Date: Tue, 28 Oct 1997 07:20:57 -0500 (EST) From: Bill Pechter <pechter@lakewood.com> To: lists3@artorius.sunflower.com (Stephen D. Spencer) Cc: freebsd-chat@freebsd.org Subject: Re: So, FreeBSD can't be a very popular OS, why? Message-ID: <199710281220.HAA01526@i4got.lakewood.com> In-Reply-To: <Pine.BSF.3.96.971028042534.16843A-100000@artorius.sunflower.com> from "Stephen D. Spencer" at "Oct 28, 97 05:31:59 am"
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I figured I'd just drop a short note -- and it turned into a retrospective. Hope no one finds this too boring. > On Tue, 28 Oct 1997, Sue Blake wrote: > > > [...] > > If you want to do more with your computer, or if you want to really exploit > > the quality hardware you have, then you want a full, powerful and > > configurable system, like FreeBSD, Linux, etc. The next thing you need is > > someone to install it, set it up, and configure it to suit your needs. Then > > you'll want that person to come in and maintain it occasionally. > > All the power and none of the responsiblity :) > > > [...] > > Learning to do it yourself is where the fun, excitement, and tears come in. > > Unix was never meant for beginners. It expects you to know what you're doing > > and to take full responsibility every step of the way. So you buy books. You > > go back and buy more books. > > > > I must protest your second comment! As someone who has worked in the > tech-support field (Hey, someone told me that when they made you a > sysadmin that you didn't have to take phone calls anymore!) I do not > believe in the operating system that was made for beginners. Bravo... nice post. I learned Unix the old fashioned way. I read books (thank you Bruce Hunter and Evi Nemeth). I spent hours nose to machine. (Ever link a SysV R0 kernel in a memory image to get it to support the system configuration before writing the stuff to disk (loading from 1600 BPI mag tape on a non-VM Concurrent/Perkin Elmer 3200). And that was my FIRST SysAdmin job. Unix doesn't come easy. However, there's this great thing about it. Admin knowledge is built of simple steps, just like building simple tools into more complex programs with scripts and pipes. In the last 10 years I've learned more about Unix than I probably want to. It's become a career (or at least a series of jobs) rangeing from SysAdmin to product support, to instructor, to SysAdmin again, to User Support and back to SysAdmin. Not too bad for an old DEC board swapper. (Please, no jokes on how a DEC FE changes tires on a DECmobile... been there, done that. Have the LARS report to prove it.) Unix -- it's become a hobby, now that Linux and Free/Net/OpenBSD and SCO have put Unix in the affordable range. I oncce ran Coherent and Minix, because of the cost and spent a couple of hundred dollars for 8088 SCO so I could learn Unix at home. [SCO -- if you're out there -- I've got the disks for 3 sets of UNUSED Xenix-86 (and 286) that I'd use if you would just re-license key them for a reasonable fee.] I've become a Unix fan and partisan in the war for better home O/S's. I've purchased OS/2 (not too bad) and Windows 3.1, and Windows 95 and (while OS/2 is ok) I find there's not much stability in the Windows world. The Unix Hater's Handbook describes a number of Unix problems -- including the need to reboot the machine to clear up memory leaks and random unusual problems with SunOS (probably in the 3.x days -- although 4.x wasn't too much better). I've been a DEC Vax/VMS and Tops20 user. I used to really complain about the Unix instability, poor file system that would lose big time (v7/SysIII SysV) on a reboot or crash. I don't see this too much anymore Sounds like Windows to me. Doesn't sound much like FreeBSD. The last 10 years of Unix has finally resulted in a mature OS. We're even discussing ACLs and C2/B1 in FreeBSD. I just saw that implemented in commercial Unix 8 years ago. ACL's on a PC Unix -- amazing. Good work CSRG (RIP). Good work FreeBSD. Eventually this will trickle down to the MS world. I figure in 10 years WIN/NT will reach VAX/VMS 3.5 in stability and useability. (...maybe, if MS stops putting features in that break things) Bill former Unix Hater ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Bill Pechter | 17 Meredith Drive Tinton Falls, NJ 07724 | 732-389-3592 pechter@lakewood.com | Save computing history, give an old geek old hardware. This msg brought to you by the letters PDP and the number 11.
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