Date: Thu, 23 Oct 1997 17:05:00 +0930 From: Greg Lehey <grog@lemis.com> To: Kristian Soerensen <elof@image.dk> Subject: Re: Operating System comparison chart, FreeBSD-Linux Message-ID: <19971023170500.54407@lemis.com> In-Reply-To: <Pine.LNX.3.95.971014102005.6826A-100000@hugin.localdomain>; from Kristian Soerensen on Tue, Oct 14, 1997 at 12:00:13PM %2B0200 References: <19971014164629.55488@lemis.com> <Pine.LNX.3.95.971014102005.6826A-100000@hugin.localdomain>
next in thread | previous in thread | raw e-mail | index | archive | help
Sorry for the really slow reply--I've been pretty busy lately. On Tue, Oct 14, 1997 at 12:00:13PM +0200, Kristian Soerensen wrote: > On Tue, 14 Oct 1997, Greg Lehey wrote: > >> Hi! I'm just finishing a book about FreeBSD, and one of the topics I >> need to address is the difference between FreeBSD and Linux. Since >> you've done the same thing, maybe we can help each other. > > I will be happy to help, and I will certainly appreciate some help with > FreeBSD. I haven't used FreeBSD as you might have guessed. Thanks. I'll be pleased to help. > I actually prefer's Silicon Graphics with IRIX. >> First, your comparison. Here are some things that I think might need >> correction: >> >> 1. Periperals (note spelling :-) > I know. > Please bear with me - english is just something I learned in school ;-) Sorry, I wasn't trying to pick holes. Native English speakers can make typos, too, and since you spelt it correctly further down, I was sure it was a typo. > I've been working on a new version of the OS comparison, and > lot of what you and other FreeBSD people have mentioned is fixed in the > new version. > It will be released soon, but you can see a preview on our internal > test-site http://www.falconweb.com/~linuxhq/ > >> Linux: >> >> Drivers for most interesting peripherals in almost all areas of >> UNIX-computing. > >> It's very difficult to quantify this, and as you'll see in my draft >> below, I echo the same suggestion that there are more drivers >> available for FreeBSD than for Linux. Others in the FreeBSD camp >> contest this. Certainly there's more than just basic stuff in the >> list of FreeBSD peripherals, but we have the problem that we know of >> no single peripheral that Linux supports and FreeBSD doesn't. Can you >> help here? Tell me some peripherals which Linux supports and which >> you think FreeBSD doesn't, and I'll check. > > I have rewritten that entry in the new version, but it still holds true. > > Some peripherals both basic stuff and fancy stuff, some of it might have > FreeBSD support, I haven't checked that hard. > > Buslogic BT-958 The currently best UW SCSI host-adapter for the PC. > The drivers were made by Buslogic and a Linux hacker, > and released BEFORE the card itself ! It's nice to know they gave you access during development. Very positive for BusLogic. I'm pretty sure we have support for them. Our people don't agree that it's the best, though. > DPT RAID controllers No, we have them. > ISDN cards I haven't compared but ther's sure a lot of ISDN cards > for Linux > ftp://ftp.pop.de/pub2/linux/isdn4linux/FAQ/eng-i4l-faq.html > http://www.spellcast.com Yup, and for FreeBSD. I started using the Teles.S0 18 months ago. Linux was there first, I know, but we have it too. > IDE and floppy tape-drives > Most not completely obscure drives are supported. Correct. Our developers think that they are too tacky to touch. I disagree, though I can't imagine why I should entrust my data to something so unreliable. > FrameRelay and leased lines such as E1 E2 T1 Not sure about this one. > I saw some drivers for an AGFA imagesetter. Nor this. Can you mention a model number? > Livingston makes RADIUS software for Linux for managing network equipment. > Many ISP's are using Livingston equipment and Linux PC's exclusively, > eg. image.dk the ISP I'm using. Yes, they're supported by FreeBSD as well. The people who developed Radius are active FreeBSD users. > Ther's two comercial Xservers Xinside www.xi.com and > Metro-X www.metrolink.com, with drivers for some of the cards XFree can't > support for legal reasons, eg. Matrox Millenium drivers long before > XFree86 had them. Yes, both of them support FreeBSD. > Motif 1.2, 2.0 and CDE, both certified and clones. Also. > Office-apps WordPerfect, ApplixWare www.redhat.com, > NExS www.xess.com, StarOffice, > Corel Draw! (expensive and old), We're off the hardware now. FreeBSD runs Linux binaries, so it will run all these. > Science and Enginering > Mathematica www.wolfram.com, NAG fortran compilers, > NDP fortran www.microway.com > > Microsoft is working on ActiveX for Linux! > Let's hope they don't finish it !-) Right. If they do, they'll probably embed a Trojan Horse. > Order "The Linux Buyer's Guide" from www.ssc.com if you really want to > know what's available. You will be impressed. But that costs money! > "Linux Journal" is a montly paper publication that has existed for 3.5 > years. Last issue (oct) had 114 pages 21x32.5 cm. You can order that from > www.ssc.com as well. Yes, I know Linux Journal. I wrote an article for them on X11 setup a couple of years ago. >> Linux is a clone of UNIX written by Linus Torvalds, a student in Helsinki, >> Finland. At the time, the BSD sources were not freely available, and so Linus >> wrote his own version of UNIX. >> >> Linux is a superb example of how a few dedicated, clever people can produce an >> operating system that is better than well-known commercial systems developed by >> a large number of trained software engineers. It is better even than a number >> of commercial UNIX systems. >> >> Obviously, I don't think Linux is as good as FreeBSD, or I wouldn't be writing >> this book, but the differences between FreeBSD and Linux are more a matter of >> philosophy rather than of concept. Here are a few contrasts: > > >> Table 1-1. Differences between FreeBSD and Linux >> >> FreeBSD is a direct descendent of the Linux is a clone and never contained any >> original UNIX, though it contains no AT&T code >> residual AT&T code. > > Linux was designed to be posix complient, and a hacked version has > actually been certified. Some SysV and BSD feautures have been added for > backwards compatibility. That's not a contradiction, but it might be an addition. I'll think about adding it to the table. >> FreeBSD is a complete operating system, Linux is a kernel, personally maintained >> maintained by a central group of soft- by a Linus Torvalds. The non-kernel >> ware developers. There is only one programs supplied with Linux are part of >> distribution of FreeBSD. a distribution, of which there are sev- >> eral. >> >> FreeBSD aims to be a stable production Linux is still a ``bleeding edge'' de- >> environment. velopment environment, though many dis- >> tributions aim to make it more suitable >> for production use. > > Linux has been on space-missions. > Linux is included in factory machines. > Linux controls Fujitec elevators. > Linux is stable. Well, this last one should probably read "there are stable versions of Linux". As with FreeBSD, there are also bleeding edge versions. > The versions where the 2. number is even is stable, those with a odd 2. > number is development versions. > Current stable version is 2.0. The development version 2.1 will someday > turn into the stable 2.2 version. The 3. number is patchlevel. Thanks for the info. >> As a result of the centralized develop- The ease of installation of Linux de- >> ment style, FreeBSD is straightforward pends on the ``distribution''. If you >> and easy to install. switch from one distribution of Linux to >> another, you'll have to learn a new set >> of installation tools. > > Most people are using the RedHat or Debian distributions. > They are based on upgrade/installation/uninstallation software that keeps > track of dependencies among programs, and allows single button-press > "upgrade everything" upgrading of a Linux box, as well as the tried and > true "download - inspect - configure - compile - install" method. > > Some of the other distributions are using RedHat's software so > programs packaged in RedHat's format can be used on all these > distributions. Again, thanks for the info. I'll consider including it. >> As a result of the lack of knowledge of A growing amount of commercial software >> FreeBSD, not much commercial software is is becoming available for Linux. >> available for it. > > Yes indeed. > >> As a result of the smaller user base, Just about any new board will soon have >> FreeBSD is less likely to have drivers a driver for Linux. >> for brand-new boards than Linux. > > Proberly not the WINdows only crap that's starting to appear (eg. printers > and modems). Yes, but we're trying to ignore them :-) >> Because of the lack of commercial appli- Linux appears not to need to be able to >> cations and drivers, FreeBSD will run run FreeBSD programs or drivers. >> most Linux programs, whether commercial >> or not. It's also relatively simple to >> port Linux drivers to FreeBSD. > > Linux can run many Windows 3.*, mac, sco and SysV binaries. With wine? Yes, we have it on FreeBSD as well. > Ther's a standard Unix on Intel binary standard in the works, supported by > most venders, and Linux himself is involved. ibcs2? Or something newer? >> FreeBSD has a large number of afficiona- Linux has a large number of afficionados >> dos who are prepared to flame anybody who are prepared to flame anybody who >> who dares suggest that it's not better dares suggest that it's not better than >> than Linux. FreeBSD. > > Linux people generally dont recognice FreeBSD. They are normally pointing > out that Linux is much better than NT and Solaris. Unfortunately, there are enough on either side. But maybe I should change the text to show that it's still a minority. > Linux is eg. closer to being complete 64 bit on UltraSparc than SUN's own > Solaris, and runs big applications on PC's with less RAM than NT needs for > running the OS itself. :-) Of course, nobody measures real operating systems by NT. > The Linux community is turning away from being hacker/hobbyist Linux > lovers, and into more business oriented people. Proberly because Linux is > actually being used a lot in the real-world. Hmmm. Interesting. I've heard some of our flamers turning this around and claiming that the Linux people are becoming mercenaries. Maybe it is time that I re-subscribe to Linux Journal. Greg
Want to link to this message? Use this URL: <https://mail-archive.FreeBSD.org/cgi/mid.cgi?19971023170500.54407>