Date: Mon, 22 Jan 2001 09:40:57 GMT From: Cliff Sarginson <cliff@raggedclown.net> To: "Julien Pham" <jpham@mis.mc>, <freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG> Subject: Re: FreeBSD versus Linux Message-ID: <E14KdT7-000Jni-00@post.mail.nl.demon.net>
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> First, how do I subscribe the mailing lists ? Is it possible ? send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "subscribe freebsd-questions" in the body of the message > Second, my questions... > First, what are the differences between the two OS ? Someone told me FreeBSD > is real Unix, and Linux has nothing to do with Unix. FreeBSD is part of the evolution of UNIX going back to near the dawn of UNIX time. I suppose that makes it "real UNIX", but there are lots of variants on that theme. Linux is a UNIX lookalike operating system. It was written from scratch (more or less) as a project at a University on or around 1990. It has since grown way beyond that. Having said that from a user perspective it is as much like "real" Unix as anything else with that claim. FreeBSD is distributed as a complete system, with O/S and system programs not seen as seperable things. There is only 1 FreeBSD (but there are other BSD based O/S's, such as OpenBSD and NetBSD.. have a look at their web sites for information). Linux is strictly speaking just the O/S part and uses mostly GNU system software .. GNU get pissed about people talking about Linux rather than GNU/Linux (probably because Hurd, the O/S GNU is writing has been years in arriving). What is irritating or wonderful (depending on your point of view) is that Linux comes in a Heinz like variety of distributions... dozens of them. So if you decide to try Linux first you will need to decide which one (all I will say on this is do NOT try Redhat, the biggest selling but worst Linux distribution on the planet). Compatibility. Most Linux software runs fine under FreeBSD, some of it runs reputedly better ! > Can I find all kind of apps I can find on linux, on FreeBSD ? Such as office > tools (such as staroffice), network and internet tools, and games ? I don;t know if Staroffice is available under FreeBSD yet. But I see no reason why it shouldn't run. Personally I would install it from CD first off, simplifies life for the cost of small outlay for the CD's. Buy a set with the handbook if you can. What else? I would try both if I were you. Asking here is not necessarily going to get you an objective view .. lol. I use FreeBSD 4.0/4.2 and Suse Linux 7.0. I am happy with both of them. Cliff To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-questions" in the body of the message
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