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Path: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au!newshost.anu.edu.au!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!news.mira.net.au!vic.news.telstra.net!act.news.telstra.net!psgrain!newsfeed.internetmci.com!news.msfc.nasa.gov!pendragon!ames!onramp.arc.nasa.gov!usenet From: lwilliam@pioneer.arc.nasa.gov (Tom) Newsgroups: comp.unix.bsd.netbsd.misc,comp.os.linux.development.system,comp.os.linux.setup Subject: Re: Linux or BSD? Date: Tue, 09 Apr 1996 04:18:02 GMT Organization: Lone Tree Works Lines: 44 Message-ID: <4kcofg$55p@onramp.arc.nasa.gov> References: <4jprsf$lo9@classic.eng.octel.com> Reply-To: lwilliam@pioneer.arc.nasa.gov NNTP-Posting-Host: arc-tac2-slip5.nsi.nasa.gov X-Newsreader: Forte Free Agent 1.0.82 Xref: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au comp.unix.bsd.netbsd.misc:2853 comp.os.linux.development.system:20953 comp.os.linux.setup:49665 johnp@octel.com (John Pham) wrote: >I'm planning to get a unix for a Pentium...but which one should I buy? Linux slackware >or NetBSD? does Linux support all the library calls as BSD? how stable are they? >I have a limited disk space, and probably would install only one of them. Slackware Linux is a decent package, though it can grow to over 150 MB quickly. RedHat Linux is easier to install, as is Debian (tho Debian is still v0.99.x with older version kernels), and each has similar features. Linux is POSIX compliant and does one or two things different than BSD. All Linux flavors are free by ftp (Slackware at ftp.linux.org, RedHat and Debian at ftp.[redhat,debian].org. >Some of the features I'm looking for > - multiple ethernet cards (PCI bus prefered) So long as each card can havge its own IRQ, or you have a multiport card, Linux will support it. Major support is for the 3com cards. Drivers can be loaded as modules to keep kernels small (1MB limit for kernel size at boot). > - large drivers for different smart io cards Large drivers, or large assortment? Both are available, but read the docs and FAQs before you buy a card. > - decent kernel switch time No experience. > - reliable Slackware 2.3 is considered the stable version (a.out), and Slackware 3.0 is an experimental distribution (with ELF support) and not as stable. I've had fewer problems with 2.3 than with FreeBSD inre: installation, configuration, post-install customization. >did anyone use Linux or Netbsd in a realtime applications? (process control/monitoring)? IMHO, Linux isn't ready for realtime apps you mention because of multitask/ multithread CPU demands. Some apps can take 95% or more CPU time, slowing or halting those of lower priority, and I've lost data packets while ftp'ing and running as little as four other apps (not counting daemons or init). I've very little experience with BSD (Net or Free), and I'm currently fetching NetBSD for my own evaluations.