From owner-freebsd-questions Mon Aug 2 3:50: 9 1999 Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from smtp2.vnet.net (smtp2.vnet.net [166.82.1.32]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 8017A14FE3 for ; Mon, 2 Aug 1999 03:50:04 -0700 (PDT) (envelope-from rivers@dignus.com) Received: from dignus.com (ponds.vnet.net [166.82.177.48]) by smtp2.vnet.net (8.9.1a/8.9.1) with ESMTP id GAA04068; Mon, 2 Aug 1999 06:49:39 -0400 (EDT) Received: from lakes.dignus.com (lakes.dignus.com [10.0.0.3]) by dignus.com (8.9.2/8.8.5) with ESMTP id GAA10609; Mon, 2 Aug 1999 06:49:38 -0400 (EDT) Received: (from rivers@localhost) by lakes.dignus.com (8.9.2/8.6.9) id GAA03841; Mon, 2 Aug 1999 06:49:38 -0400 (EDT) Date: Mon, 2 Aug 1999 06:49:38 -0400 (EDT) From: Thomas David Rivers Message-Id: <199908021049.GAA03841@lakes.dignus.com> To: bitter@noah.org, freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: Need comparative data In-Reply-To: <67650953.933580567520.JavaMail.nobody@shell5.ba.best.com> Sender: owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Precedence: bulk X-Loop: FreeBSD.ORG > > As far as administration and support goes I think it's clear that Linux > has a big advantage. Many packages (like Apache and Squid) come prebuilt > in RPM format. Also Linux seems to have good Java support. Those same packages come pre-built on FreeBSD as well. Many believe our `ports/packages' mechanism is much better than the RPM approach. All you need to do is download the package and say `package_add'. With the `ports' system, all you do is download the port, which is typically a makefile along with any patches needed to compile the item on FreeBSD. Then, run `make'. The makefile will fetch the original distribution, apply the patches, and build the product. > > As far as performance and reliability go I have not seen any arguments > one way or another. I suspect that FreeBSD is more stable (another reason > we decided against WinNT). Also, it seems that FreeBSD might be more > modular. We would like to remove as much crap as possible to get a clean > and easy to maintain system. But I don't have any real reason to believe > that Linux isn't dependable compared to WinNT. In my personal experience, they (FreeBSD and Linux) are about the same for reliability. I can't technically speak to performance, but many claim FreeBSD is faster than Linux at running Linux executables. (FreeBSD does run most Linux programs...) > > One thing I keep reading is that "Linux and FreeBSD are really more alike > than they are different." If that is true than can someone give me one > reason why I should use FreeBSD? If all the support and momentum is with > Linux then why risk going with FreeBSD? > > "Throw me a bone here people..." The overwhelming reason to use FreeBSD is to avoid the "which one" question... When you want to use Linux, "which one" do you want to use. Are there consequences to this choice? Will some Linux programs work with this version and some not? FreeBSD doesn't suffer from this problem - there is only one distribution, and its release is carefully done. That item is one of the overwhelming reasons I stay with FreeBSD. - Dave Rivers - To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-questions" in the body of the message