Date: Fri, 05 May 2000 18:06:21 GMT From: Salvo Bartolotta <bartequi@neomedia.it> To: Brennan W Stehling <brennan@offwhite.net> Cc: dannyh@idx.com.au, kernel@tdnet.com.br, freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: low cost consultant (?) Message-ID: <20000505.18062100@bartequi.ottodomain.org> In-Reply-To: <Pine.BSF.4.10.10005050916040.58641-100000@home.offwhite.net> References: <Pine.BSF.4.10.10005050916040.58641-100000@home.offwhite.net>
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>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Original Message <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< On 5/5/00, 3:18:16 PM, Brennan W Stehling <brennan@offwhite.net> wrote=20 regarding Re: low cost consultant (?): > I agree that FreeBSD should not lose focus as a server OS, but if=20 there > were a larger user base we would find more hardware vendors working=20 for > FreeBSD users. I wish that every autoloader tape drive out there had = a > FreeBSD driver, but they hardly ever support FreeBSD. > The last time I had to use a nice new autoloader tape drive I had to=20 use > Linux because it happened to have support while FreeBSD did not. > It is all about the numbers for hardware vendors. > Brennan Stehling - web developer and sys admin > projects: www.greasydaemon.com | www.onmilwaukee.com |=20 www.sncalumni.com Dear Brennan Stehling, I agree on the term larg*er*, but NOT on the term *large* (in M$=20 sense) :-) For a moment, let us consider the whole matter the other way round.=20 FreeBSD is an excellent NOS, in particular, it is designed as a server=20 OS. It is also a workstation OS. It can even be used as a very good=20 desktop if you like. However, it is NOT designed as a **desktop** OS=20 (in M$ sense). Although it is a server OS, it DOES support a good number of video and=20 sound cards. I find this simply amazing. Although sound and multimedia=20 at large are NOT the primary goal of the FreeBSD Project, they ARE=20 supported. Again, I find this amazing for a *server* OS. If you look=20 at the history of this Project, you will see that the dreaded video=20 and sound support HAS been improving -- in particular, from 3.x to=20 4-S.=20 As to the OS at large, AFAICS, M$ spends *years* in order to produce=20 results that are even NOT comparable to those the FreeBSD Project=20 achieves in *months*. Also, I seem to understand that the FreeBSD user basis is growing. It=20 may not be so large as Linux user basis, but it is growing. On the=20 other hand, FreeBSD does NOT aim at the same target as the latest=20 Linux. One last note: I have been THERE, namely, I have experienced what=20 badly supported hardware means. I bought a shining roaring Matrox G400=20 Dualhead 300 MHZ and it happened to be very badly supported. Ugly=20 graphics. My situation was even worse than yours. But after a while,=20 support was available.=20 Think positive :-)=20 Best regards, Salvo To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-questions" in the body of the message
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