*BSD News Article 16169


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From: burgess@hrd769.brooks.af.mil (Dave Burgess)
Newsgroups: comp.os.386bsd.announce,comp.os.386bsd.questions
Subject: 386bsd/NetBSD FAQ Section 0
Followup-To: comp.os.386bsd.questions
Date: 15 May 1993 22:11:36 -0700
Organization: University of California, Berkeley
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			Frequently Asked Questions
				386BSD 0.1


		   	   EXTREMELY UNOFFICIAL


  Original FAQ by:
	Terry Lambert
	terry_lambert@gateway.novell.com
	terry@icarus.weber.edu


  New FAQ by:
	TSgt Dave Burgess
	NCOIC Armstrong Laboratory Management Systems Office
	Brooks AFB, TX
	burgess@hrd769.brooks.af.mil

			   Last Update:  10 Apr 93



Section 0.  (Basic FAQ information)

0.0	Introduction

The 386BSD 0.1 operating system is a derivative of the Berkeley Net/2 
release.  The definitive "man without whom we would have nothing" in 
this effort has been William Jolitz.  For more information, download the
code.

386BSD is fully redistributable and is intended as a research OS.  As such, 
many contributions to the system are provided through interaction by people 
who communicate via many means.  Many new and innovative features have been 
added to 386BSD since it's original release in June of '92.  There is an 
'unofficial' patchkit which is available from many anonymous FTP sources 
which makes 386BSD more stable and usable.  Many problems associated with 
the use of 386BSD Version 0.1 can be solved through the application of 
patches from the patchkit.  In addition, many common Unix packages have been
ported with varying degrees of difficulty.

386BSD is available completely free of charge.  It is also available
on CD-ROM and many other methods, most of which end up charging for 'media and
handling costs'.  It is available by Anonymous FTP and through FTP-Mail.  

386BSD comes in three distinct pieces, each of which is exclusive of
the other two.  These distributions are called the 'bindist', 'srcdist', and
'etcdist'.  The bindist can be unloaded from its native form (on about 10
diskettes) and loaded onto a 42Meg hard drive partition.  It is a fully
functional system, including gcc 1.39, all executables for normal Unix
style operation, and many other things.  The etc distribution includes MANY
additional programs (all with source) which extend the functionality of
386BSD.  The srcdist is the source code for 386bsd, along with all of the
header files not included in the bindist.  All of the distributions and 
compilation files will fit onto 180Meg of hard drive (barely).

0.1	About this FAQ

	This FAQ consists of 11 parts:

		Section 0.  Basic FAQ information
		Section 1.  General Network Information
		Section 2.  Common installation questions
		Section 3.  Kernel Building and Maintenance
		Section 4.  Kernel Additions
		Section 5.  Kernel Replacement Parts
		Section 6.  Interaction with MS-DOS
		Section 7.  System Communication
		Section 8.  "Supported" Hardware List
		Section 9.  "Supported" Software List
		Section 10.  Applications


0.2	Is 386bsd better than (your favorite operating system name here)?

I decided to put this in section 0, primarily because it by far the most
asked and least useful question in comp.os.386bsd.questions.

No.  It is not.

Nor is it any worse.

It is DIFFERENT.  There are alternative Operating Systems available, both 
free and commercial.  386bsd, NetBSD, and Linux are examples of "free" Unix 
style Operating Systems.

Here are a brief list of differences between 386bsd and other systems:

1.  386bsd will not run DOS applications (yet).  There is currently no
DOS emulator.  People are working on it.  If you want to help, contact
Nate (nate@bsd.coe.montana.edu) and tell him.  He will put you in
contact with the right people.

2.  386bsd is not binary compatible with anything but NetBSD.  If you want
to add binary compatibility with some other system, contact Bill and Lynne,
or Nate, and volunteer.

3.  386bsd does not feel like SysV; Linux does. 

4.  386bsd feels like BSD; Linux doesn't. 

Clifford Stoll talks about the 'West Coast/East Coast' feeling of BSD/SysV
in his book "The Cuckoo's Egg".  In keeping with that, BSD is West Coast,
Linux is East Coast.  If you don't believe me, just look at the primary
archive sites.  Linux is available from MIT, BSD is available from Berkeley.
Can't get much more 'Coast' than that.

5.  Linux, NetBSD, and 386bsd share two vitally important facets.  All are 
free and all include source.  They are all excellent, and all fill a niche 
that the others would gladly leave available.

0.3  How to add your pet answer to the FAQ.

This is the trickiest part of this section of the FAQ.  There are only
two criteria for getting an entry made into the FAQ:

	1.  Your answer should answer a question that seems to come up
	    with some regularity, or at least perplexes a group of
	    people from time to time.

	2.  Your answer should be technically correct.  In other words,
	    answers like 'RTFM' and 'everybody knows that' are not really
	    good candidates for the FAQ.  These answers should spell out,
	    in a reasonable level of detail, precisely how to fix the
	    the question asked, or explain the basis for the answer and
	    leave the implementation of the answer to the questioner.

All answers MUST include a question.  This is not as obvious as it would
seem at first glance.  An answer could solve many problems, especially 
in the realms of system halts or other catastrophes. 

Since I (Dave) am no Unix guru, I rely HEAVILY on the input of other people
to make the FAQ a success.  Many questions in the FAQ have been made largely
irrelevant through the patchkits, but that doesn't means they may not reappear.
That is why the old FAQ questions are still here.

New FAQ questions should be added.  I will try to attribute the question/answer
to the author, but I personally think this is a waste of good disk space.  As
long as the answers get out, that should be reward enough :-)


0.4  Administrivia.

Send all question/answer pairs to burgess@hrd769.brooks.af.mil.  If you
are going to post the Q/A to the net, then do that, but be sure to mark it
as a FAQ entry.  I will get it from the net as easily as I do my E-Mail.
Your Q/A will be formatted to look more or less like the others and be added.
Corrections, deletions, flames, snivels, and whines should be addressed
directly to me here.  Either way, I will be sure to send out a reply letting
you know what I have done with your submission.

One last thing.  I will assume that I am infalible. :-)  I will not notice 
any mistakes that you may find.  If you find a mistake and don't tell me, 
it will very likely stay a mistake.
--
Please send submissions for comp.os.386bsd.announce to:
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