*BSD News Article 34029


Return to BSD News archive

Path: sserve!newshost.anu.edu.au!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!msuinfo!agate!howland.reston.ans.net!cs.utexas.edu!usc!nic-nac.CSU.net!charnel.ecst.csuchico.edu!psgrain!news.tek.com!news.bv.tek.com!news.bv.tek.com!not-for-mail
From: troyc@tekgen.bv.tek.com (Troy Curtiss)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.bsd
Subject: Re: Which 386-BSD is reliable?
Date: 8 Aug 1994 10:00:55 -0700
Organization: Tektronix, Inc., Beaverton, OR, USA
Lines: 31
Message-ID: <325oc7$qom@tekgen.bv.tek.com>
References: <pmiles.776112888@tdc> <x23yUAp.dysonj@delphi.com>
NNTP-Posting-Host: tekgen.bv.tek.com

As another plug for FreeBSD 1.1.5.1R, I have to say that the
support (via net) is better than I get from some of our
commercial vendors (ie. Sun), and much faster.  If a person
has enough technical know-how, the freebsd folks out there
generally give enough hints/help to get through about any jam.
For example, I just got FreeBSD about a month ago (thanks to
recommendations from a fellow alumnus, Nate Williams) and have
been able to set up two totally different machines (home & work)
to do everything from X to dial-up.  I was even able to resolve a
sticky SCSI-card issue within a day or two (hardware problems
are NOT cool!).  I plan on possibly using FreeBSD here at work
to do applications that don't require commercial apps, like
file-serving, x-serving, internet access, dial-in access,
email routing, routing, and the list goes on...  We still need
our Suns for high-end CAD work, and some other commercial stuff,
but the price/performance advantage of FreeBSD coupled with the
support seems a very good incentive.  And another thing, you don't
have to pay some Joe Blow $100/hour to open your PC and add RAM, 
fix hard-drives, add cards, and etc; I am assuming of course that
because my aunt recently upgraded her PC, anyone can! :) Overall,
I haven't tried NetBSD or Linux, but I probably will in my spare
time just to see what would suit me best.  Right now I am waiting
for FreeBSD 2.0 (continued evolution of software is another sign
of a good platform, and let me tell you, 1.1.5.1R FreeBSD is rock
stable!).  That's my $.02, from the newbie perspective.  Any
questions, feel free...

Troy Curtiss, HW/SW Engineer
Merix Corporation
Forest Grove, OR 97116
troyc@trask.merix.com