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#! rnews 4488 bsd Path: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au!newshost.carno.net.au!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!munnari.OZ.AU!news.ecn.uoknor.edu!feed1.news.erols.com!howland.erols.net!newsfeed.internetmci.com!in1.uu.net!newsfeed.pitt.edu!bb3.andrew.cmu.edu!andrew.cmu.edu!sumner+ From: G Sumner Hayes <sumner+@CMU.EDU> Newsgroups: comp.unix.sco.misc,comp.unix.misc,comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc,comp.unix.bsd.netbsd.misc,comp.unix.questions Subject: Re: which Unix to choose? Date: Wed, 6 Nov 1996 05:15:24 -0500 Organization: Sophomore, Mathematics, Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA Lines: 72 Message-ID: <0mU6Iw200YUh0eNJ40@andrew.cmu.edu> References: <327F5727.179F@citynet.net> NNTP-Posting-Host: po9.andrew.cmu.edu In-Reply-To: <327F5727.179F@citynet.net> Xref: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au comp.unix.sco.misc:28606 comp.unix.misc:26094 comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc:30701 comp.unix.bsd.netbsd.misc:4822 comp.unix.questions:90601 Brian Honey <wwwplan@citynet.net> writes: > I am interested in obtaining some type of Unix, to use initially for > general writing and record keeping, Internet use, and to eventually > develop applications. [SNIP] > Oh, I should mention, I'm looking for an > inexpensive/free release. > > There are so many choices available, it is difficult to choose - > SCO OpenServer, FreeBSD, NetBSD, and all the flavors of Linux. You obviously want Linux! Wait, no, make that FreeBSD! Or maybe OpenBSD. Or perhaps NetBSD. Or SCO Unix? Hmmm. Seriously, this is likely to be an incendiary question; all of the above are more than capable. For the record, I have use Linux (Slackware, Red Hat, and Debian), NetBSD, and FreeBSD. A few observations, all IMO: 1. I've avoided SCO for personal reasons (I like to have the source and I do some server-type stuff which would force me into buying it), so I'm not qualified to comment on it. Solaris and other commercial x86 Unices don't fit your free/very cheap criterion. I hope that someone more qualified than I can comment on SCO. 2. Of the *BSDs, there is no clear winner; they tend to propogate changes quickly between each other. All are good. I like NetBSD for no particular reason other than that my roomate runs it. FreeBSD is more x86-oriented, so you might find that some optimizations and performance wins appear there first; OpenBSD is a mission to improve perceived flaws in NetBSD. NetBSD ports like mad. If you're likely to want to move to non-Intel/AMD/Cyrix CPUs, stay away from FreeBSD. 3. Linux tends to have more net support than *BSD. It also tends to support more hardware. Historically, it's networking wasn't as good; that's changed recently and I would say it's as good as the BSDs. Exception: NFS. If you're going to be doing lots of NFS serving, go with BSD over Linux. Linux has really cool kernel threads, IMO. Some Linux distributions are certified POSIX compliant; the BSDs are obviously BSD compliant. In reality, both support POSIX and BSD semantics well. Linux tends to support some sorts of hackery (non-X graphical applications, for instance) more than *BSD, which is either a big advantage or a big drawback depending on your point of view. Both Debian and Red Hat are good distributions; Red Hat is more commercially supported while Debian is more up-to-date. If you're developing commercial apps, go with Red Hat, otherwise take your pick. So what to run? If you have a friend who runs one and think you'll need some help, run what your friend runs. If you want to run Doom or Quake at full speed, run Red Hat or Debian Linux. If you want a very portable system, run NetBSD or OpenBSD. If you need to be able to run both *BSD and Linux binaries, run one of the BSDs. If you are only on an x86 and want to run BSD, consider FreeBSD. I think Linux's SMP support is slightly better than *BSD these days, but check that before taking my word for it. If you want to test on multiple platforms, run whatever your friends aren't running and test on your system and theirs. If you need to run 386BSD apps, run one of the BSDs. If you want to run SCO apps, run Linux. For the record, I currently run Red Hat Linux but would install Debian Linux if I were re-installing today. I run Linux because my roomate runs NetBSD and I want my code to be relatively portable; I test on our machines and the school's HPs, Solaris boxes, SGIs, and DECs. If all else fails, pick the one with the coolest name. Cordially, Sumner Please don't CC: postings to me, my mailbox is already full enough.