*nix trial

[Harald Schmalzbauer]

owner-freebsd-questions at freebsd.org wrote:
> Subject: RE: *nix trial
>
>
> You may want to ask yourself what you envision doing with *nix before
> deciding on an operating system to learn on. If you are just trying to
> "get the hang of" *nix, then almost any flavor will teach you the
> basics (though clearly I prefer FreeBSD ;)
>
> Most jobs these days that use *nix, usually involve Solaris, AIX (or
> some other Unix variant) or Linux. Sad as it may be, Linux has more
> "sex appeal" than FreeBSD, despite being less mature in a lot of
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Hmmm, see http://www.schmalzbauer.de/bsdversuslinux.html and confirm
that;-)

SCNR,

-Harry



> ways. As a result, it has more popular support, and gets device
> drivers much sooner (and in some cases, at all) Unfortunately, Linus
> only blesses a kernel, and a kernel is not the same as an operating
> system. They have to be included in distributions which provide a
> "world" (as FreeBSD calls it) Distros can vary from absolutely zero
> production engineering to a high level of integration and high
> overall quality. Both Debian and Mandrake (at least when I used them)
> were very good distributions overall. If you have an eye on a job
> that involves *nix, you might inquire as to what flavor, and find an
> OS that has a fairly similar interface.
>
> I just wanted to get that out there, since I get the impression you
> are trying to beef up your resume.
>
> That said, I believe FreeBSD to be a superior operating system to
> Linux with respect to "newbies" because of its simplicity, elegance,
> and intelligent port system. Library issues are rarely a problem if
> you stick with the ports tree or package system, and you can easily
> review what you have installed, and their dependencies. Only Debian's
> apt-get is superior, IMHO - but not by much!
>
> The difference is that FreeBSD is an operating system, not a kernel.
> There is only one "distro" per revision, and it is very well crafted
> to work right. For the most part, every FreeBSD system of the same
> version works like any other. With a few notable exceptions, any
> FreeBSD system of the same major release works like any other as
> well. I switched to FreeBSD from Linux (Mandrake linux to be exact)
> after using NetBSD extensively on an old Mac (68'040 system). It was
> that good :)
>
> As for obtaining it, I'd go with the 4CD set from the FreeBSD Mall. Go
> with the 4.8-RELEASE version - it's the current "production" release.
> 5.0 is actually closer to a final beta than a production OS. Running
> it would be like learning to drive in an experimental car. Also, the
> 4CD set includes every port available for that release. No Internet
> access required at all - which can be helpful, especially if you are
> having problems getting your network running in the installer.
>
> Good luck,
> Seth Henry
>
> Mohsin Sabir. wrote:
>> I am a Microsoft Product Administrator and been engaged with
>> Microsoft Products from the last 7 years.  Now, I have opted that I
>> should add something more to my expertise and thought about *nix but
>> have hard time to pick which Unix, as there are quite a bit of
>> flavors available out there.
>>
>> I read about you, saw the sites hosted by you.  I want to try BSD
>> Unix and please advise me which version is the latest and greatest
>> from where I can start.
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> freebsd-questions at freebsd.org mailing list
> http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions
> To unsubscribe, send any mail to
> "freebsd-questions-unsubscribe at freebsd.org"