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Date:      Thu, 1 Aug 1996 16:04:01 -0400 (EDT)
From:      Tim Vanderhoek <hoek@freenet.hamilton.on.ca>
To:        Brian Hasden <afn27323@afn.org>
Cc:        questions@freebsd.org
Subject:   Re: FreeBSD
Message-ID:  <Pine.SOL.3.91.960801155613.4431A-100000@james.freenet.hamilton.on.ca>
In-Reply-To: <3200C566.1D83@afn.org>

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On Thu, 1 Aug 1996, Brian Hasden wrote:

> What is FreeBSD? From reading about your web site I was under the idea
> that it can make my computer into a "http://www.whatever.com" thing. Is
> that true? If so does the software work on standard computers e.g. Packard
> Bell 486 DX2/66? 

FreeBSD is an operating system, in the same way that DOS, Win95, and OS/2 
are operating systems.  It, by itself, does make your computer into an 
"http://www.whatever.com" thing.  Things such as 
"http://www.whatever.com" are call urls (Uniform Resource Locators).  All 
that urls do is specify a place on the Internet to find information, and 
a way of talking to this place from where you are (a protocal).

You can run a webserver on FreeBSD.  A webserver is what answers to the 
"http" protocal.  If you connect to the Internet via a PPP link (from an 
ISP - Internet Service Provider) than you can become something like

http://dyna-07.on.sympatico.on.ca

Where the dyna-07 part changes everytime you connect to the Internet (via 
your ISP).  For a little more money, you can often buy a static IP 
address so that the dyna-07 part stays the same everytime you login.

This can actually be done with other operating systems, too.

The main attraction (to Windows users, anyways) about FreeBSD is that it 
is a UNIX-type operating system and that it is distributed with full 
source code available.


--
Outnumbered?  Maybe.  Outspoken?  Never!
tIM...HOEk




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