From owner-freebsd-questions Fri May 29 09:05:22 1998 Return-Path: Received: (from majordom@localhost) by hub.freebsd.org (8.8.8/8.8.8) id JAA29373 for freebsd-questions-outgoing; Fri, 29 May 1998 09:05:22 -0700 (PDT) (envelope-from owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG) Received: from lucy.bedford.net (lucy.bedford.net [206.99.145.54]) by hub.freebsd.org (8.8.8/8.8.8) with ESMTP id JAA28805 for ; Fri, 29 May 1998 09:04:07 -0700 (PDT) (envelope-from listread@lucy.bedford.net) Received: (from listread@localhost) by lucy.bedford.net (8.8.8/8.8.8) id LAA05279; Fri, 29 May 1998 11:52:52 -0400 (EDT) (envelope-from listread) Message-Id: <199805291552.LAA05279@lucy.bedford.net> Subject: Re: info.. In-Reply-To: <199805290754.AAA09859@epic5.Stanford.EDU> from "John W. Chang" at "May 29, 98 00:54:02 am" To: kutta@leland.Stanford.EDU (John W. Chang) Date: Fri, 29 May 1998 11:52:52 -0400 (EDT) Cc: questions@FreeBSD.ORG Reply-to: djv@bedford.net From: CyberPeasant X-Mailer: ELM [version 2.4ME+ PL38 (25)] MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Sender: owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Precedence: bulk X-Loop: FreeBSD.ORG John W. Chang wrote: > > I am about to install my first freeBSD installation on my pc but I > am puzzled by seeing other "free" bsd OS's around... for instance, there > is the NetBSD and the OpenBSD... and there is the 4.4 BSD Lite... > Who knows what else is there. Can you explain to me the difference > between them (not the tedious technical details though) and > are they in fact very closely related??? Which one is the best to get > and what are the strengths?? For the first BSD installation, FreeBSD is (arguably) the best. For the Intel x86 hardware, FreeBSD seems to me more 'featureful'. (I've used all three and Linux, too). Open- and Net- seem to require (or desire) some Unix background. But all three can be successfully brought up by a newbie. The support network for new users is most extensive with FreeBSD. The three free BSD's share a common ancestor in 4.4 BSD Lite (loosely speaking). 4.4 BSD Lite is probably not available for installation and operation on a PC; it is more of a study tool. They are all very closely related, and to the casual user, nearly indistinguishable. Visit all three websites: www.freebsd.org, www.netbsd.org, www.openbsd.org. I see you have an address at stanford.edu -- go down to the computer science department and ask some of the geeks. Dave -- Is the true purpose of Unix its use, or its administration? To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-questions" in the body of the message