Date: Sun, 9 May 1999 18:48:20 -0700 (PDT) From: rick hamell <hamellr@dsinw.com> To: otter@tig.com.au Cc: freebsd-newbies@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: Very basic questions... Message-ID: <Pine.BSF.3.91.990509183540.9185M-100000@dsinw.com> In-Reply-To: <3.0.5.32.19990510111738.007b0150@pop.tig.com.au>
next in thread | previous in thread | raw e-mail | index | archive | help
> I was wondering if someone can give me a bit of a pointer, FreeBSD is a > Unix like system, right? Means I have to use Unix type commands to work the > thing? I have nfi re Unix, and GNULinux seems to cost a fortune although > it is quite trendy these days. FreeBSD is directly derived from Unix. Much of it's source code is taken directly from BSD and updated to be a bit more modern. :) One of the core team members once showed me a piece of code shipping in 2.2.8 that had been around since the early 70's. I'm not sure what you mean by GNULinux, Linux is a kernal that falls under the GNU licence scheme. There are several flavors of Linux, all of which you can download for free, just like FreeBSD. > I was hoping there'd be a really easy way out of stumbling along > ignorantly, perhaps I can run X-Windows under BSD and still use all my old > apps while I'm learning the foibles of the new OS.... X-Windows is not MS-Windows. You're not going to be able to run something like Word for Windows. BUT there have been several programs ported over to Unix. Wordperfect is one example. Your best bet is to find Unix apps that do what you want. For example, you can load Star Office and have pretty dang close to %100 compatiblity with Microsoft Office's funky formats. Load The Gimp and you'll be able to do just about everything that Photoshop can do. And of course Netscape runs pretty dang well under FreeBSD, a LOT better then it ever ran under Windows for me. The best part is that it is all free! > What's the best way to format the start menu so the thing boots to BSD > unless I tell it otherwise? When you install FreeBSD, choose to load the BootMGR. It's what I've done though I've not botted into Windows for about 6 months now. :) > I'm hoping I'll be able to get some info here and on the newsgroups, as my > isp's web server is slow as a wet week lately, and there's a time limit )) : You might want to be looking into another ISP then....:) Most all your questions have been answered online and in depth. www.freebsd.org is the place to start. Search the mailing list archives and read the handbook. For more specific answers you may want to take a look at www.freebsddiary.com Dan has done a great job documenting his procedures. Rick ---- "Religion exists because man can't belive that he's nothing more then a random accident." http://www.grendal.org To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-newbies" in the body of the message
Want to link to this message? Use this URL: <https://mail-archive.FreeBSD.org/cgi/mid.cgi?Pine.BSF.3.91.990509183540.9185M-100000>