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Date:      Sun, 19 Mar 1995 10:53:16 -0500 (EST)
From:      Jeff <jeffh@Cybernetics.NET>
To:        John Beukema <jbeukema@hk.super.net>
Cc:        hackers@FreeBSD.org
Subject:   Re: Comparison of un*x's
Message-ID:  <Pine.SUN.3.91.950319104439.29686B-100000@server0>
In-Reply-To: <Pine.SUN.3.91.950319101347.3002D-100000@is1.hk.super.net>

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On Sun, 19 Mar 1995, John Beukema wrote:

> Solaris (Seemingly the first choice of several members)

I have read several magazine reviews about Solaris x86 because I, too, 
was considering switching from FreeBSD.  All I can say is NO, NO, and 
NO.  Solaris x86 was ported almost directly from the sun, with no 
consideration for the fact that it was no longer running on a sun.  It 
may run on x86 hardware, but it likes to think it's still on a sun.

> FreeBSD

Honestly this would be your best choice, I believe.  You can get almost 
any network utility to compile on FreeBSD.  A testament to the stability 
of FreeBSD can be seen at freebsd.cdrom.com, which is a 90mhz pentium and 
supports 500 concurrent users.

> SunOS (Does it even run on i386?)

Nope.

> BSDI

This is not bad.

> SCO

ACK!  SCO likes to take all standard unix utilities and prepend them with 
the word 'sco'.  I'm surprised they don't have 'scols', 'scomkdir', etc. 
:)  Not to mention it's slow.

> NetBSD

I have never run this, can't comment.

> Any other suggestions. (Linux has been eliminated due to too frequent 
> patches.)

That's silly, IMO.  No one forces you to apply any of the patches.  You 
could get a stable version and run that forever, never applying any 
patches.  The only time patches apply is when you always want to be 
current.  Linux has performed well as a WWW, news, and e-mail server for 
my internet provider.  (The only reason they use linux over FreeBSD is 
because the software for their Annex terminal server flakes out on 
FreeBSD for some reason.)

> It is likely I cannot prevail on FreeBSD at this time.  What would the 
> *second choice* be, particularily in terms of compatibility with FreeBSD?
> I could then use FreeBSD on one machine on the network and compare.

BSDI.  The BSDI people tend to set after having a solid, static OS.  The 
FreeBSD team sets their goals a bit higher by also adding new features 
often.  SMP (multi-processor) support is being added now, along with a 
host of other goodies that the BSDI people have not done yet.  (At least 
I don't think they have.)

If you can't run FreeBSD, however, BSDI would be your best second choice.

> I appreciate the assistance.

Sure.  Hope it helps.

> jbeukema

Jeff

-- Jeff Hoffman -- jeffh@cybernetics.net -------------------------------------
"A man facing the light looks not into sorrow, but to to the future...always."
                WWW: http://www.cybernetics.net/users/jeffh
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