*BSD News Article 11984


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Newsgroups: comp.os.386bsd.questions
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From: wier@merlin.etsu.edu (Bob Wier)
Subject: Re: BSD or Linux?
Message-ID: <wier-260293171434@csci-wiermac.etsu.edu>
Followup-To: comp.os.386bsd.questions
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Organization: East Texas State University
References: <11135@tivoli.UUCP> <1993Feb26.192438.9988@coe.montana.edu>
Date: Fri, 26 Feb 1993 23:20:16 GMT
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In article <1993Feb26.192438.9988@coe.montana.edu>, nate@cs.montana.edu
(Nate Williams) wrote:
> 
> [ I know I'm going to regret this, but......]
> 
> change. Linux is far from this.  Also, Linux is no-where near the
> production quality that 386BSD is because of the lack of documentation. 
> (One aspect of production quality).  386BSD suffers from lack of
> specific documentation, but by God there is a TON of documentation on
> BSD out there. 
> 
I'd have to second this.  For the last couple of months since I got
laid off at my old job, and moved here to my new one, I've been 
considering how to continue running the archives/mailing lists
which I had been doing previously.  I came to the conclusion that
it just wasn't possible unless you had su privs (some people may
dispute that...).  For example, I needed to change basic aliases
for the mailer, and just couldn't get access to do it on the "real"
unix machines at the old place.

So, I came to the conclusion that the way to go was to have my OWN
unix machine on the network where I have total control. Since it's
main purpose is ftp, networking is very important. I tried 
both LINUX and 386BSD.  LINUX initially appealed to me because it
seemed very easy to install, whereas since I was using a GATEWAY
at that time, I ran into the "Compaq" problem which was extremely
frustrating with 386BSD. Also, a colleague at my old school was very much
in favor of LINUX.  I really didn't make a decision until a couple
of weeks ago.  Mostly it was based on two things.  One was that 
there is already a 386BSD running here on a PC (so I have someone
to talk to about it) AND the commands are close enough to the 
"real" unix boxes we are running that I can look at their man pages
and get a clue as to what to do (lacking any comprehensive BSD
printed manuals is a problem).  

Incidentally, if anyone is running anon ftp as a major part of thier
system, I'd be interested in exchanging notes.  Getting this running
is very challenging for someone who has not been in a position of
being a sys admin previously...

THANKS!

--Bob W.


======== insert usual disclaimers here ============
  Bob Wier, East Texas State U., Commerce, Texas
  wier@merlin.etsu.edu (watch for address change)