Date: Fri, 1 Dec 2000 05:15:22 -0500 From: Peter Lai <PeterL@resnet.uconn.edu> To: 'xavian anderson macpherson ' <professional3d@home.com>, 'John Baldwin ' <jhb@FreeBSD.org>, "'questions@freebsd.org '" <questions@freebsd.org> Subject: RE: installing freebsd from windows nt without using boot disks Message-ID: <9F36E367710D474E9806AA393FE737FB019EE8@resnetnt.resnet.uconn.edu>
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1. drivers and other software that access critical hardware components would seriously be bloated and suffer the phenomenon called bitrot, if someone were to take the linux driver and port it to freebsd. drivers work best when they are written from scratch. 2. fbsd claims linux BINARY compatbility, which means that it can run linux programs like freeciv and staroffice, etc. It doesn't mean it can just use linux drivers. Fbsd claims System V binary compatibility too as well as SCO binary compatibility, that doesn't mean i can just take my IRIX video card driver, stick it in a freebsd kernel and have it work. -----Original Message----- From: xavian anderson macpherson To: John Baldwin; questions@freebsd.org Sent: 12/1/2000 2:12 AM Subject: Re: installing freebsd from windows nt without using boot disks why is it so difficult to use the linux driver as the starting point for freebsd? two different versions of linux (suse and mandrake) that i have used work just fine (as would undoubtedly all the others as well). if freebsd is so adept at using linux components, why is it so difficult to port all of the linux drivers to freebsd? heaven forbid, is this an admitted shortcoming? ----- Original Message ----- From: "John Baldwin" <jhb@FreeBSD.org> To: "xavian anderson macpherson" <professional3d@home.com> Cc: <questions@FreeBSD.org> Sent: Thursday, November 30, 2000 8:29 PM Subject: RE: installing freebsd from windows nt without using boot disks > > On 01-Dec-00 xavian anderson macpherson wrote: > > i purchased freebsd about two months ago. i have not yet been able to get it > > to run. i went through the trouble and expense of buying the power-pak 4.0 > > so that i would have the 800 page handbook. (i wanted freebsd because i > > thought it would be the last system i would ever need to buy.) i also wanted > > the full 10-cd collection of software. the fact of the matter is that the > > cd's were worthless to me because freebsd would not recognize my > > multifunction soundcard as a valid scsi device; which by the way, both > > versions of linux (suse and mandrake) and windows nt were able to use without > > any difficulty whatsoever. i have found the repeated claims of freebsd > > superiority to be a bunch of crap! > > Well, you are certainly entitled to your opinions. Unfortunately, drivers for > rather ancient hardware (I have the same SB16 multi-CD card in my workstation > at home) do not magically arrive out of thin air, and one has yet to be written > for FreeBSD. There are only so many developers, and we tend to work on things > that affect our day-to-day work. Most people do not have a SB16 multi-CD card, > apparently including most developers, hence the lack of a driver. As for NTFS > and other issues, again it comes down to people with the skill having the time > and desire to work on that area. Also, one can't write a perfect file system > driver for NTFS if one can't get documentation on how it works. :) You will > have to use whatever software suits your needs. No operating system is the > end-all be-all of operating systems. Different tasks are performed better by > different OS's. As far as FreeBSD being an alien and NT not being one, I beg > to differ. :) They are both OS's which run on computers. Each one is an > interface to the hardware of a computer. Hardware doesn't work "better" with > some software than others. Some software has bugs that cause it to mishandle > the hardware, and some software just doesn't know how to handle certain > hardware, but it isn't a matter of the hardware preferring certain software. > > -- > > John Baldwin <jhb@FreeBSD.org> -- http://www.FreeBSD.org/~jhb/ > PGP Key: http://www.baldwin.cx/~john/pgpkey.asc > "Power Users Use the Power to Serve!" - http://www.FreeBSD.org/ To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-questions" in the body of the message To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-questions" in the body of the messagehelp
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