From owner-freebsd-questions Mon Nov 3 09:41:27 1997 Return-Path: Received: (from root@localhost) by hub.freebsd.org (8.8.7/8.8.7) id JAA17466 for questions-outgoing; Mon, 3 Nov 1997 09:41:27 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from owner-freebsd-questions) Received: from gdi.uoregon.edu (gdi.uoregon.edu [128.223.170.30]) by hub.freebsd.org (8.8.7/8.8.7) with ESMTP id JAA17458 for ; Mon, 3 Nov 1997 09:41:15 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from dwhite@gdi.uoregon.edu) Received: from localhost (dwhite@localhost) by gdi.uoregon.edu (8.8.7/8.8.7) with SMTP id JAA25779; Mon, 3 Nov 1997 09:41:02 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from dwhite@gdi.uoregon.edu) Date: Mon, 3 Nov 1997 09:41:02 -0800 (PST) From: Doug White Reply-To: Doug White To: "EDWIN R. PYLE" cc: freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: DO I KNOW SOMETHING In-Reply-To: <199711031300.IAA25447@internet.panama.phoenix.net> Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Sender: owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG X-Loop: FreeBSD.org Precedence: bulk Please turn off CAPS LOCK -- otherwise we think you are shouting. Thanks! On Mon, 3 Nov 1997, EDWIN R. PYLE wrote: > I DO HAVE AN INTEREST IN UNIX... HOWEVER I'M CONFUSSED ABOUT ALL THE > PROGRAMS > THAT CLAIM TO BE UNIX BUT ARE NOT CALLED UNIX ( FREEBSD - LINUX - ETC )... > I VISIT YOUR SITE OFTEN HOPING FOR INLIGHTENMENT BUT I DON'T SEEM TO BE > GETTING ANY > WHERE ON MY OWN.... I HAVE IN THE PAST BEEN ABLE TO FIGURE OUT MOST > COMPUTER STUFF ON MY OWN, BUT NOT IN THIS CASE.... :-) UNIX style operating systems take some learning, especially if you come from a DOS/Windoze background. FYI, UNIX is actually a trademark owned by AT&T/USL/Novell/SCO/whoever-has-it-now. Generally, that code is referred to as System V (or SYSV or SVR4 fro System V Release 4). FreeBSD is based on code that was meant to emulate the UNIX look and feel but was from a different code base put out by the University of California, Berkeley. This set is called `BSD' for `Berkeley Systems Distribution'. The various names are implementations of this set. FreeBSD, for instance, ports the 4.4BSD code to the Intel i386 architecture. Linux, well, is a bit of it's own beast, a mix of BSD- and SYSV-isms. I would highly suggest going to your local bookstore and picking up some books, particularly `UNIX System Administration, 2nd Ed.' by Nemeth et. al. > YOUR SYSTEM IS FREE, I CAN CERTAINLY AFFORD THAT, BUT I DON'T SEEM TO HAVE > A STARTING DOWNLOAD POINT... FreeBSD is split into `distributions' which are components of the system. They come as 240k archived chunks. This guide may help you select which parts you need: FreeBSD File Requirements: REQUIRED: floppies/boot.flp (boot floppy image) tools/fdimage.exe (DOS bootfloppy image writer) bin/* RECOMMENDED: manpages/ compat*/ doc/ (at your discretion) src/ssys.* > MOST OTHER SOFTWARE HAS SEVERAL DISKS NUMBERED DISK 1. DISK 2., ETC... > THERE IS A BEGINNING A MIDDLE & AN END OF INSTALLATION... FreeBSD doesn't follow this model since you can select to install various parts. All you do is download the pieces you want, saving you time and money. > " TO DOWNLOAD TO HARD DRIVE YOU MUST HAVE XXXXX AMOUNT OF HARD DRIVE SPACE > AVAILABLE. AFTER DOWNLOADING GO TO THE DIRECTORY, INSTALL THE PROGRAM , > FOLLOW THE ON SCREEN INSTRUCTIONS " > THIS IS NORMAL TO ME...... FreeBSD is reasonably straightforward if you buy the CDROM. I'll put that out right now. > I'M AFRAID OF RANDOM DOWNLOADING ANYTHING WHEN I DON'T KNOW WHAT I'M > DOWNLOADING, NOR DO I KNOW WHAT IT'S FOR, NOR WHAT IT WILL DO, NOR WHAT > AFFECT IT WILL HAVE ON MY CURRENT SYSTEM....... You should check out http://www.freebsd.org/handbook/install.html. > IS THERE SOME WAY THE FILES CAN BE ORGINIZED INTO A LOGICAL INSTALL FORMAT > FOR > DUMMIES LIKE ME ??? Read the documentation and all will come clear. Doug White | University of Oregon Internet: dwhite@resnet.uoregon.edu | Residence Networking Assistant http://gladstone.uoregon.edu/~dwhite | Computer Science Major