From owner-freebsd-questions Sun Dec 6 09:28:45 1998 Return-Path: Received: (from majordom@localhost) by hub.freebsd.org (8.8.8/8.8.8) id JAA17343 for freebsd-questions-outgoing; Sun, 6 Dec 1998 09:28:45 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG) Received: from smtp02.wxs.nl (smtp02.wxs.nl [195.121.6.60]) by hub.freebsd.org (8.8.8/8.8.8) with ESMTP id JAA17338 for ; Sun, 6 Dec 1998 09:28:43 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from asmodai@wxs.nl) Received: from chronias.ninth-circle.org ([195.121.57.234]) by smtp02.wxs.nl (Netscape Messaging Server 3.6) with ESMTP id AAA4247; Sun, 6 Dec 1998 18:28:40 +0100 Message-ID: X-Mailer: XFMail 1.3 [p0] on FreeBSD X-Priority: 3 (Normal) Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit MIME-Version: 1.0 In-Reply-To: <422566D2.0042D166.00@nexus1.nexus.co.il> Date: Sun, 06 Dec 1998 18:34:13 +0100 (CET) Organization: Ninth Circle Enterprises From: Jeroen Ruigrok/Asmodai To: Leonid_Rozenblat Subject: RE: FreeBSD general questions Cc: freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Sender: owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Precedence: bulk X-Loop: FreeBSD.ORG 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 BSD & picoBSD: The Power to Serve To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-questions" in the body of the message