Current Gentoo user
Grant
emailgrant at gmail.com
Thu Dec 13 06:12:56 PST 2007
> > It has recently come to my attention that FreeBSD is "similar" to
> > Gentoo Linux. I've been a Gentoo user for about 5 years and I love
> > the concept, but it feels like the project is slowing down. I like to
> > learn/use/know one OS for server, media system, laptop, router, etc.
> > How would you compare the two OSes?
>
> We use mainly a mixture of FreeBSD and Gentoo at work. Virtually all
> of the application software you would want to use will work on either
> system -- the exceptions being certain proprietary bits such as the very
> latest Flash or management applications for particular RAID controllers.
> The Unix environment is pretty much the same, although /bin/sh on FreeBSD
> is not bash -- that you'ld have to install from ports. There are various
> odd differences in commands but those tend to be the more obscure bits
> as both systems comply with POSIX.2
What about skype, wengo, and vmware workstation? Do they work on FreeBSD?
> Things you'll find different:
>
> * Although portage was certainly inspired by ports, it is a very
> different beast. They fulfil much the same function, but don't
> get frustrated when you start thinking in the portage way and
> find that doesn't map onto ports very well. Ports is, to
> paraphrase Terry Pratchett, intuitively obvious once you've spent
> enough time learning how it works.
>From what I've read, ports is much faster and generally much better
than portage.
> * You'll find that the base FreeBSD system being separated from the
> rest of the installed software seems odd at first. Especially
> when you start looking under /etc for configuration files that
> FreeBSD puts under /usr/local/etc. You will quickly come to
> appreciate that it makes a huge difference in the ease and
> manageability of maintaining the system.
Makes sense to me.
> * I tend to find that FreeBSD comes with much better diagnostic and
> monitoring capabilities built in -- programs like systat and gstat
> have no direct equivalents, and things like vmstat often seem to
> be missing from Gentoo boxes, although that is probably just an
> oversight by the person building the system.
Does FreeBSD take the nothing-is-installed-that-I-don't-want approach
like Gentoo does?
> * Although either OS will work in either role, Gentoo-ers seem
> to me principally interested in developing the desktops,
> whereas FreeBSD-ers think "network server" first of all.
Am I likely to struggle with FreeBSD on a laptop? I booted FreeSBIE
just fine but I didn't test for sound.
I would imagine 64-bit support in FreeBSD is excellent, but what about
support of 32-bit binaries (e.g. the above listed) on a 64-bit system?
- Grant
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