From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Fri Apr 18 13:45:50 2003 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 1615037B401 for ; Fri, 18 Apr 2003 13:45:50 -0700 (PDT) Received: from smtp-out.comcast.net (smtp-out.comcast.net [24.153.64.116]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 781C043FDD for ; Fri, 18 Apr 2003 13:45:49 -0700 (PDT) (envelope-from jshamlet@comcast.net) Received: from whitetower (bgp01561290bgs.gambrl01.md.comcast.net [68.50.33.221]) by mtaout01.icomcast.net (iPlanet Messaging Server 5.2 HotFix 1.12 (built Feb 13 2003)) with ESMTP id <0HDK00JFG49USQ@mtaout01.icomcast.net> for freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG; Fri, 18 Apr 2003 16:44:19 -0400 (EDT) Date: Fri, 18 Apr 2003 16:44:18 -0400 (EDT) From: "J. Seth Henry" X-X-Sender: jshamlet@whitetower.gambrl01.md.comcast.net To: Mohsin Sabir Message-id: <20030418162000.P25903-100000@whitetower.gambrl01.md.comcast.net> MIME-version: 1.0 Content-type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT cc: freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: RE: *nix trial X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Fri, 18 Apr 2003 20:45:50 -0000 You may want to ask yourself what you envision doing with *nix before deciding on an operating system to learn on. If you are just trying to "get the hang of" *nix, then almost any flavor will teach you the basics (though clearly I prefer FreeBSD ;) Most jobs these days that use *nix, usually involve Solaris, AIX (or some other Unix variant) or Linux. Sad as it may be, Linux has more "sex appeal" than FreeBSD, despite being less mature in a lot of ways. As a result, it has more popular support, and gets device drivers much sooner (and in some cases, at all) Unfortunately, Linus only blesses a kernel, and a kernel is not the same as an operating system. They have to be included in distributions which provide a "world" (as FreeBSD calls it) Distros can vary from absolutely zero production engineering to a high level of integration and high overall quality. Both Debian and Mandrake (at least when I used them) were very good distributions overall. If you have an eye on a job that involves *nix, you might inquire as to what flavor, and find an OS that has a fairly similar interface. I just wanted to get that out there, since I get the impression you are trying to beef up your resume. That said, I believe FreeBSD to be a superior operating system to Linux with respect to "newbies" because of its simplicity, elegance, and intelligent port system. Library issues are rarely a problem if you stick with the ports tree or package system, and you can easily review what you have installed, and their dependencies. Only Debian's apt-get is superior, IMHO - but not by much! The difference is that FreeBSD is an operating system, not a kernel. There is only one "distro" per revision, and it is very well crafted to work right. For the most part, every FreeBSD system of the same version works like any other. With a few notable exceptions, any FreeBSD system of the same major release works like any other as well. I switched to FreeBSD from Linux (Mandrake linux to be exact) after using NetBSD extensively on an old Mac (68'040 system). It was that good :) As for obtaining it, I'd go with the 4CD set from the FreeBSD Mall. Go with the 4.8-RELEASE version - it's the current "production" release. 5.0 is actually closer to a final beta than a production OS. Running it would be like learning to drive in an experimental car. Also, the 4CD set includes every port available for that release. No Internet access required at all - which can be helpful, especially if you are having problems getting your network running in the installer. Good luck, Seth Henry Mohsin Sabir. wrote: > I am a Microsoft Product Administrator and been engaged with Microsoft > Products from the last 7 years. Now, I have opted that I should add > something more to my expertise and thought about *nix but have hard time > to pick which Unix, as there are quite a bit of flavors available out > there. > > I read about you, saw the sites hosted by you. I want to try BSD Unix > and please advise me which version is the latest and greatest from where > I can start.