There are quite a number of differences between BSD and Mandrake. For one, BSD isn't Linux. It's more UNIX if you have to classify it, but BSD is, well, BSD. Yeah, they all move along the same lines with the kernel, but it's closer to UNIX then it is Linux. A lot of people say BSD is a scaled down UNIX.
Linux has gone and created things like /etc/rc.d/init.d/ for users to make it easier more "intuative" to restart services etc;. BSD has somethings that are like that, but basically stick with the regular means of starting up processes and starting them. However, check out /usr/share/etc/rc.d for a list of scripts that do things like /etc/init.d/network start. FreeBSD is a true 128 bit OS. Others claim they are, but not to the true extent. BSD is very robust and is frankly a warrior. It can take the same hardware a Linux OS has, and handle much more stress. Recent, professional tests, we've tried to build and maintain a Linux box that every 15 minutes or so, xinet would crash/restart. The server was basically used for mail server, webserver, IMAP server. Same hardware working with the same servers, including FTP, webmail, and others, took the load and is now going to be taking on more tasks. FreeBSD, specifically, is used at a lot of ISPs. Webservers, DNS servers, mail servers, and more. Yes, Linux can do well in that platform, but for after some hefty configurations, and rebuild kernels. FreeBSD kernel is very easily rebuilt. And reboots (which you should never have to do.) in about 25 seconds. That's shutdown, then booted to a prompt. I don't remember EVER seeing a Linux box shutdown in that amount of time, let alone reboot. I know quite a number of people that use FreeBSD as their router/firewall. It's great for that. Does a lot better at that then Linux. A lot of people have FreeBSD on a floppy, boot the server, and there you go with your firewall and router. FreeBSD, right up the the most recent release, 4.4, will run on any hardware. P100's and slower, no problem. Is it even possible to install Mandrake 8.1 or RedHat 7.x on anything that slow? (IT may be possible, I've never heard it being done, or the machine being usable.) There are pros and cons in the comparison, it all depends on what you want to use the machine for. If you were looking to have a workstation with FreeBSD, you'd need more of what people call "advanced UNIX knowledge." (Whatever that is! :') If you want an internal webserver, and mail server and file server, that's also doing the routing and firewalling for your home network, FreeBSD will easily take the load. (I know, it's currently doing that and more for a local university.) FreeBSD is fast and very robust. I can server as a great workstation/desktop if that's what you want, but to administer the box, you'll need to bone up on your UNIX knowledge. As far as your locate issue. I *think* by default, it doesn't build the locatedb but once a week. You can change the cron to do it once a night, but to create/update the locate.db, here's the command you need. /usr/libexec/locate.updatedb As for "reference materials" I always go to www.freebsddiary.org/ Lots of helpful information there. tdh -- -------------------------------------------------------------------- T. Holmes | UNIXTECHS.org | [EMAIL PROTECTED] | UIN: 17021091 -------------------------------------------------------------------- | I am used to using Mandrake 8.x. I just installed FreeBSD on a test machine and find |it less intuitive to use. | Can someone explain the big difference between Mandrake and FreeBSD? | | In Mandrake, the current running DAEMON's are in the init.d directory.. were are |they in FreeBSD? I don't have an /etc/init.d directory. | | I use "locate" a lot.. I could find "locate" on my FreeBSD machine.. what's the |equivelent? | | Thanks for any info. | | -Allen May | ----------------------------- Uptime ------------------------------- 5:42PM up 17:04, 3 users, load averages: 0.02, 0.02, 0.00 --------------------------------------------------------------------
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