On Mon, 2 May 2011, Louis Marrero wrote:
I have a number of really dumb questions that I hope you might be able
to shed some light on.
I shall endeavor to provide dumb answers in return :^) For *good*
answers, a great place to start is the Handbook,
http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/index.html. In
addition, I'm sure some of the many smart people on this list will speak
up.
Also, notice that I've changed the subject line to reflect a hint of the
message's content. This list is archived, and anyone searching later migh
not know to use 'edification' as a search term.
Although I am familiar with basic computer operation, I've been trying
to understand a very experienced programmer friend that mixes Linux/Unix
terminology in his vocabulary under the assumption that everyone knows
the language.
Being familiar only with general knowledge on the Windows XP that I use
daily, I've gone on the web to find out more information on some of the
terms used by this programmer, such as "BSD", "shell terminal", "nc -u",
etc. Since my friend knows that my computer is strictly MS Windows,
when my friend writes down something like "In a shell terminal type nc
-u 10.101.97.200 5555." it makes me wonder what I'm missing.
When he says "shell terminal", think "command prompt". nc is netcat, but I
didn't know Windows had that. In your friend's defense, I use Windows
every day (at work) and I can't always remember what things are called.
Especially since MS changes terminology every now and then, evidently just
for the hell of it.
1. I know that Windows is an OS, and Linux/Unix as well as FreeBSD are
other Operating System. My very basic question is this: Is it even
possible to install a second OS, like FreeBSD on an existing
Windows-based computer?
Yes. You can either set it up for dual boot - either by adding a second
hard drive, or by partitioning your existing drive if there's space - or
you can run another OS within a virtual machine of some sort. The latter
would need a pretty fast machine if the guest OS is to have decent
performance.
Having said that, I found it easier to get started using an old PC that
was too slow to run a modern Windows, but perfectly fine for a GUI-free
BSD. I'm typing this on an old Dell that I bought on ebay.
2. Is it possible to link my Windows laptop to a web server with Unix
or FreeBSD and exercise Unix/Linux commands. If so, how is that done?
The server's admin would have to give you a shell account. Most commercial
ISPs won't do that, but maybe your friend will.
I'd be grateful for any information.
Hope this helps, and welcome.
--
Chris Hill ch...@monochrome.org
** [ Busy Expunging </> ]
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