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Path: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au!newshost.carno.net.au!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!nntp.coast.net!news-res.gsl.net!news.gsl.net!news.mathworks.com!newsfeed.internetmci.com!newsxfer2.itd.umich.edu!agate!news.Stanford.EDU!andrsn.stanford.edu!andrsn From: andrsn@andrsn.stanford.edu (Annelise Anderson) Newsgroups: comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc Subject: Re: How many BSDs are out there?????? Date: 3 Aug 1996 06:13:32 GMT Organization: Stanford University Lines: 85 Message-ID: <4tuqmc$5s6@nntp.Stanford.EDU> References: <4tu23m$mf7@thor.cmp.ilstu.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: andrsn.stanford.edu X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.2 PL2] raaue@odin.cmp.ilstu.edu wrote: : Hi all, : First, I must apologize because I haven't done my homework. I didn't : have time either. : Second, let me tell you what is going on: : - I am involved with a company of computer iliterate people : - Just recently I set up a couple of minor tricks that made them much : more efficient. Nothing fancy, just basic and common sense stuff. : - Now they think I am the hottest thing around. : - I told them that they could set a web server relatively easy, and : that would give them major exposure. : They want to do it, they want it done as cheap as posible, and they : want me to do a study due yesterday. : I have no idea where to start. I heard of freeBSD a while back and I : think it could be right for the job. : Unfortunately I am not a wizard. I am just familiar with basic stuff, : and I don't know much of any other hardware or software. Definetely : networks isn't an area I know much. As you can see this asignment : is way too much for me. : Please HELP : Thanks for your time : jmespin FreeBSD is an excellent choice for a web server. It's relatively easy to set it up--in fact, you can ask the install program to install the apache web server (probably the best one). You'll still need to read the directions that come with it and configure it. It will even create a home page--it asks you for the name of the company. But then you'll have to produce some pages for the web server to serve, and to do that you'll have to learn HTML. Basic HTML is not difficult, a couple of hours should do it. Unix (and FreeBSD is a variety of Unix) is not easy, however. There's a good deal of detail. An alternative is to set up a web server on a Windows 95 machine. I've done that--I found a free web server on the net; it works very well. Again, just read the directions. Windows 95 requires the Plus! pack (about $50) to be able to run a web server. You can also run a web server from Windows 3.1, but 3.1 is so poor at multitasking that it probably won't work very well--at least not if you want to do anything else with the machine. With Win95 and especially with FreeBSD, you can do other things. FreeBSD can handle multiple users logging in, manage their electronic mail, and so forth. All of these operating systems run on ordinary Intel hardware; and to run a web server the hardware needs to be connected to the Internet. You can inform the various search engines (yahoo, altavista, etc.) of your web site, which is faster than letting them find it for them- selves--but eventually they will in any case find it. Then the machine should be on all the time, so that your web pages will always be accessible. You will want the machine to receive electronic mail (FreeBSD comes with all programs necessary for doing electronic mail) so that the pages can serve as a means of answering questions, accepting queries about products and availability, and so forth. As the volume becomes larger you'll need a machine with more ram and possibly a better Internet connection. But you can start with a truly ordinary pc-- I run my web server on a Pentium 90 with 16 megs ram, a machine that could be transferred to a secretary if a larger one were needed. Check http://www.freebsd.org for information on obtaining and installing FreeBSD AND ESPECIALLY the equipment with which it is compatible, if you're buying new equipment or selecting from among available machines. You can also install FreeBSD as a second operating system on a machine running Win95, Win3.1, WinNT, and/or OS/2, but you can only run one operating system at a time. Annelise