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Path: sserve!newshost.anu.edu.au!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!msunews!agate!overload.lbl.gov!lll-winken.llnl.gov!enews.sgi.com!fido.asd.sgi.com!slovax!lm From: lm@slovax.engr.sgi.com (Larry McVoy) Newsgroups: comp.unix.bsd Subject: Re: Linux vs. BSD?! Date: 20 Feb 1995 05:45:39 GMT Organization: Silicon Graphics Inc., Mountain View, CA Lines: 66 Message-ID: <3i9aa3$sbp@fido.asd.sgi.com> References: <3i7ar8$ahv@marton.hsr.no> <3i83js$avl@ivory.lm.com> Reply-To: lm@slovax.engr.sgi.com NNTP-Posting-Host: slovax.engr.sgi.com X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.2 PL2] Peter Berger (peterb@telerama.lm.com) wrote: : Bottom line: if the machine is only for use as a news server, and is not : co-residing with another operating system, use NetBSD 1.0. That part may be good advice but given the rest of this message< ireally question it. In general, I feel the comments below are completely out of touch with reality. Some points to consider (and while you are reading this please note that I was a died in the wool BSD bigot; I was one of the kernel hackers at Sun during the SunOS 4.x (the last BSD based SunOS) days. I loved that OS.) . Linux CD ROMS are shipping at a rate of 40,000 / month. Compare that to BSD (probably 2 orders of magnitude difference). . Linux had binary support for SCO applications long before *BSD. . There are more device drivers available for Linux and they tend to work better. . There are *far* more precompiled applications for Linux than for *BSD. Take a look at the InfoMagic CD that includes the sunsite archives. Everything you ever wanted in source and binary form. . Given the volumes, there will be more commercial applications for Linux than for BSD. . Linux is covered by the GNU copyleft. Users that have been bitten by braindead management decisions (such as Sun and DEC users) may appreciate an OS that is truly open. *BSD most certainly are not. Even the original BSD crowd, now at BSDI, are not shipping all their source. . DEC is paying DEC engineers to provide Linux for the DEC Alpha. . Novell's former CEO, Ray Noorda, just spun off a company to do Linux. . I'm working on getting SGI into Linux for research purposes. OK, all that said, I will freely admit taht the "unix stuff" in Linux, i.e., the generic unix facilities, are occasionally woefully inadequate. For example, the run queue doesn't even exist in Linux, it's a flag in the per process structure. On the other hand, as these things become known (and, more importantly, become a real problem - the run queue thing isn't an issue for your average workstation but is for a internet server provider), they get fixed. I'm constantly amazed at the rate at which things get addressed in Linux. Finally, a bit of salt to add to my words. I still feel very burned by Sun's idiotic decision to dump BSD. Even though the *BSD systems are closer to SunOS than Linux, I use Linux (and help fix Linux) because it is copylefted. That means I am *guarenteed* that the code stays free, that idiotic management and lawyers can not ever lock it up for misguided business reasons. I'd rather take the hit backwards (in a few areas, very few) with Linux and be assured that if any/all of these systems become commercially successful, the one I'm working on will really be open, where open means anyone can get the source for free (or the cost of a CD, which is as good as free, in fact it's better than FTP by a long shot). -- --- Larry McVoy (415) 390-1804 lm@sgi.com