Hello pals.....

After having my thread (whether i should use linux or BSD) answered by u, i have at last planned to go for a BSD distro(i was planning to go for FBSD).But while browsing the net i saw an article on 'why you should use BSD instead of linux',in that it was said that OpenBSD was more secure than FreeBSD.Now again i have confusion,whether i should go for OpenBSD or the other one.I want a true Unix experience and cannot compramise on security. Is FreeBSD that insecure ?I had enquired about FreeBSD an d found that it suits my needs and supports my hardware( atleast i think so).But i have the following doubts about OpenBSD.There are a wide range of programs that are available for FreeBSD, are these programs compatible with OpenBSD ?Does it support all these products ?Does OPBSD support all types of hardware (my config: P III,Mercury 810e FSFx motherboard,onboard sound CMI8738( FBSD supports it), an HP 640c printer and am planning to buy an internal modem also) or is it still in the development stage ?Is OPBSD stable or is it more stable than FBSD ?I want to run Java SDK (ver 1.4) on the new distro.Does OPBSD support java ?I have heard that FBSD is often used as a web server and that it makes a good desktop also.Does OBSD make a good desktop ?I am an engg student in Computer science and engg.Which distro will fulfill my needs (I do a bit of programming and all that stuff ) best ? FBSD supports linux binaries ,does the same apply for OPBSD.Is there a package manager for OPBSD(i am a linux user and a package manager makes the work lot easy ;-) ).Does it support rpm's ?Is there any differences in the commands used by linux and BSD's in general ? Which distro has least bugs , is updated regularly and also is well documented ?I want to utilise my PC to its maximum level and have the full control..So kindly clarify my doubts.Thanx in advance.

So your curious about the security differences between open and freebsd. I will start by saying that freebsd is not what is insecure, but the services that one might run on it that are subject to holes. Openbsd has the track record of not having a remote exploit since its release, however that doesn't mean it hasn't seen it's share of DOS attacks and Local Exploits. Having used both freebsd and openbsd in various situations, I have found that openbsd makes for a good firewall that you can get up and running in under an hour. Freebsd however, If you take the time and know what you want out of it can provide you More than openbsd. Openbsd is secure because it's lean by default, it does not have a Lot of the software that you could install right off to bat with fbsd. After a long relationship with the bsd's in general, my heart belongs to FreeBSD. I like the documentation for their project. I like the stability and maturity of their OS. I enjoy the ease of upgrades. As for openbsd, its a stout little OS that I use when I want to stone wall a network. It has not satisfied me on the Desktop as Freebsd has. If you want to use your computer to Its maximum level, you will be more restricted on things you can experiment with on openbsd. Where as freebsd you are given enough rope that should you want to, you could very well hang yourself or the system

The choice is yours. But I may be picking favorites due to the fact that during the time that most people go out and learn open source un*x through linux, I found it much easyer to learn FreeBSD.

They are both very similar. Same back ground.
if there is a port of a prog to fbsd odds are someone has ported it to obsd. OBSD has a team that audits the code for the OS, looking for security flaws to fix. I don't know if there is another OS that does that. Because they go through each line it is very time consuming, so they keep the OS small but complete.

All the prts to fbsd are avvailable to obsd but not included cuz they don't undergo the security audit. ports and pacakge info is available at the obsd port & package site.

as for rpm's the non proprietal package management commands are:
pkg_add
pkg_delete
pkg_info
pkg_create
strange and hard to decipher, but inline with the UNIX K.I.S.S. philosophy...

obsd is available for 11 platforms with 11 more that would be easy to port to.
fbsd, 2 or 3.

while you can use the pkg_<command> to manage fbsd they also have a nice menu driven tool. Which is also the installer. To run it from in fbsd:
/stand/sysinstall

obsd ( no such luck. command line only install etc...

but if you want a *N*X base with a great GUI to hide it try
Mac OS X

hay satansfurry: Maybe the universe is actually light based, and there is a complex of tiny misunderstood black holes sucking all the light to it. A complex of black holes so vast the universe seems almost entirely dark. Wherein the stars we do see are actually a rare phenomenon called white holes. Welcome to the wrong side of the event horizon...Why do we pitiful humans get everything backwards? he thinks with a tear in eye as he clicks his intellimouse and windows prompts him to restart.

Soory just being contrary

OpenBSD is more secure, and have a nice little distribution
with apache+mod_ssl, ssl, sshd, sendmail, pop3, pf (a powerful packet filter), sudo, dhcpd, etc, just out-of-the box.
It's very stable and perfect to build Firewalls or small server
(with single processor), not requiring many more applications.
His ports tree is limited (~1200 apps) and not so frequent updated. Using packages (rpm like files), its quick to install
a full working machine. And has a superb documentation (man and FAQ).

FreeBSD is more complete. His port tree have many more applications (+6800 apps), and is updated more frequent than any Linux distros. The raw installation is "nude" , and new ports must frequently build from source, so you have a lengthy installation.
FreeBSD can use Multi-CPUs, and is perfect for full-featured high performance servers.
It can run Java 1.4 (linux) or 1.1.8 (native FreeBSD).

I really prefer OpenBSD for firewalls and FreeBSD for internal servers.

Comparing to Linux distros, OpenBSD is like Trustix, FreeBSD is like Debian or Slackware.

(Don't flame me, folks! I know what is kernel and distros differences. It's just a sample to newbies...)

Do like I did and Install both
All in all I have 6 OS's installed on 1 computer with 400GB of HDD space

So what vulnerabilities hit FreeBSD that OpenBSD missed?

How about the latest Sendmail root-level, for starters? IIRC, OpenBSD's branch of Sendmail was patched long ago under the pretense that while it might not happen, it was a good idea to fix it anyway. Turns out it did happen and OBSD came out clean.

how can i get a copy of freebsd?

is it free? or...?

www.freebsd.org

and its free. Same with openbsd.

We're even, I have 6 os's installed also on a 40 gb drive!

Win98, Winxp, Debian Sid, Slack 9.0, JAMD and Freebsd 4.7...

Gotta love it.

lolz, cool, thanks

What boot manager do you guys/gals use with 6 OS's?

Steve

grub grub grub