From owner-freebsd-questions Mon Oct 27 06:17:44 1997 Return-Path: Received: (from root@localhost) by hub.freebsd.org (8.8.7/8.8.7) id GAA21985 for questions-outgoing; Mon, 27 Oct 1997 06:17:44 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from owner-freebsd-questions) Received: from out2.ibm.net (out2.ibm.net [165.87.194.229]) by hub.freebsd.org (8.8.7/8.8.7) with ESMTP id GAA21980 for ; Mon, 27 Oct 1997 06:17:41 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from mouth@ibm.net) Received: from slip129-37-195-84.nc.us.ibm.net (slip129-37-195-84.nc.us.ibm.net [129.37.195.84]) by out2.ibm.net (8.8.5/8.6.9) with SMTP id OAA231196; Mon, 27 Oct 1997 14:17:37 GMT From: mouth@ibm.net (John Kelly) To: thomas c high iii Cc: freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: FreeBSD vs. Linux Date: Mon, 27 Oct 1997 15:18:58 GMT Message-ID: <3454aace.387770@smtp-gw01.ny.us.ibm.net> References: <345440E5.F9C98BAC@mindspring.com> In-Reply-To: <345440E5.F9C98BAC@mindspring.com> X-Mailer: Forte Agent 1.01/16.397 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit X-MIME-Autoconverted: from quoted-printable to 8bit by hub.freebsd.org id GAA21981 Sender: owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG X-Loop: FreeBSD.org Precedence: bulk On Mon, 27 Oct 1997 02:21:09 -0500, thomas c high iii wrote: >I currently run Red Hat Linux 4.2. I have only been exposed to Linux, >and never FreeBSD. *Almost* everyone I know runs Linux Almost everyone I know uses Windows. But I have little use for it. >I have had my curiosity peaked. What are the advantages/disadvantages >of running FreeBSD instead of Linux? Linux is a nice learning tool with plenty of docs and help available. Good device driver support too. >I am not extremely experienced in administering a unix type operating > system and am anxious to learn it. I've tested both Linux and FreeBSD extensively, and I keep my eye on Linux to see what improvements are made. I recently tested the 2.1.55 kernel, but it still falls apart where FreeBSD just keeps on humming. FreeBSD handles a heavy load much better. That's why Walnut Creek runs its 2000+ user FTP server on FreeBSD. I don't think you'll find many Linux servers capable of that load. There are more Linux users than FreeBSD because in a single user environment Linux often *appears* to work fine. But ISPs who need to run serious production machines almost invariably choose FreeBSD over Linux. They're beyond the learning stage and don't need a lot of help and documentation. Linux helped me learn UNIX, but I've moved on to FreeBSD. I don't recommend that you immediately drop Linux and start with FreeBSD, because there is more documentation and help available for Linux, and sometimes the Linux man pages are better than their FreeBSD counterparts. But if you have any intention of ever running a serious server, at some point you should investigate FreeBSD. John