Date: Thu, 17 Jun 1999 08:57:40 +1000 From: Sue Blake <sue@welearn.com.au> To: administrator@haugstad.com Cc: small@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: What now? Message-ID: <19990617085740.12511@welearn.com.au> In-Reply-To: =?iso-8859-1?Q?=3C004401beb7fa$693831b0$c12ad9c1=40age=2Ejobak=2Eno=3E?= =?iso-8859-1?Q?=3B_from_=C5ge_J=2E_Haugstad_on_Wed=2C_Jun_16=2C_1999_at_?= =?iso-8859-1?Q?03=3A16=3A14PM_%2B0200?= References: <3766629A.6231@cs.strath.ac.uk> <004401beb7fa$693831b0$c12ad9c1@age.jobak.no>
next in thread | previous in thread | raw e-mail | index | archive | help
On Wed, Jun 16, 1999 at 03:16:14PM +0200, Åge J. Haugstad wrote:
> I have never used any unix system before, but I found that PicoBSD
> might be suitable as an economic router/firewall.
You always get what you pay for. With free unix you pay for it with study.
Unix is not designed to be user-friendly, but it is designed to do its
job very well. You have to become machine-friendly instead.
PicoBSD is the worst way to learn unix that I can think of. It is a
very cut down version of a large powerful operating system, set up to
do a specific task for those who know what they are doing. There is no
documentation, no "help", you just have to know it.
A better idea would be to get yourself a 486 or better with at least
300MB disk space and install FreeBSD, not PicoBSD, and start learning.
Buy the new (3rd) edition of The Complete FreeBSD and work through it.
The book comes with a set of CDs from which you can install FreeBSD
and thousands of programs.
Go to www.freebsd.org and from there:
1 Follow the link at the bottom to FreeBSD Mall to buy the book and CDs
2 Follow the link under Documentation to the Newbies guide, and explore
the many links on that page.
Your 486 with a normal installation of FreeBSD will become a cheap
router and firewall, about the time that you become someone who is
actively learning about unix.
Much later, when you really know what you're doing, you can apply what
you know to using PicoBSD on a machine with less disk space, if you
have a need to do it that way.
Well that's my opinion. Others on this list are welcome to disagree.
--
Regards,
-*Sue*-
To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org
with "unsubscribe freebsd-small" in the body of the message
Want to link to this message? Use this URL: <https://mail-archive.FreeBSD.org/cgi/mid.cgi?19990617085740.12511>