Return to BSD News archive
Path: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au!newshost.carno.net.au!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!nntp.coast.net!swidir.switch.ch!swsbe6.switch.ch!scsing.switch.ch!news.bme.hu!news.westel900.net!www.nntp.primenet.com!nntp.primenet.com!news.maxwell.syr.edu!news.bc.net!nntp.portal.ca!cynic.portal.ca!not-for-mail From: cjs@cynic.portal.ca (Curt Sampson) Newsgroups: comp.os.linux.misc,comp.unix.bsd.misc Subject: Re: Linux vs BSD Date: 12 Feb 1997 12:40:21 -0800 Organization: Internet Portal Services, Inc. Lines: 48 Message-ID: <5dt9rl$giu@cynic.portal.ca> References: <32DFFEAB.7704@usa.net> <E5G0z9.9Kz@bigbird.telly.org> <5dqmk2$oj2@cynic.portal.ca> <E5I2uL.M7t@bigbird.telly.org> NNTP-Posting-Host: cynic.portal.ca Xref: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au comp.os.linux.misc:158610 comp.unix.bsd.misc:2510 In article <E5I2uL.M7t@bigbird.telly.org>, Evan Leibovitch <evan@bigbird.telly.org> wrote: >I consider MS-DOS, CP/M and TRSDOS operating systems. Each is more than >a kernel, yet each lacks many things that SCO Unix and NetBSD contain; >windowing systems, networking, administration tools, text formatters, >deferred exceution tools such as cron, on-line documentation and other >assorted non-essential stuff. Yet, all are referred to as "operating >systems" (two of them even have "OS" in their names). Funny, they don't seem to lack some of the most basic things that I would consider part of the NetBSD or GNU/Linux `operating systems.' I consider /sbin/init, /bin/sh, /bin/cp, and various other utilities an essential part of a Unix-like operating system. Just like the command processor and PIP are part of the CP/M operating system. >But this >does not change the fact that there exist operating systems without >(for instance) GUIs or networking. Therefore, any OS with a bundled >GUI and networking is indeed "something more than" an operating system. > >What do I call SCO Unix and NetBSD? > >Products. In Linux lingo, distributions. > >They (together with Linux and HP-UX and NT etc.) are all amalgams of >operating systems, documentation, graphics networking, compilers, >and assorted other flotsum. NetBSD comes with no GUI. The `base' distribution comes with no compiler or documentation. The argument that networking is an `extra' today is in my mind right up there with the argument that support for disk storage is an `extra.' When was the last time you saw a machine with only tape for storage? >>As long as the rest of the world calls Microsoft Windows an `operating >>system,' rather than an `operating system with a set of associated >>utilities' > >You chose the worst possible example to make your point. Fine. Substitute Windows 95 or Windows NT. cjs -- Curt Sampson cjs@portal.ca Info at http://www.portal.ca/ Internet Portal Services, Inc. Through infinite myst, software reverberates Vancouver, BC (604) 257-9400 In code possess'd of invisible folly.