Date: Fri, 11 Aug 2000 16:38:53 -0400 From: "Andresen,Jason R." <jandrese@mitre.org> To: Linda Foley <lfoley@rocler.qc.ca> Cc: freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: ready to switch, but... Message-ID: <3994645D.80ACB71F@mitre.org> References: <39945DEC.B9E99689@rocler.qc.ca>
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Linda Foley wrote: > = > Hi, > sorry that there's a BUT, but I have to ask a few things before I > make this decision final. > -about the packaging system: how does it work? does it download and > install automatically the desired program as well as its dependencies? > Is it possible to upgrade the whole system =E0 la apt-get dist-upgrade = (if > it's not COULD it be available soon?)? Yes, there are in fact two ways of installing software: packages and port. Packages are binary distributions and come on the FreeBSD CD-ROMs. Ports are modified makefiles that automatically grabs a tarball, extracts, applys any needed patches, compiles, and installs the program. Both systems handle dependancies automatically. = The entire OS can be CVSuped and rebuilt as often as you like. > -Can I play Linux games (especially Quake 3 and Unreal Tournament) Probably not. Most of the fancier Linux games (ones that were once commercial Windows apps) run on the console using the fbdevice in Linux, which AFAIK is not available under FreeBSD. However I have never actually tried this, so if someone actually has these working please correct me. > -How does FreeBSD performs compared to Linux (in terms of stability, > speed, memory-usage, etc. (you can use comapraisons, like a Ferrari vs = a > Civic, or whatever) FreeBSD tends to be just a bit more stable than Linux, and occasionally faster. Average home users will probabaly not notice the difference. = Linux has more device drivers for esoteric hardware, but many of those drivers are badly written and may be more trouble than they are worth. > -I have the source code of a program made with Linux. Is it possible t= o > make it run under FreeBSD without means of emulation Almost certainly, with the same caveats about Linux-specific features. = You may want to check the ports tree before you try to compile your Linux app, if it has any popularity there is a good chance it has already been ported. > -are there good sites (such as www.linuxnewbie.org) to help FreeBSD > newbies? This mailing list. In addition you can search both this mailing list and the handbook on http://www.freebsd.org/search/search.html. = Searching the mailing list before posting is a very good idea. = -- = _ _ _ ___ ____ ___ ______________________________________ / \/ \ | ||_ _|| _ \|___| | Jason Andresen -- jandrese@mitre.org / /\/\ \ | | | | | |/ /|_|_ | Views expressed may not reflect those = /_/ \_\|_| |_| |_|\_\|___| | of the Mitre Corporation. To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-questions" in the body of the message
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