Date: Sat, 16 May 1998 14:09:48 -0500 From: x <y> To: "freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG" <freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG>, "'Tjahjadi Budiali'" <budiali@usa.net> Subject: RE: BSD and SVR4 - Answer, LONG Message-ID: <01BD80D4.49E071F0@w3svcs.mfn.org>
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<snip>
I plan to learn UNIX for my career.
I heard that there is two version of UNIX : BSD and SVR4.
Which one is better, BSD or SVR4 (especially for job career) ?
<snip>
At the risk of drawing fire from the readers here, I will try
to answer this one honestly...
(1) I have been an ATT Unix person since the early '80s. Of the
various ATT flavors produced, my favorite *was* SVR3.0e. Alas,
with the days of IP, SVR3 is a goner.... I now admin a bunch of
SVR4 boxen.
(2) While I am new to the BSD flavor of *nix, I think I've been
using FreeBSD 2.2.5R long enough now to state that my opinions
here are probably fairly accurate (although as the users here will
undoubtably note, I have NOT been using it very long :)
(3) Conceptually, SVR4, FBSD, Linux, etc, etc. etc. are *very*
close. Learn one and you know the others well enough to "get by".
Assuming you know _any_ *nix flavor well, you should be able to
reach a reasonable level of proficiency in any other flavor within
a couple of weeks to a month or two.
(4) The "better" question is little more than flame-bait and fodder
for the various jihads you see among the true believers of the various
OS's. It really isnt a valid question when comparing *nix boxen. HOWEVER,
this does NOT mean there are not differences! Linux based OS's are all
individually produced packages, merely based on a common kernel released
by Linus Torvalds. What this means is that things DO change from linux
to linux, a lot like things changed from unix to unix when ATT was still
the owner and licensing authority. Everyone with a source license makes
their own package...
FreeBSD is at least a ONE package deal. That helps. Also, it is a VERY
stable platform. Unfortunately, this stability is (naturally) derived
from trade-offs. The biggie here is the hardware for FreeBSD is somewhat
limited in comparison to the various Unix, Solaris, Linux, etc. platforms.
If your main line of reasoning is to further your career, I would point you
to Solaris if you can get it <<< / Flamesuit ON>>>, but if your intent is
to learn the *nix internals and design philosophy, I would point you to either
a FreeBSD or "Free" Linux platform, based solely on two criteria:
(a) If you need to run the biggest and baddest hardware produced to date,
stick with Linux - FreeBSD will not do it, and attempting to write
the necessary drivers yourself without the requisite background WILL
make you crazy...
(b) If you want access to the actual *writers* of the OS, or want a high
degree of stability (it's always nice to know that the crash was YOUR
fault, and not a bug - at least while learning!), then FreeBSD would
likely be a good choice for you.
If neither of these matter much to you, then Solaris is DEFINITELY your best bet! :)
Hope this provides you with the necessary food for thought...
J.A. Terranson
sysadmin@mfn.org
*** NOTE: Please direct all flames to /dev/nul. Thank you. ***
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