Well, thanks everyone for your advice. I did go the conservative route and stuck with Debian, for now. I remain curious as to why I don't see more BSD use around campus, though, and I see the "Vista is the only officially supported OS" policy as a bit troubling.
Josh: I am getting a Ph.D. in philosophy. At least that is the plan for now... Paul: I already, in fact, have access to the hardware which you suggested I obtain, but thank you for the excellent suggestion... Richard On Wed, Sep 16, 2009 at 6:47 PM, [email protected] <[email protected]> wrote: > I'm a big fan of using Debian, at least on servers, and I gave FreeBSD > a try a few months ago. I thought was an interesting experience and > worth trying. The ports system is very nice. It wasn't hard to install > - the documentation is thorough, and well written. But it did take > quite a while to set up, so I probably wouldn't attempt it with a > deadline. > > Asa > > On Wed, Sep 16, 2009 at 10:46 AM, Rene Churchill <[email protected]> wrote: >> Unless you're a programmer or sysadmin, the learning curve isn't worth it. >> Go with what you know and get the paper done. The differences between the >> various *nix systems to Joe Average user are pretty minor compared to what >> you're really trying to accomplish. (i.e. write papers, read email, surf >> the web, process lab data, etc.) >> >> Knowing that in BSD v4.3, the amount of RAM devoted to the file cache is >> established at boot time and is not dynamic is kinda interesting to fellow >> geeks. The number of times that it has actually mattered in 20+ years of >> programming? Once. >> >> Rene >> >> Richard Lawrence wrote: >> >> Hi everyone, >> >> I'm wondering if anyone has relatively recent experience using both >> Debian (or some derivative) and FreeBSD, and if they might like to >> give me some thoughts on the relative merits of each. I'm not looking >> to start a holy war here -- just looking for an informed opinion. I >> have used Debian and derivatives since I came to the free software >> world, but I have never used any of the BSDs. >> >> The back story is this: I have just started a graduate program at >> Berkeley, and I am putting a desktop machine together (via parts >> acquired from Craigslist), which I anticipate will be my main work >> station for writing papers and such. I am most interested in having a >> minimal, efficient, and stable system, since I am running on slightly >> older hardware. I guess I have an institutional curiosity in the >> BSDs, and I like the idea of learning a new system (particularly one >> with such excellent documentation). On the other hand, I know Debian >> well enough that I could install it tomorrow and still have time to >> write the paper I have due Thursday. Is it worth the learning curve >> to stray from Linux land? >> >> Richard >> >> >> -- >> =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= >> René Churchill [email protected] >> Geek Two 802-244-7880 x527 >> Your Source for Local Information http://www.wherezit.com >> >> >
