From owner-freebsd-advocacy@FreeBSD.ORG Thu Dec 13 17:20:48 2007 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-advocacy@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 9083E16A418 for ; Thu, 13 Dec 2007 17:20:48 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from perrin@apotheon.com) Received: from outbound-mail-01.bluehost.com (outbound-mail-01.bluehost.com [69.89.21.11]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with SMTP id 477DC13C43E for ; Thu, 13 Dec 2007 17:20:48 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from perrin@apotheon.com) Received: (qmail 393 invoked by uid 0); 13 Dec 2007 17:20:46 -0000 Received: from unknown (HELO box183.bluehost.com) (69.89.25.183) by mailproxy1.bluehost.com with SMTP; 13 Dec 2007 17:20:46 -0000 Received: from c-24-9-123-251.hsd1.co.comcast.net ([24.9.123.251] helo=demeter.hydra) by box183.bluehost.com with esmtps (TLSv1:AES256-SHA:256) (Exim 4.68) (envelope-from ) id 1J2rjq-0002yl-I2 for freebsd-advocacy@freebsd.org; Thu, 13 Dec 2007 10:20:46 -0700 Received: from demeter.hydra (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by demeter.hydra (8.13.6/8.13.6) with ESMTP id lBDHKjkA017510 for ; Thu, 13 Dec 2007 10:20:45 -0700 (MST) (envelope-from perrin@apotheon.com) Received: (from ren@localhost) by demeter.hydra (8.13.6/8.13.6/Submit) id lBDHKiM6017509 for freebsd-advocacy@freebsd.org; Thu, 13 Dec 2007 10:20:44 -0700 (MST) (envelope-from perrin@apotheon.com) X-Authentication-Warning: demeter.hydra: ren set sender to perrin@apotheon.com using -f Date: Thu, 13 Dec 2007 10:20:44 -0700 From: Chad Perrin To: freebsd-advocacy@freebsd.org Message-ID: <20071213172044.GF11231@demeter.hydra> Mail-Followup-To: freebsd-advocacy@freebsd.org References: <49bf44f10712122100y45f12f77q4ae47f311905be25@mail.gmail.com> <4760FC20.9030608@infracaninophile.co.uk> <49bf44f10712130612q72d55f7cgeb1647ca00718b86@mail.gmail.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: <49bf44f10712130612q72d55f7cgeb1647ca00718b86@mail.gmail.com> User-Agent: Mutt/1.4.2.3i X-Identified-User: {737:box183.bluehost.com:apotheon:apotheon.net} {sentby:bopbeforesmtp 24.9.123.251 authed with apotheon.com} X-AntiAbuse: This header was added to track abuse, please include it with any abuse report X-AntiAbuse: Primary Hostname - box183.bluehost.com X-AntiAbuse: Original Domain - freebsd.org X-AntiAbuse: Originator/Caller UID/GID - [47 12] / [47 12] X-AntiAbuse: Sender Address Domain - apotheon.com Subject: Re: Current Gentoo user X-BeenThere: freebsd-advocacy@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: FreeBSD Evangelism List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Thu, 13 Dec 2007 17:20:48 -0000 On Thu, Dec 13, 2007 at 06:12:55AM -0800, Grant wrote: > > What about skype, wengo, and vmware workstation? Do they work on FreeBSD? I have no idea, I'm afraid. Hopefully someone else on the list can answer that. I've never used any of the three. > > >From what I've read, ports is much faster and generally much better > than portage. I certainly like it a lot more -- and it *can be* faster, at least. I haven't done enough comparison to really be able to answer that with certainty. > > > * I tend to find that FreeBSD comes with much better diagnostic and > > monitoring capabilities built in -- programs like systat and gstat > > have no direct equivalents, and things like vmstat often seem to > > be missing from Gentoo boxes, although that is probably just an > > oversight by the person building the system. > > Does FreeBSD take the nothing-is-installed-that-I-don't-want approach > like Gentoo does? Pretty much. There are a few things in the base system that one might consider "not necessary" to a minimal install, but there's little enough there that it hasn't bothered me at all -- and I'm kind of a stickler for keeping things relatively minimal in a lot of ways. > > Am I likely to struggle with FreeBSD on a laptop? I booted FreeSBIE > just fine but I didn't test for sound. I don't think you're likely to encounter problems any more than with Linux, generally, unless you expect 3D accelerated graphics using a Radeon adapter. As for sound -- my experience is that sound configuration on FreeBSD is much *much* easier than on Linux systems in general. ALSA has, from time to time, been the bane of my existence. Getting sound working on FreeBSD (complete with multiple channels so that more than one application at a time can produce sound) has never taken me more than about three minutes. > > I would imagine 64-bit support in FreeBSD is excellent, but what about > support of 32-bit binaries (e.g. the above listed) on a 64-bit system? I still haven't used FreeBSD on a system with a 64b processor, so I'm afraid you'll have to get answers to this one from someone else, too. -- CCD CopyWrite Chad Perrin [ http://ccd.apotheon.org ] Dr. Ron Paul: "Liberty has meaning only if we still believe in it when terrible things happen and a false government security blanket beckons."