Best way to switch from Linux to BSD

[Jeremy Chadwick]

On Wed, Mar 30, 2011 at 11:42:30AM +0100, Pete French wrote:
> > I agree with that. I had problems with Flash on AMD64 so sometimes
> 
> Am impressed - I didnt realise it was possible at all under amd64! I
> ended up using 'gnash' which doesnt really do the job to be honest,
> but it better than nothing. These days I find the best solution is
> keeping a copy of Windows inside VirtualBox for those moments
> when I need stuff that freeBSD can't do (primarily talking to HP iLo's
> these days, since I can't make Java work in Firefox)

Funny that -- even in a server-centric environment I still test FreeBSD
changes (patches, major changes to ports, etc.) on my workstation PC
(Windows XP) running FreeBSD under VMware Workstation.  I have a home
FreeBSD box for stuff, but depending on what I'm testing I can't risk
data loss or "filesystem craziness" on it.  Instead, I'll use VMware.
And in some cases I'll even throw a 3rd disk into my Windows XP box for
VMware to use as a direct/dedicated device, just so I can poke at SATA
stuff and not risk hurting anything.

Furthermore, for doing certain administrative tasks on Windows, I'll
often run Windows XP under VMware too.  A good example is something I'm
working on now: trying to figure out/understand how to build a WinPE
bootable ISO so I can deal with Windows-oriented problems at home.
Microsoft, for reasons unknown to me, doesn't make this process even
remotely easy.  I spent my entire Monday trying to get things like
BartPE to work (failed miserably on a USB stick but worked fine on a
CD), yet even once I got into the thing, I found utilities like DISKPART
wouldn't work (service wasn't running).  Really quite a sad state of
affairs.

Anyway, the 2nd paragraph above is unrelated to the FreeBSD side of
things, but I just thought I'd share my pain with other sysadmins out
there.  It's 2011 yet we still go through all this pain and rigmarole
just to get something worthwhile.  System Administrator Appreciation Day
(last Friday of July) really needs more attention.  And us SAs should be
sure to appreciate other SAs too.

-- 
| Jeremy Chadwick                                   jdc at parodius.com |
| Parodius Networking                       http://www.parodius.com/ |
| UNIX Systems Administrator                  Mountain View, CA, USA |
| Making life hard for others since 1977.               PGP 4BD6C0CB |