*BSD News Article 50625


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From: thorpej@lestat.nas.nasa.gov (Jason R. Thorpe)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.bsd.netbsd.misc,comp.os.linux.advocacy
Subject: Re: DEBATE:  BSD vs. Linux
Date: 2 Sep 1995 20:18:36 GMT
Organization: Numerical Aerodynamic Simulation Project - NASA Ames
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In article <427lu4$cn8@felix.junction.net>,
Michael Dillon <michael@okjunc.junction.net> wrote:

>For people with no BSD experience, FreeBSD is much better to start with.
>I have tried FreeBSD, Linux, and BSDI's BSD/OS. They are different but I 

You haven't listed NetBSD ... if you haven't _tried_ it, then how can
you say that FreeBSD is better for those with no "BSD" experience?

Face it ... if you know one UNIX-like OS, you more or less know them all.
I've used a zillion UNIX and UNIX-like variants, and, for the most part,
they're pretty similar.

>If you need commercial software, then use whichever O/S supports the 
>applications you need. FreeBSD can run many commercial apps compiled for 
>BSDI, Linux has many commercial apps available, both FreeBSD and Linux 
>can run commercial apps compiled for SCO, FreeBSD has an alpha version of 
>a Linux environment that will run commercial Linux apps.

For the record, NetBSD has SVR4, SCO, BSDI, and (fully working) Linux
binary compatibility.  I think I remember hearing somewhere that FreeBSD
has ported NetBSD's SCO emulation and is using it now rather that the one
they originally had .. *chuckle*.  I've personally run WordPerfect for SCO
and FrameMaker for SVR4/i386, as well as the Netscape browsers for BSD/OS
and Linux, and N games and other binary packeges under the Linux emulation.

-- 
Jason R. Thorpe                                       thorpej@nas.nasa.gov
NASA Ames Research Center                               Home: 408.866.1912
NAS: M/S 258-6                                          Work: 415.604.0935
Moffett Field, CA 94035                                Pager: 415.428.6939