On Thu, Nov 15, 2001 at 03:31:58PM +0530, Soumava Das wrote: > > I want to know the pros and cons of using Linux vis a vis > FreeBSD both as a server OS and desktop OS. Any pointers > to resources comparing the two OSs will be useful. >
When apps run, there is hardly a difference between Linux and *bsd. However, the differences lie mainly in sysadmin- ing aspects, since *bsd is pure BSD type. The nearest in Linux in this respect would be Slackware. Linux also caters for Sys-V type of admining. All rpm dis- tros and debian are based on this. Some prefer the verati- lity that it provides. Both are stable, and just as good either as server or desk- top. There are minor variations in the names of /dev and in the way packages are managed. The number of packages avail- able in Linux are more, but nearly all "essential" packages are common. > > Also, many think that FreeBSD is the way to go (Suresh > at least thinks so). Then why is Linux so popular and > supported by companies, since both are free and open > source ? > This is a very difficult thing to answer. Perhaps BSD init and admining processes do not lend itself to variations which Sys-V offers .. afterall, commercial distros should be unique. Hardware support in the Linux kernel is another thing probably contributing. Perhaps because Linux is more freely available. I am yet to see a mag (even phoren) dish out a free copy of *bsd. Incidentally even OpenBSD is very good. On the whole, BSD type distros require much more personal involvement. If you are the type who like to do everything from source tarballs, and handle all the necessary admin aspects, *bsd and Slack would be much more interesting and rewarding ... (Not that precompiled bins are not available but the DIY mindset makes you move that way .... ;-) If you want to "get to work" from day #1, with most of the admining aspects and essential packages properly sewn in by a distro, it is better to go for deb or an rpm distro. Since most standard distros have very good package manage- ment software like rpm and dpkg, and most packages are on the net as per-compiled binaries, life is perhaps easier. Even in this case, I'd advocate doing the admining aspects yourself and keep off things like Linuxconf. For this you would need to know your distro policies well. The ultimate choice is yours ... HTH Bish. -- : ####[ Linux One Stanza Tip (LOST) ]########################### Sub : Linux through NT boot loader LOST #082 To add linux to NT boot loader menu, in Linux do: #dd -if=/dev/hdaN -of=/tmp/boot.lnx bs=512 count=1 [where N is the partition of the Linux "/" (root dir)] Ensure /tmp/boot.lnx is 512 bytes. Copy it to c:\ of NT. Append 'c:\boot.lnx="linux"' 'to c:\boot.ini and you are done ####<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>####################### : _______________________________________________ linux-india-help mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/linux-india-help
