From owner-freebsd-stable@FreeBSD.ORG Wed Mar 30 12:05:34 2011 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-stable@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id C3B25106564A for ; Wed, 30 Mar 2011 12:05:34 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from jdc@koitsu.dyndns.org) Received: from qmta14.westchester.pa.mail.comcast.net (qmta14.westchester.pa.mail.comcast.net [76.96.59.212]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 380388FC0A for ; Wed, 30 Mar 2011 12:05:33 +0000 (UTC) Received: from omta20.westchester.pa.mail.comcast.net ([76.96.62.71]) by qmta14.westchester.pa.mail.comcast.net with comcast id RPyn1g0031YDfWL5EQ5auk; Wed, 30 Mar 2011 12:05:34 +0000 Received: from koitsu.dyndns.org ([67.180.84.87]) by omta20.westchester.pa.mail.comcast.net with comcast id RQ5Y1g00F1t3BNj3gQ5YVV; Wed, 30 Mar 2011 12:05:34 +0000 Received: by icarus.home.lan (Postfix, from userid 1000) id D5C059B423; Wed, 30 Mar 2011 05:05:30 -0700 (PDT) Date: Wed, 30 Mar 2011 05:05:30 -0700 From: Jeremy Chadwick To: Pete French Message-ID: <20110330120530.GA92950@icarus.home.lan> References: <87tyek99zb.fsf@cosmos.claresco.hr> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: User-Agent: Mutt/1.5.21 (2010-09-15) Cc: mlerota@claresco.hr, dougb@FreeBSD.org, freebsd-stable@freebsd.org, jhsu802701@jasonhsu.com Subject: Re: Best way to switch from Linux to BSD X-BeenThere: freebsd-stable@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: Production branch of FreeBSD source code List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Wed, 30 Mar 2011 12:05:34 -0000 On Wed, Mar 30, 2011 at 11:42:30AM +0100, Pete French wrote: > > I agree with that. I had problems with Flash on AMD64 so sometimes > > Am impressed - I didnt realise it was possible at all under amd64! I > ended up using 'gnash' which doesnt really do the job to be honest, > but it better than nothing. These days I find the best solution is > keeping a copy of Windows inside VirtualBox for those moments > when I need stuff that freeBSD can't do (primarily talking to HP iLo's > these days, since I can't make Java work in Firefox) Funny that -- even in a server-centric environment I still test FreeBSD changes (patches, major changes to ports, etc.) on my workstation PC (Windows XP) running FreeBSD under VMware Workstation. I have a home FreeBSD box for stuff, but depending on what I'm testing I can't risk data loss or "filesystem craziness" on it. Instead, I'll use VMware. And in some cases I'll even throw a 3rd disk into my Windows XP box for VMware to use as a direct/dedicated device, just so I can poke at SATA stuff and not risk hurting anything. Furthermore, for doing certain administrative tasks on Windows, I'll often run Windows XP under VMware too. A good example is something I'm working on now: trying to figure out/understand how to build a WinPE bootable ISO so I can deal with Windows-oriented problems at home. Microsoft, for reasons unknown to me, doesn't make this process even remotely easy. I spent my entire Monday trying to get things like BartPE to work (failed miserably on a USB stick but worked fine on a CD), yet even once I got into the thing, I found utilities like DISKPART wouldn't work (service wasn't running). Really quite a sad state of affairs. Anyway, the 2nd paragraph above is unrelated to the FreeBSD side of things, but I just thought I'd share my pain with other sysadmins out there. It's 2011 yet we still go through all this pain and rigmarole just to get something worthwhile. System Administrator Appreciation Day (last Friday of July) really needs more attention. And us SAs should be sure to appreciate other SAs too. -- | Jeremy Chadwick jdc@parodius.com | | Parodius Networking http://www.parodius.com/ | | UNIX Systems Administrator Mountain View, CA, USA | | Making life hard for others since 1977. PGP 4BD6C0CB |