*BSD News Article 44732


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From: cpage@best.com (Chad Page)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc
Subject: Re: Moving from Linux ---> FreeBSD
Date: 29 May 1995 21:28:17 GMT
Organization: Best Internet Communications, Inc. (info@best.com)
Lines: 61
Message-ID: <3qde9h$lp7@news1.best.com>
References: <D91FLv.8qD@ritz.mordor.com>
NNTP-Posting-Host: shell1.best.com
X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.2 PL2]

Chris Mauritz (ritz@ritz.mordor.com) wrote:
: Hi there.  I've been a VERY happy user of linux for quite some
: time now, but am considering switching over to FreeBSD in order
: to get a headstart on the 4.4lite learning curve (my production
: machine uses BSDI which is going to be upgraded to the new 4.4
: lite-based version soon).

	The production shell machine at best.com (I'm just have an account on 
it) is moving from BSDI 1.1 over to FreeBSD soon, from what I hear.  
There's a post from Matt Dillon, the main sysadmin at best, about what 
he's doing with it.  Sounds like cool stuff, and I'm planning to put 
FreeBSD on my system too (over the Dos/Windoze partition of course :)

	From what I can tell, Linux has a lot more "third-party" internet 
support and development.  I can't seem to find anything like Sunsite for 
FreeBSD for user-created software specific to FreeBSD.

	It appears to me that FreeBSD and Linux are on distinct different 
paths (Linux is the hacker/hobbyist system, and FreeBSD is more of a 
production system - as evidenced by the work it's already doing for 
best.com and ftp.cdrom.com, which is the most visible example.)

	(I just had to find a thread to state this stuff :)

: Does FreeBSD have some sort of utility like lilo to allow the
: machine to boot more than one OS?  I have a Dos/Win IDE disk
: that I use sometimes for word processing and such.

	When I used FreeBSD a few months ago, there was a boot utility 
which would let one jump between drives.  It should work fine.

: Will it work with the following hardware on my current play
: machine?

	Jonathan already said the hardware was fine...

: Any tips/suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

	If your IDE drive for Dos/Windows is big enough, you might want 
to consider setting up a UMSDOS installation of Linux, so you'll have 
access to all the stuff that comes out in the Linux camp.  You also might 
want to look into ABI technology which is being worked into the *BSD's to 
run Linux programs (there are reports of linuxxdoom being run under FreeBSD.)

	You might also want to look into the new 1.2GB IDE drives 
(Western Digital has one for about $420), which would give you more than 
enough space to run both environments well.  I wish I could afford one (I 
bought a WD 850 a while back for my Linux stuff, and could use another 
similiar drive to play with FreeBSD, and I'll HAVE to get one before I go 
off to college...)

	- Chad

: Best regards,

: Chris
: -- 
: Christopher Mauritz         | For info on internet access:
: ritz@mordor.com             | finger/mail info@ritz.mordor.com OR
: Mordor International        | http://www.mordor.com/
: 201/212/718 internet access | Modem: (201)433-7343,(212)843-3451