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Newsgroups: comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc,comp.os.linux.development.system Path: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au!newshost.anu.edu.au!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!newsroom.utas.edu.au!munnari.OZ.AU!news.ecn.uoknor.edu!news.eng.convex.com!newshost.convex.com!cs.utexas.edu!howland.reston.ans.net!ix.netcom.com!netcom.com!stren From: stren@netcom.com (Sam Trenholme) Subject: Re: The better (more suitable)Unix?? FreeBSD or Linux Message-ID: <strenDMxJ0H.L2s@netcom.com> Organization: NETCOM On-line Communication Services (408 261-4700 guest) References: <4er9hp$5ng@orb.direct.ca> <jlemonDMtpAz.3rJ@netcom.com> <4g0l6o$gcl@park.uvsc.edu> <4g2213$e3f@cebaf4.cebaf.gov> Date: Sat, 17 Feb 1996 16:55:28 GMT Lines: 55 Sender: stren@netcom21.netcom.com Xref: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc:14496 comp.os.linux.development.system:18201 >They are only unsafe if the system crashes. My experience >with Linux is that it _doesn't_crash_. I have managed to crash Linux in the following ways: 1) Giving the wrong arguments to memcpy() with a 1.2.12 (I believe) kernel 2) Moving a window down while copying the Slackware distribution from a Orchid CD in a 1.3.18 kernel 3) General problems with running my cheap motherboard for days on end, but those don't appear to eb Linux's fault. OBFilesystemDebate: I have gained the following insights from this heated debate: 1) How to mount an ext2 filesystem "sync" 2) Where to get some academic papers on why syncing metadata may be a good idea. OTOH, many claim it makes no difference, except in speed. 3) The fact that FreeBSD, though stuck to a 4k block size (yuck, from a news feed perspective-- 512-byte blocks would not be too small, but ext2's default 1024 is acceptable), seems to have 1k "fregments". DOes this mean 4 1k postings will only take up one block? If not, I think not supporting a 1k block size, just so that a 4 gig file can be referenced with only dual-indirection, is silly. Since I deal with 64meg+ files so rarely, I would rather have the smaller block size, and have less slack on my news archive, than have better huge-file performance. Of course, with FreeBSD adding ext2 support, hopefully this issue will become moot. Ideally, FreeBSD's ext2 will be done right (whatever that means), and not just there to run the occasional Linux file system it comes across. I am also glad to see that read-write hpfs is in the works for Linux. And, there also is an NTFS driver for Linux: http://www.informatik.hu-berlin.de:80/~loewis/ntfs/ I wonder if Linux will be able to mount Mac and Amiga filesystems next? With Zip drives around, these are things that are becoming useful. I also wish people would agree on a filesystem with decent LFN support. VFAT doesn't count. :-) I wish I had the time/skill to add a driver like this. -- Sam Trenholme - stren@netcom.com - http://ucsee/eecs/berkeley/edu/~set - LINUX!