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Path: sserve!newshost.anu.edu.au!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!yeshua.marcam.com!MathWorks.Com!news.cic.net!locust.cic.net!pauls From: pauls@locust.cic.net (Paul Southworth) Newsgroups: comp.os.386bsd.questions Subject: Re: Free copy of 386BSD Date: 26 Aug 1994 05:19:16 GMT Organization: CICNet, Inc. Lines: 43 Message-ID: <33ju0k$pcd@spruce.cic.net> References: <yuming.777871567@hurricane> NNTP-Posting-Host: locust.cic.net In article <yuming.777871567@hurricane>, Yu-Ming Wang <yuming@hurricane.seas.ucla.edu> wrote: > I have just learned about 386BSD recently, and according to 2/91 issue of >DDJ, any UC student can get a free copy of it. Is that correct?? Anyone in the world can get a copy of 386BSD 0.1 for free. The new release (v1.0) will cost $100 for a CDROM when it's released, although the source code on it can be freely redistributed if you can find someone with the CD willing to share it with you. However, most people who started with 386BSD 0.1 (now several years out of date) have switched to either FreeBSD or NetBSD, which are both freely distributed on the internet and are maintained religiously by their respective caretakers (ie, patches available quickly when needed, and new distributions appearing periodically). Both of those started with the 386BSD 0.1 code, and have added very substantial fixes and enhancements. NetBSD has been ported to a number of architectures other than the ISA/EISA Intel platform, while FreeBSD has concentrated on that single architecture. FreeBSD is also notable for more regular full releases than NetBSD (full release meaning new boot disks and complete installable binary and source packages). Fresh binary snapshots of NetBSD also appear periodically, though you have to start by installing the last full release and then updating it with the new binaries. Both systems make fresh source code (changes daily) available all the time. For FreeBSD, ftp to ftp.cdrom.com:/pub/FreeBSD I believe 1.1.5.1 is the current full distribution version; 2.0 will be out in a month or two. For NetBSD, ftp to ftp.netbsd.org:/pub/NetBSD (also on ftp.iastate.edu) 0.9 is the current full distribution for NetBSD; 1.0 will be out soon. The next full release of each of these systems will incorporate some of the 4.4BSD "lite" distribution. When it's released, you'll be able to order 386BSD 1.0 for $100 + shipping with details in DDJ. -- Paul Southworth CICNet Systems Support pauls@cic.net