From owner-freebsd-newbies Tue Aug 3 8:24:20 1999 Delivered-To: freebsd-newbies@freebsd.org Received: from honk.org (cr876208-a.flfrd1.on.wave.home.com [24.112.90.129]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 08912152BC for ; Tue, 3 Aug 1999 08:24:16 -0700 (PDT) (envelope-from mpoulin@honk.org) Received: from spectre (mpoulin@cr876208-a.flfrd1.on.wave.home.com [24.112.90.129]) by honk.org (8.9.1/8.9.1) with SMTP id LAA04815 for ; Tue, 3 Aug 1999 11:23:19 -0400 Date: Tue, 3 Aug 1999 11:23:18 -0400 (EDT) From: Marty Poulin X-Sender: mpoulin@spectre To: FreeBSD-Newbies@freebsd.org Subject: RE: basic info on freebsd needed... In-Reply-To: Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Sender: owner-freebsd-newbies@FreeBSD.ORG Precedence: bulk X-Loop: FreeBSD.org On Tue, 3 Aug 1999, Peter McGarvey wrote: > > more snippage > > What makes it easier? Well, here is my experience with RedHat Linux 6.0.... > > I started the installation, answered lots of questions then waited 15 mins. > When my machine rebooted I was straight into X with gnome/enlightenment all > nicely setup. > > And now my experience with FreeBSD.... > > I started the installation, answered lots of questions then waited 15 mins. > I didn't setup X as the last time I tried it caused the whole installation > to crap-out. When my machine rebooted I was straight a wonderful command > prompt. I then launched sysinstall again and configured my X server and my > desktop. Then I had to wade through the ports and once I'd worked out what > I needed it took about three hours to get in all compiled and installed. > > So, even though I hate to place FreeBSD behind Linux, in this instance I'm > affraid Linux wins. > > TTFN, FNORD While I haven't had any problem setting up X in FreeBSD, it is definitely not something the average windows user would be able to do easily. In contrast, I had the pleasure of installing Caldera OpenLinux 2.2 at home (picked up a free demo CD at Comdex) - the installation is so graphically simple that it makes any other OS look ridiculously complicated in comparison. In a nutshell, I inserted the CD, booted the machine, answered about a dozen questions, then played Tetris until I saw a message saying that the install was complete (yes - Tetris is included in the install program to allow users to kill time while it copies files and compiles the kernel). The whole procedure took less than half an hour and was so amazingly simple I couldn't believe it. For users looking for a stable, reliable and easy-to-install OS for their desktop, I definitely recommend Caldera's OpenLinux. I think that anyone considering tackling the desktop OS market would do well to examine this installation procedure. Of course I still prefer FreeBSD for servers - I trust the security and stability of BSD over Linux (my Linux desktop is nice and safe behind a FreeBSD firewall). M. To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-newbies" in the body of the message