux being emulated on FreeBSD without much hassle. The only other issue is programming, where you have the BSD license giving you more rights on the system. Of course, if you don't plan to program into the code base provided by Linux of FreeBSD, than that's not a concern. To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-newbies" in the body of the message
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