From owner-freebsd-advocacy@FreeBSD.ORG Thu Dec 13 14:12:56 2007 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-advocacy@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id A6B7C16A418 for ; Thu, 13 Dec 2007 14:12:56 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from emailgrant@gmail.com) Received: from wa-out-1112.google.com (wa-out-1112.google.com [209.85.146.179]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 6AC2413C468 for ; Thu, 13 Dec 2007 14:12:56 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from emailgrant@gmail.com) Received: by wa-out-1112.google.com with SMTP id k17so1152131waf.3 for ; Thu, 13 Dec 2007 06:12:56 -0800 (PST) DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=gmail.com; s=gamma; h=domainkey-signature:received:received:message-id:date:from:to:subject:in-reply-to:mime-version:content-type:content-transfer-encoding:content-disposition:references; bh=elPDz3+wloI1REk0K78U7SfrIbSGNwWZEoR5EqlW+/c=; b=mobECs3VK48Z/ulT/ghHoTiUKqfbsUFVRgnhfy/fzG9iZblleghE293j5XfgpYikUzQEfXJkxtCJh4YpTr2V2ay23XfnHEABkn5/mF42+422aGn6ARj2gwGX/XF1SpbMbiXITbSsGZPdVtsdSYQEMCtzbAEwyBXDPiGmirVWIoI= DomainKey-Signature: a=rsa-sha1; c=nofws; d=gmail.com; s=gamma; h=message-id:date:from:to:subject:in-reply-to:mime-version:content-type:content-transfer-encoding:content-disposition:references; b=sK6F1O9/4PdcqtBg0OeV0WGtGukORPbiPgjBBpm9Qqpio/EqMJyrJNqmrtIc5Qe21YFCksS4Mj8jSet1SU8VEiE6kIFhDwAF9Fp/8axLhy8p1gkS/oHwsah4lCSg+fkODVeUadgukahTLSl+xB/KdwJOmNkFaASKqoeXYcKWP+k= Received: by 10.114.59.1 with SMTP id h1mr764433waa.39.1197555175386; Thu, 13 Dec 2007 06:12:55 -0800 (PST) Received: by 10.115.110.15 with HTTP; Thu, 13 Dec 2007 06:12:55 -0800 (PST) Message-ID: <49bf44f10712130612q72d55f7cgeb1647ca00718b86@mail.gmail.com> Date: Thu, 13 Dec 2007 06:12:55 -0800 From: Grant To: freebsd-advocacy@freebsd.org In-Reply-To: <4760FC20.9030608@infracaninophile.co.uk> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Disposition: inline References: <49bf44f10712122100y45f12f77q4ae47f311905be25@mail.gmail.com> <4760FC20.9030608@infracaninophile.co.uk> Subject: Re: Current Gentoo user X-BeenThere: freebsd-advocacy@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: FreeBSD Evangelism List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Thu, 13 Dec 2007 14:12:56 -0000 > > It has recently come to my attention that FreeBSD is "similar" to > > Gentoo Linux. I've been a Gentoo user for about 5 years and I love > > the concept, but it feels like the project is slowing down. I like to > > learn/use/know one OS for server, media system, laptop, router, etc. > > How would you compare the two OSes? > > We use mainly a mixture of FreeBSD and Gentoo at work. Virtually all > of the application software you would want to use will work on either > system -- the exceptions being certain proprietary bits such as the very > latest Flash or management applications for particular RAID controllers. > The Unix environment is pretty much the same, although /bin/sh on FreeBSD > is not bash -- that you'ld have to install from ports. There are various > odd differences in commands but those tend to be the more obscure bits > as both systems comply with POSIX.2 What about skype, wengo, and vmware workstation? Do they work on FreeBSD? > Things you'll find different: > > * Although portage was certainly inspired by ports, it is a very > different beast. They fulfil much the same function, but don't > get frustrated when you start thinking in the portage way and > find that doesn't map onto ports very well. Ports is, to > paraphrase Terry Pratchett, intuitively obvious once you've spent > enough time learning how it works. >From what I've read, ports is much faster and generally much better than portage. > * You'll find that the base FreeBSD system being separated from the > rest of the installed software seems odd at first. Especially > when you start looking under /etc for configuration files that > FreeBSD puts under /usr/local/etc. You will quickly come to > appreciate that it makes a huge difference in the ease and > manageability of maintaining the system. Makes sense to me. > * I tend to find that FreeBSD comes with much better diagnostic and > monitoring capabilities built in -- programs like systat and gstat > have no direct equivalents, and things like vmstat often seem to > be missing from Gentoo boxes, although that is probably just an > oversight by the person building the system. Does FreeBSD take the nothing-is-installed-that-I-don't-want approach like Gentoo does? > * Although either OS will work in either role, Gentoo-ers seem > to me principally interested in developing the desktops, > whereas FreeBSD-ers think "network server" first of all. Am I likely to struggle with FreeBSD on a laptop? I booted FreeSBIE just fine but I didn't test for sound. I would imagine 64-bit support in FreeBSD is excellent, but what about support of 32-bit binaries (e.g. the above listed) on a 64-bit system? - Grant