The other thing that may come into play here is that Linux is much more friendly to non-Unix types. I actually used FreeBSD before I ever touched Linux. I had no idea what Unix was and I wanted to find out. I was going to try Linux since I had heard the early rumbles of what I knew was a massive hype-train coming on fast. I talked to a Unix-y type and he said something like "well, if you're going to get into Unix you might as well use a *real* Unix instead of that fake one". I should have recognized the same sort of bias that inflicts Windows and Mac users when talking about each others' systems, but I took his word for it and installed FreeBSD anyway. As a DOS/Windows literate person I found it totally befuddling. I couldn't even get the GUI up and running at all, it just wouldn't work. With no GUI and no attempt to make DOS commands work as expected I was left without a clue. After some impatient attempts to read through the docs I decided this thing was over my head and installed Caldera Linux instead. The GUI worked after a bit of tweakage, Caldera had kindly aliased my 'dir' and 'del' commands, and I was free to explore further and gain an understanding of this new environment. I had about 30 days before my Looking Glass trial expired and I was once again left wondering what on earth was going on. I'm sure many of you remember those days. :)
A much later experience with FreeBSD was more pleasant. It's amazing how much more fun it was once I had half a clue. On Fri, 2003-01-24 at 10:05, Matthew Carpenter wrote: > Not to be anal, but BSD is not a unix-like OS, it IS Unix. > Unlike Linux, BSD stems from the original AT&T/Bell unix code. > > That said, Aaron's assessment is almost exactly what I would say. I have > heard that FreeBSD can serve files with Samba faster than NetWare, and is > supposed to be just as stable. Microsoft would be good to aim for such > goals. Their implementation of NetBIOS is as pathetic as their stability. > > > On 23 Jan 2003 17:46:12 -0500 > Mel Roman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > Hi: > > > > I've been using linux for a while now (previously Caldera, and now > > Mandrake). I've been doing a little investigation concerning FreeBSD > > and OpenBSD (alternative unix-like operating systems). I haven't yet > > found an objective comparison between the two. I know this is a linux > > forum, but I was wondering if someone could provide an informed > > comparison between the linux and BSD-type systems: > > > > What are their relative strengths and weaknesses compared to each other? > > > > In what roles might one be preferred over the other? Why? > > > > Do they really occupy different niches, or are they competing systems? > > > > I look forward to everyone's opinion. > > > > Thanks in advance, > > > > Mel > > > > _______________________________________________ > > Linux-users mailing list > > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > Unsubscribe/Suspend/Etc -> > > http://www.linux-sxs.org/mailman/listinfo/linux-users > _______________________________________________ > Linux-users mailing list > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Unsubscribe/Suspend/Etc -> http://www.linux-sxs.org/mailman/listinfo/linux-users _______________________________________________ Linux-users mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe/Suspend/Etc -> http://www.linux-sxs.org/mailman/listinfo/linux-users
