FreeBSD vs Mac Os X
 

Hi!

Currently I am using both Slackware current and Mac Os X.2 and Mac Os X.3.

I know that Mac Os X was developed based on FreeBSD 4.4 or something like that.

But, what I really want to know is how different it is? I am not talking about User Interface (aqua, etc). I am referring to the system level stuff. Such as bootup process (should be quite diff), bootup scripts. etc.

Am interested of dual booting FreeBSD 5.3 with Slackware-current. I am moving towards stability instead of bleeding age (not that Slackware is that bleeding age).

Thanks for your feedback.

Hi carboncopy, I'm not quite certain what exactly you're asking, but here are some comparisons for you to look at concerning the command line.

http://www.unixguide.net/cgi-bin/unixguide.cgi

http://macosx.org/articles/cli_tutor...itutorial.html

As Far as the slack vs freebsd implications, IMO you'll find slack and freebsd very similar.
good luck.

Well OS X is built around a Mach kernel, which is not FreeBSD at all. Mach was a fork of 4.2BSD (just before the famous 4.3BSD). When Steve Jobs went to NeXT, they used Mach as the kernel for the NeXTSTEP OS and userland from 4.3BSD. When Apple acquired NeXT, they forked the OS (which was OPENSTEP, then Rhapsody) into Darwin and OS X server. OS X (desktop) started from Mach 4 and FreeBSD 3.1. OS 10.2 took infusions from FreeBSD 4.5, and OS 10.3 took in code from FreeBSD 4.8. Tiger (OS 10.4) is taking code from FreeBSD 5.x.

Most of the FreeBSD code is userland utilities, although some kernel modules (such as the TCP/IP stack) in OS X do come from FreeBSD. The main kernel and the init system are from Mach, though.

So any way, on OS X (desktop at least, I don't have experience with the server version) most of the environment exposed via command line is familiar (including the layout of /etc), but everything is not the same. The kernel and init process are quite a bit different. You definitely don't admin OS X from the command line, nearly all of the configuration is via GUI (at least for typical things, like account creation, software installation, etc). That said, since the userland is FreeBSD you can install quite a bit of OSS software if you can get it to build, or if there's a port available via fink or Darwin Ports.

Oh, and if you have waaaaaaaaay too much time on your hands, print this out and tack it up in your cubical like I did: http://www.levenez.com/unix/

Nice overview. Maybe add it to your "Read this" sticky.

Dude -- that's excellent! I don't have cubicle walls (I live in our server room), but I'll find a place for that!