Date: Sun, 06 Dec 1998 18:34:13 +0100 (CET) From: Jeroen Ruigrok/Asmodai <asmodai@wxs.nl> To: Leonid_Rozenblat <leonidr@nexus.co.il> Cc: freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: RE: FreeBSD general questions Message-ID: <XFMail.981206183413.asmodai@wxs.nl> In-Reply-To: <422566D2.0042D166.00@nexus1.nexus.co.il>
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On 06-Dec-98 Leonid_Rozenblat wrote: > > Dear all, > > My name is Leonid Rozenblat. I live in Israel and I'm a professional > software developer. > > I would like to purchase and use a FreeBSD Unix on my home PC. My interests > will include learning > FreeBSD Unix sources, writing a device drivers and other OS development > related activity. > > I'm really a novice to this type of Unix. > > So, please, guide me with the following: > > 1. Which FreeBSD Unix release suits for my machine (if any) (Compaq 5050 > Presario) ? Professional developer? Most likely FreeBSD 3.0 Release cvsupped to CURRENT as this is the development platform. > 2. Do you have books (CDs) explaining in detail FreeBSD Unix internals, > device drivers development ? The website has a device driver tutorial. There is also a book on BSD programming. Also Andrew S. Tanenbaum's Modern Operating Systems book is a worthwhile addition. > I also need a book (CD) about system installation, administration and > usage. Check out the O'Reilly books. They are a starter. Then ye need to go RTFM with man pages, HTML docs, Tex and PS docs. > I want to be capable of writing my own device drivers and kernel extensions > if possible. That's why we have hackers@freebsd.org for all those tech questions =) > 3. May you recommend some books (CDs) about the PC hardware design ? This > is in order to understand > FreeBSD Unix Pentium related source code. Assembler remains assembler language, nothing FreeBSD specific about it. Check out: developer.intel.com Also, www.annabooks.com has a lot of PCI, ISA, PCMCIA and other related books for sale. > 4. Where I may purchase the correspondent CDs, including FreeBSD Unix > sources and documentation ? > Is the www.cheapbytes.com is the proper place (they offer some reduced > prices) ? www.cdrom.com is the preferred place, the funds go back to the FreeBSD project. Cheapbytes is less favored, although it's cheaper, but the revenues don't flow back to support the project. > 5. Should I purchase Linux or FreeBSD Unix for OS learning and driver > development purposes ? Ye want clean sources and a chance to learn from very knowledgeable programmers? Then I'd say FreeBSD. Linux is only the kernel and keeping up with versions on Linux is a RPITB (Royal Pain In The Butt). > Please, advice me. I guess, FreeBSD code is more structured and > self-explanatory than the Linux one. > Am I right ? Aye, ye are as far as my knowledge goes... > Thank you in advance. Most welcome --- Jeroen Ruigrok van der Werven asmodai(at)wxs.nl Network/Security Specialist <http://home.wxs.nl/~asmodai>; BSD & picoBSD: The Power to Serve <http://www.freebsd.org>; To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-questions" in the body of the message
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