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Xref: sserve comp.os.386bsd.misc:2924 comp.os.linux.misc:20619 Newsgroups: comp.os.386bsd.misc,comp.os.linux.misc Path: sserve!newshost.anu.edu.au!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!bunyip.cc.uq.oz.au!munnari.oz.au!news.Hawaii.Edu!ames!hookup!yeshua.marcam.com!news.kei.com!eff!news.duke.edu!convex!convex!constellation!rex!ben From: ben@rex.uokhsc.edu (Benjamin Z. Goldsteen) Subject: Re: I hope this won't ignite a major flame war, but I've got to know! Message-ID: <CtIxJt.M6D@rex.uokhsc.edu> Date: Tue, 26 Jul 1994 01:31:04 GMT Reply-To: benjamin-goldsteen@uokhsc.edu References: <30drlt$7tc@news.u.washington.edu> <30g0af$bfv@u.cc.utah.edu> <30m54g$et7@falcon.ccs.uwo.ca> <CtCn9y.Ft9@rex.uokhsc.edu> <30qcbq$6tv@pentagon.io.com> Organization: Health Sciences Center, University of Oklahoma Lines: 107 compunet@pentagon.io.com (compunet) writes: >In article <CtCn9y.Ft9@rex.uokhsc.edu>, >Benjamin Z. Goldsteen <benjamin-goldsteen@uokhsc.edu> wrote: >>mo@pineapple.apmaths.uwo.ca (Matthew Osborne) writes: >> >>>I would like to try FreeBSD out. But, people.. When I FTPed to >>>ftp.cdrom.com and looked in /pub/FreeBSD .. I had NO way to really know >>>what to look for. COuld SOMEONE tell me what to FTP and where?? I run >>>linux right now.. It is easy to understand the FTP sites and I like the >>>Yggdrasil CDROM version. >> >> >>Hmm, I find the FreeBSD distributions MUCH easier to get than the Linux >>ones. With something like Slackware 1.20, I had to comb through all >>those directories on Sunsite to find what I needed. With FreeBSD, the >>distributions are all right there. There is also a lot less junk in >>the FreeBSD directory than Sunsite's Linux. >> >>Anyway, if you spend five minutes looking around, I think it should be >>obvious: >>- Go to "pub/FreeBSD". >>- Then "ls" >>- You will see some directories and files >>- There will be among other things a README, RELNOTES, and FAQ. You >> might want to browse these now >>- There will be a directory: FreeBSD-#.#-RELEASE. In there will be a >> few other files (README's, RELNOTES', etc -- some of which may be the >> same as what you already read) and a few more directories: >> "floppies", "bindist", "secrdist", and "scrdist" being the most >> important. If you read the README/RELNOTES/FAQ/etc, you will know >> that you need at least three of the floppies images from floppies and >> all of bindist files. >>- Since you already have things like "rawrite", you don't need to >> download them again. >>- About the only other files you need to concern yourself at this >> early stage are "packages". Describing anything else at this point >> would be like trying to sell a GM THM350 transmition to a Ford owner... >> >>[The latest FreeBSD-#.#-RELEASE is the one with the highest number: >>FreeBSD-1.1.5.1-RELEASE. Kind of a funny number, but ...] >> >>So do you think -- could you give it a consideration -- that just >>maybe, just possibly -- making a leap of faith -- just drawing on >>common knowledge, past experiences, and things like that -- do you >>think it might be possible that: >> >>the Linux directories seem well laid out because that is what you are >>familiar with and the FreeBSD directories are confusing because you >>never saw them before? >Ya know, I've been following this whole stupid thread and this >condescending attitude is EXACTLY the reason I won't be trying any >variation of BSD. Get a clue. All he asked is what he needed to get in Actually, attitudes are the reason I left Linux. I found most of the postings much too silly. >order to try another OS. Frankly, I think your "obvious" explanation of >what is needed is not obvious at all. Further, if YOU had read the What do you mean? There are README's and INSTALL notes all over the place. All you need are a few floppy images and a split tar file. I didn't say it was obvious -- I mean, what the hell does obvious have to do with UNIX? However, I did imply that it wasn't too hard to figure out. ANYBODY GETTING SOMETHING LIKE UNIX FROM AN FTP SITE REALLY OUGHT TO READ THE README's, FAQ's, INSTALL_NOTES's, etc. >README file for Slackware, you would have found that there was no need to >cruise all the subdirs to figure out what you wanted. You want TeX, get Where is bc? It is in "ap". I didn't find that too helpful. Where are the /usr/include/sys/*? In the kernel sources. At least for me, I have to get every subdirectory separately (rather than doing a nice, long, unattended download of bindist/*) because if I try to get them all at once, I run into name collisions of tagfile* stuff. >everything in the "T" directories, source code...in the "S" directories. >The bottom line is to use the OS that fits you. I use Linux, Unixware, >OS/2, DOS/Winders (when forced to), Netware and will probably install a >beta of Chicago soon. Hell, I've even used WinNT which was kinda scary. >But for goodness sakes, don't be so sarcastic when someone askes a valid >question about the OS you prefer. All that does is turn others off to >the idea of even trying it. If he said, "I can't figure this out," then I would have simply answered him. However, he makes a point that the Linux's are so simple and FreeBSD is so complicated in its distributions. Yet, I can't believe he read any of the INSTALL_NOTES, FAQ's, etc for FreeBSD. Then I closed by saying that this might be related to already being familiar with a system. This tends be an important point in 90% of computer preferences. Anybody trying to make an neutral evaluation in situations like this will realize this and try to compensate (especially before posting to the evaluatee's newsgroups). I can tell you that it takes me a lot longer to find Linux stuff than FreeBSD stuff. In my opinion, it is hard to find stuff on sunsite relative to freebsd.cdrom.com, but I will openly omit that I work with freebsd.cdrom.com more than sunsite because I run FreeBSD more than I run Slackware. P.S.Where I wrote Slackware, I mean Slackware 1.20. I have not had time to get Slackware 2.0, yet. -- Benjamin Z. Goldsteen