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Date:      Mon, 23 Mar 2015 19:19:39 -0400
From:      John Holland <jholland@vin-dit.org>
To:        Bigby James <bigby.james@dimthoughts.com>
Cc:        freebsd-questions@freebsd.org
Subject:   Re: Exist more advantage in doing design using open source or operating system of closed source?
Message-ID:  <1A121D58-971F-4E46-96A3-4B570379AE13@vin-dit.org>
In-Reply-To: <20150323230909.GB2486@WorkBox.Home>
References:  <CAKfdDEKHk%2Bg4N0hwOrRZvXKRrTygsnS-=3s2s%2Bt38MUtUgmKmg@mail.gmail.com> <20150321165157.GA2740@WorkBox.Home> <9C384F2A-DE7A-4AEC-AFA5-81FA0901F984@vin-dit.org> <20150323230909.GB2486@WorkBox.Home>

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Interesting. I=92ve been using Linux, FreeBSD or Solaris for about 20 =
years. I=92d been on Linux (mainly RedHat and Debian) for the last maybe =
8 years. I recently switched to FreeBSD on my server and started booting =
into OS X on my Macbook out of disgust with the systemd situation. I =
still have a really nice Debian/enlightenment setup on the other =
partition on the Macbook. I haven=92t booted it in a few weeks.

I=92m finding FreeBSD to be very nice, the fact that it has pkgng now is =
a big plus. Everything is very clean and well thought out, and =
documented, as you say. I=92ve learned a little new stuff like jails.=20

I was using zfsonlinux.org to get ZFS on Debian, but it is so much =
better in FreeBSD where it is well integrated.=20


I think Linux is headed into uncharted territory, that may make the =
statement true that =93GNU=92s not UNIX=94.




On Mar 23, 2015, at 7:09 PM, Bigby James <bigby.james@dimthoughts.com> =
wrote:

> On 03/21, John Holland wrote:
>> why the switch to freebsd and what virtualization solution are you =
using?
>=20
> I just use VirtualBox, with a virtual disk just large enough to hold =
Windows 7
> Pro and Adobe Creative Suite 6, plus some room for updates. I'm using =
an SSD and
> quad-core CPU, and dedicate half my (usually unused) RAM to it, so it =
starts up
> in ten seconds or so and runs perfectly fine.
>=20
> As for why I switched from Linux to FreeBSD, that's a little involved; =
I'll try
> and keep this short. Up to a few months before making the switch I'd =
been using
> Arch Linux for several years (still do on my Raspberry Pi), and 90% of =
the time
> that worked extremely well. But minor inconveniences due to frequent, =
untested
> updates had started to annoy me, and I'd recently gotten on a real =
kick about
> system stability and preserving my data. So I started looking at other =
distros.
>=20
> The problem was that, due to the way GNU/Linux systems are built, =
there's no way
> to get a system that offers both a high degree of relatively certain =
stability,
> and a high degree of low-level control over the system structure. No =
distro I
> tried could be "Arch, but without the risk of breaking something every =
day." The
> list of distributions I considered worth my time and effort ended up =
being
> pretty small (four, in fact). I'd been interested in FreeBSD for a =
while because
> its design philosophy jibed with me---I'd read Matt Fuller's "BSD for =
Linux
> Users"[1] some years ago---but since I exclusively use laptops I had =
to wait 18
> months or so for the integrated GPU driver to catch up before giving =
it a proper
> try on my present machines. In the meantime I'd grab a snapshot every =
so often
> and see how it ran. Through sheer serendipity FreeBSD-RELEASE 10.1 =
came out
> while I was on my new OS hunt, and all the important stuff worked out =
of the
> box, so I installed FreeBSD to a second disk and figured I'd give it =
two weeks
> or so to see how it might work as a primary OS.
>=20
> It only took about four or five days for me to fall in love with =
FreeBSD. Most
> of my Linux knowledge translated just fine. The outstanding =
documentation, the
> "rolling-release you update anytime you feel like it with =
substantially lower
> risk of breaking something" nature of the ports tree and -STABLE =
branches, the
> layout of the filesystem, the similarities between Arch and FreeBSD =
software
> management (thanks to pkg(8) integration), the quality and features of =
UFS and
> ZFS, the astonishing simplicity of building a custom kernel and =
setting custom
> build-time options for ports and the base system, the easy manner of =
configuring
> and automating system services, the fact that there are conventions of =
style and
> organization for the code and documentation, and the careful =
consideration that
> clearly goes into choosing components of the base system, and the =
obvious
> determination to focus on getting one thing right instead of =
reinventing the
> wheel every couple years---it's all just too awesome. Hell, I think =
one of the
> most impressive features that helped lure me in was the simple fact =
that the man
> pages in FreeBSD are complete, coherent *and* are width-constrained. =
I'd gotten
> used to reading poorly written man pages that were 600 characters long =
and
> contained little more than "This man page is incomplete. I'll get =
around to
> finishing it later. (Dated July 2009)." And the man pages that did it =
were
> sound(4) and build(7)---even *concepts* behind the system are =
documented here.
> That's some commendably insane attention to detail.
>=20
> As a comparison to Linux, FreeBSD basically takes the best features of =
Debian,
> Gentoo and Arch, combines them, and improves upon all of them. Which =
makes
> sense, considering that comparison is backwards and all three =
distributions were
> in fact inspired in varying degrees by FreeBSD. ;)
>=20
> [1]: http://www.over-yonder.net/~fullermd/rants/bsd4linux/01
>=20
> --=20
> "A common mistake that people make when trying to design something =
completely
> foolproof is to underestimate the ingenuity of complete fools." - =
Douglas Adams
>=20
> _______________________________________________
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> http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions
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