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Newsgroups: comp.unix.bsd.386bsd.misc Path: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au!newshost.anu.edu.au!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!news.rmit.EDU.AU!news.unimelb.EDU.AU!munnari.OZ.AU!news.ecn.uoknor.edu!qns3.qns.com!imci4!newsfeed.internetmci.com!usenet.eel.ufl.edu!tank.news.pipex.net!pipex!warwick!bsmail!danno!roome From: roome@danno (Steve Roome) Subject: Re: UNIX or LINUX? Suggestions Please! Message-ID: <Dq7nJx.KvI@uns.bris.ac.uk> Sender: usenet@uns.bris.ac.uk (Usenet news owner) Nntp-Posting-Host: danno.cs.bris.ac.uk Organization: Bristol University X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.2 PL2] References: <31786EFB.FAF@io.org> Date: Sun, 21 Apr 1996 11:50:20 GMT Lines: 65 Jeff Lloyd (jlloyd@io.org) wrote: : I know that I will get a lot of different responses, but I just don't : know what else to do now... I am getting advice right now from people : who really don't know what they are talking about, so I thought that I : would ask here... If you don't know much about unix yet, then it's probably best for you to not go and get linux or bsd just yet. However if you think you can manage and know enough of the basic sysadmin stuff then go ahead. However, it would be sound advice that you read some of the FAQ's FIRST. : I am a computer science student used to using UNIX at school, and have : wanted to install Linux on my home computer. Then someone told me that : BSD UNIX was the way to go. Then someone else told me.... Both BSD and Linux are UNIX, FreeBSD is the one you should consider, and linux comes in so many different flavors these days it's hard to decide! Anyway, Linux has its good points, in that it's been developed by lots of people all over the world. But this is generally its major downfall and it would seem that everything in linux seems to be a bit jumbled up. BSD is slightly harder to set up, but both linux and bsd are fairly easy to install. BSD is a lot easier to write for, and if you want to write stuff either will do, but BSD is more likely to be similar to whatever version of unix you're used to. (You're probably using a BSD UNIX at school, SunOs or plain BSD ? or is it solaris) : So, I am going to have 2 OS's on my machine, DOS/WINDOWS, and either : LINUX of UNIX. I will not be networking. I just want access to both : OS's for school and other work, and stuff. I would like to be able to : launch DOS/WIN applications from whichever UNIX system I choose. I have : a 486/33 with 8 megs. Could I please have some suggestions? I am not a : power user or trying to set up a server of any kind, just work at home, : and connect to other servers for internet/school/BBS access. I have been : looking at Red Hat... What do you think? Do you want to be able to run normal dos/windows things from unix ? That would be silly, generally, just use dos and windows. There are some great emulators out there for both bsd and linux. But none work quite as well (badly =) ) as windows/dos, or at least quite like windows/dos. =) Basically, you should : 1) Find out which 'flavor' of UNIX you are using at school. 2) Find out if your hardware is listed as 'won't work' with either Linux or FreeBSD. 3) read both faqs. making sure you understand everything. 4) Make your choice, and download it, get someone else to give you a hand on the setup, as you'll prolly need help with the config stuff in /etc. 5) Once it works, forget the root password =) Unless you know what your doing, be careful. Dunno, if that helps on which to use? I personally prefer BSD, after some absolute nightmares with linux and everything being incompatible, (it may be slightly better now). If you're going to use BSD don't use the 'current' source. Steve. -- ,-------------------------------------------------------------, | Stephen Roome | roome@cs.bris.ac.uk | | Bristol, UK. | http://www.cs.bris.ac.uk/~roome/ | '-------------------------------------------------------------'