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Date:      Mon, 8 Jun 1998 13:59:48 -0400 (EDT)
From:      CyberPeasant <djv@bedford.net>
To:        ft10@dial.pipex.com
Cc:        freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG
Subject:   Re: points of view.
Message-ID:  <199806081759.NAA26244@lucy.bedford.net>
In-Reply-To: <000201bd92e5$08f6ccc0$ae5295c1@charlie> from Tony watson at "Jun 8, 98 02:50:18 pm"

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Tony watson wrote:
[Charset iso-8859-1 unsupported, filtering to ASCII...]
> Friends,  I am trying to find the best of the
> two main free opp. sys.
> Linux or Free BSD.
> I have asked the same question to the webmaster of linux.org so do not feel
> hard done to please.
> I am aware you will prefer BSD.

I prefer BSD /for the things I am doing/, and because the centralized
BSD development model fits with my personality and background. I'm
an old-time (punch card) grey-haired tinker-geek. You're not me,
so what I like isn't necessarily what you like.

Believe me, very few people will be heartbroken if you go with a
different liberated OS, or a commercial option like BSD/OS or
Solaris x86. I've been known to steer people to Linux in certain
cases.  Just stay away from the Mad Dog of Redmond, and you'll be
OK :)

> I will not publish my findings, but it will help me decide in the opp sys to
> use within a project I am working on.
> I understand both systems will have their own specialist  uses and this
> should be taken on-board.
> My project ~  e-commerce/ video/net access/networking/design/hosting/cafe..
> 
> quite basic in real terms.

I'd stick OpenBSD on the firewall, FreeBSD on the servers, and maybe Linux
on the workstations. Is that eclectic enough?

If you're wandering away from Intel architecture, maybe an SMP Alpha with
Digital Unix would be the "right thing", or Sparcs with Solaris.

Everybody but the Redmondites do the basic things OK. 

> Please if you cant advise me could you point me in the correct direction..
> Many thankz in advance.
> Tony Watson.

You're willing to do some work on this, evidently. Why /not/ post your
findings, (say at your own website)?

Also, the proof of the pudding is in the tasting. In 1985, "tasting"
an os was a $5000 proposition, whereas now it is nearly free. Wallow
in this luxury! Drop a couple hundred $ for CDROMS and play around.

There will not be much wasted effort if you, say, install Linux,
run it in /your/ specific environment for a few months, then install
a BSD, and do the same with it(them). Much of the configuration
work (X, DNS, networking, and nearly all applications outside the
kernel are either /identical/ or so similar that you can make the
transition between the two with only a few hours work. FreeBSD on
CDROM ships with a variety of independent benchmark programs that
might help your evaluations. Or get a big disk and install both at
once.

I think the modern way is to decide on what hardware and specific
applications you want, then work backwards to the OS. There are a
lot of questions here like that: "I have a Greased Lightning XX23
Twin Demon with a 2-Terabyte Spins-a-Lot RAID array, which I want to
use to host a 50000 hit/hour website with 2000 simultaneous connection
INND newsserver, using a Tachyon Sub-Space Fiber Optic frame relay.
Can XXXX-OS handle this hardware and load? And can I run Quake on it?"

Dave
-- 
        DISCLAIMER: If it can be disclaimed, it is.
	DISCLAIMER: In particular, I don't represent any organization.

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