*BSD News Article 83526


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From: "John S. Dyson" <dyson@freebsd.org>
Newsgroups: comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc
Subject: Re: linux or freebsd
Date: Sun, 24 Nov 1996 03:46:15 -0500
Organization: John S. Dyson's home machine
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Message-ID: <32980B57.41C67EA6@freebsd.org>
References: <3297850C.62B4@beavisandbutthead.com>
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To: Beavischrist@beavisandbutthead.com

~ wrote:
>
> 
> both os's are unix clones.
> i can run unix stuff in both os's.
> linux seems to be more popular.
> freebsd is smaller.
> they are both free!
> 
> sooooooooo, anyone have any ideas? tips or hints about what i should
> use?
> and does anyone know the differnces between slackware, redhat etc..
> versions of linux.
> 
You will not make the "wrong choice" running either or both.  Frankly,
I suggest playing with both, perhaps trying out the latest Slackware or
Red Hat Linux, and soon the new version of FreeBSD V2.2.  You'll have
fun learning more and more about U**X and OSes in general.  We don't
hide
any secrets, and if you want to do something fancy, you can.  And if you
can't figure it out, you either have the source code, or people who can
usually help you out...  You have alot of freedom.

The differences between FreeBSD and Linux are complex, but for an end
user hacker (in the best sense) they aren't that different.  Legally in
commercial situations and performance on large systems under load, there
are
significant differences.

The best bit of advice that I can give you is try to eventually play
with both.
Secondly, when you need help, ask for it nicely.  Most flame wars and
other
nasty things usually happen when someone makes a claim that is a lie, or
demands help in a way that hurts the developers feelings.

Regarding FreeBSD (the team that I work on), you will find that usually
people
try to help.  We all have limited resources and time, so sometimes
when/if people
have problems, they have to ask a few times.  Also, if you are
interested in
the system technologically, there is significant external documentation
such
as the O'Reilly books, the books by Richard Stevens and others.  FreeBSD
is
pretty much a productized Berkeley U**X and follows in many of it's
traditions.
We also try desperately to keep the development open, always trying to
recruit
contributors.  We are very customer focused, and consider FreeBSD to be
an integrated product.  I think most of us on FreeBSD (both core and the
committers) do it both because we like to work on OSes and utilities,
also
because we do know that we have users who are profitably using it in
both
proprietary and non-proprietary applications.  In my case, other than
liking
to do OS things, I work on FreeBSD as a way to contribute back to the
computing community.

I am sure that you'll also hear from Linux people also.  Again, I hope
that
you get a chance to try both OSes!!!  (I actually run Linux and NT also,
both
OSes are very interesting, and of value to study.)

Good Luck, and it is good to see good people open to learning.

John
dyson@freebsd.org