Date: Sun, 11 Nov 2001 10:33:47 -0500 From: Matthew Graybosch <matthew@starbreaker.net> To: James Buchanan <gnudev@ozemail.com.au> Cc: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Software on FreeBSD Message-ID: <20011111155021.5017723F1A@IMGate1.cshore.com> In-Reply-To: <3BEEA27F.C30FD33F@ozemail.com.au> References: <3BEEA27F.C30FD33F@ozemail.com.au>
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On Sunday 11 November 2001 11:08, you wrote: > For a little while I've been using Linux only, instead of Windows. > I've been doing my Bach in computer science degree working on > Windows, so unfortunately my skills in UNIX are a little rusty. Being rusty beats the bloody hell out of being totally ignorant. > I was wondering if FreeBSD has an installer program that can > detect hardware. Also, does FreeBSD come with the tools that Linux > distributions do, for example: GCC (C, C++, Java, Fortran), glibc, > libstdc++, libpthreads, autoconf, automake, make, sed, awk, perl, > bash, texinfo, lout, latex, ghostscript, ghostview, flex, bison, > and other GNU tools? Is there an easy to use setup program for X? > What desktops come with FreeBSD, like Gnome or KDE? I think the FreeBSD installer does a decent job of detecting hardware. It's not pretty, like YaST2 in SuSE or HardDrake in Mandrake, but it gets the job done and it's not that hard to use if you've grokked the manual. Most of the GNU tools are not installed as part of the FreeBSD "base" distribution, as FreeBSD has its own C/C++ compiler, libraries, etc. However, the GNU tools and libraries can be installed from the packages collection. If there's an "easy" (does this mean graphical?) config tool for X under FreeBSD I haven't found it. However, Chapter 5 of the "FreeBSD Handbook" at http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/x11.html covers basic installation and configuration of X. I followed the instructions and had only a little difficulty in making XDM work. Both GNOME 1.4 and KDE2 can be installed either from packages or ports, as can Windowmaker, Enlightenment, Sawfish, Blackbox, FVWM, etc. You'll have to edit ~/.xsession or ~/.xinitrc depending on whether you're using XDM or startx. > I'm a little worried about changing OSes since UNIX especially > seems to be pretty hard to use (I mean, for me non-logical names > for things, like TTYs. An ancient UNIX hang over). Well, you have TTYs in Linux as well, IIRC. And, given that they're pronounced "titties", I figure its just a slightly off-color joke on the part of K&R > Is FreeBSD at least as user-friendly as a good Linux distribution > like RedHat? Does the manual in the boxed sets tell how to setup a > modem and make a dialup connection to an ISP, and how to connect > and disconnect? Well, I think FreeBSD is more user-friendly than Linux; it doesn't put important stuff in wierd places like /opt and such, and the docs are clearly written. The Handbook has a chapter on setting up modems and dialing ISPs, and there's also a "Pedantic PPP Primer" on the main site. > Lastly, since FreeBSD seems to be internet oriented, it has mail > programs and a browser right? Oh, and emacs? Mail clients and browsers galore. We got PINE, ELM, Mutt, Sylpheed, KMail and Lilith knows what else for mail clients, and for browsers we've got Lynx, Netscape, Mozilla, Opera, Konqueror -- hell, we even have Mosaic. >^..^< > Sorry for the very low level questions. But I really can't afford > to spend the money until I know what I'm doing and I can work on > FreeBSD. Aw come on, you can't afford $50US? You must really be up against the wall, but that's OK. I've been up against the wall a few times myself. >^..^< -- Matthew Graybosch http://www.starbreaker.net "Sartre was mistaken: Hell is not other people. Hell is debugging other people's code." To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-questions" in the body of the message
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