*BSD News Article 99987


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From: Zenin <zenin@best.com>
Newsgroups: comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc
Subject: Re: FreeBSD vs. Linux
Date: 19 Jul 1997 22:01:34 GMT
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Message-ID: <5qrdfu$ca2$1@nntp2.ba.best.com>
References: <01bc8d33$3f7a4f00$6870d3c6@einstein> <33C4F625.41C67EA6@together.net> <pa7nq5.r51.ln@gate> <5qnvb7$5kg@news.gvsu.edu> <9mooq5.9c4.ln@gate>
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Xref: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc:44701

Tim <tsweeney@harborhi.com> wrote:
	>snip<
> Exactly. Just what I was talking about. You tell us WHY you make the
> recommendation you do, not just offhandedly dump on one OS in favor of
> another.
	>snip<

	Well, my original reason for running FreeBSD was that, at the
	time anyway, Linux did not support my network card (a 3com 905),
	while FreeBSD v2.1.6 did.  After running it for good 7 months now
	I find I like it quite a bit more then most Linux distributions.
	I never did like the "Linuxezums" that much of Linux code has
	(SVGAlib stuff mostly, but lots of X stuff too), and the FreeBSD
	/usr/ports system just plain rocks.  I also have found that FreeBSD
	handles large loads combined with high network traffic better then
	my Linux box (Yes, I still run it on another machine).  My FreeBSD
	box handles a number of *vary* large jobs on a regular basis that
	both use heavy disk i/o, as well as heavy network i/o.  While these
	ran fine on my Linux box, I always noticed a *high* drop in X server
	performance when they were running. -It's also my workstation.  With
	FreeBSD running these jobs, I can notice slower disk i/o, but the
	X server never seems to miss a beat.  The workstation is just as
	usable when running these jobs as when it's not.  This was never
	really the case with my Linux box.  I'd just use another machine
	while my Linux box was running these jobs.  With FreeBSD I no longer
	have to.  Both machines (except for the network card) are the same.
	P5/200, 64megs, PCI bus, IDE drives.

	I also like the fact that FreeBSD is more of a complete "system",
	were Linux is more a kernel with misc attachments.  This makes it
	hard to know what to expect from one Linux box to another.  Each
	distribution is a little different from others in many parts.  This
	is not the case with FreeBSD.  Code originally developed on FreeBSD
	is often easier to port to other systems then Linux if only because
	I find many Linux programmers tend to rely on Linuxezums that make
	the code a major pain to port, even with the aid of klugie
	compatibility systems such as FreeBSD's /compat/linux.

	MHO of course, YMMV. :)

-- 
-Zenin
 Quake Clan After Shock (Did you feel that?)
 The Bawdy Cast - Rocky Horror Picture Show (San Jose, CA)
 Zenin's Rocky Archive (http://www.best.com/~zenin/)
 zenin@best.com