On Tue, 28 May 2002 16:10:50 +0100, geoff wrote: > Is anyone able to compare (say) Slackware Linux with any other UNIX clones > such as FreeBSD ? > > From a learning point of view, I guess it depends on what it is that you > wish to learn. > Comparing BSDs with Linux is a little difficult to do objectively. All claim to be powerful, reliable, and secure. And all are, certainly relative to Windows.
The choice of an operating system depends heavily on what you actually plan to do with that operating system. Few operating systems are set up "for learning." For servers and routers, I choose OpenBSD. For desktop systems, I choose Linux. I've been told that FreeBSD is a great server system, but not so great for desktop use. This apparently defies the experience of some people I know, one of whom uses FreeBSD on his laptop. And if I were in the position of having to support a large number of desktops, I would take a hard look at FreeBSD simply because I prefer its flavor of package management. My impression is that of the BSDs, FreeBSD has the most going for it in the way of driver development for odd hardware. I'm guessing that Linux is still ahead here, though, due both to manufacturer support and the sheer number of people working on it. I'm presently writing this on a laptop which doesn't support Linux well. Am I worried? No. I figure Linux will catch up with it in fairly short order. (Even if it doesn't, it works well enough for my purposes.) Would I be so confident with a BSD? No, even though FreeBSD probably would work as well on it as Linux does now. Similarly, I suspect that most of the people doing development for desktop applications (and probably a bunch of other software) are using Linux platforms. The stuff should generally still build under the BSDs; sometimes you might have to use gmake (GNU make), and I guess there will be instances where the porting just won't work. I haven't mentioned NetBSD. I haven't played with it at all, nor do I know anyone who has. Its main claim to fame seems to be in the diversity of platforms it will run on. They really work on this. So you see, the choice of operating system has little do do with a "learning experience." It has much more to do with how each meshes with your needs (for each given system) and style of operation. -- David Benfell, LCP [EMAIL PROTECTED] --- Resume available at http://www.parts-unknown.org/resume.html
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