Linux - Newbie This Linux forum is for members that are new to Linux.
Just starting out and have a question?
If it is not in the man pages or the how-to's this is the place! |
Notices |
Welcome to LinuxQuestions.org, a friendly and active Linux Community.
You are currently viewing LQ as a guest. By joining our community you will have the ability to post topics, receive our newsletter, use the advanced search, subscribe to threads and access many other special features. Registration is quick, simple and absolutely free. Join our community today!
Note that registered members see fewer ads, and ContentLink is completely disabled once you log in.
Are you new to LinuxQuestions.org? Visit the following links:
Site Howto |
Site FAQ |
Sitemap |
Register Now
If you have any problems with the registration process or your account login, please contact us. If you need to reset your password, click here.
Having a problem logging in? Please visit this page to clear all LQ-related cookies.
Get a virtual cloud desktop with the Linux distro that you want in less than five minutes with Shells! With over 10 pre-installed distros to choose from, the worry-free installation life is here! Whether you are a digital nomad or just looking for flexibility, Shells can put your Linux machine on the device that you want to use.
Exclusive for LQ members, get up to 45% off per month. Click here for more info.
|
 |
03-09-2005, 08:23 PM
|
#1
|
LQ Newbie
Registered: Mar 2005
Posts: 18
Rep:
|
bsd or linux?
i'm a wintroll interested in switching to *nix.
Looking at the link below, it seems to make sense to switch to BSD.
http://people.freebsd.org/~murray/bsd_flier.html
As such, could someone please explain, why people are focusing on linux, if it's closer to wintrolls than unix?
thanks.
|
|
|
03-09-2005, 08:51 PM
|
#2
|
Senior Member
Registered: May 2004
Location: Australia
Distribution: Gentoo
Posts: 3,545
Rep:
|
That is kinda biased towards BSD, okay it's a lot biased. While linux and BSD certainly differ in a huge number of ways, if you're using it as a desktop or maybe a staging server the difference will be minimal to the end-user. That review thing does have some very valid points regarding linux, linux still has wider hardware support than BSD because of the openness in the community. Not all drivers are from the manufacturer or even from a super reliable source, but they exist and work for most devices and if they don't, there's probably some kind of work around so you and your hardware won't miss out.
Neither are even remotely close to Windows, but BSD-ists think they're better because BSD is unix, linux is a hack. Someone wrote something to act like unix but deep down it's not, it's just close enough for me 
|
|
|
03-09-2005, 09:09 PM
|
#3
|
Senior Member
Registered: Nov 2000
Location: Seattle, WA USA
Distribution: Ubuntu @ Home, RHEL @ Work
Posts: 3,892
Rep:
|
That comparision also refers to features that will exist in the Linux 2.4 kernel... which has been out since 1/4/2001... so perhaps it is a touch out of date in some respects?
Both BSD and Linux have there pro's and con's (as does Windows). If you ask a fanatic about any OS they are likely going to tell you there favorite OS is best.
Last edited by jtshaw; 03-09-2005 at 09:10 PM.
|
|
|
03-09-2005, 09:33 PM
|
#4
|
LQ Newbie
Registered: Mar 2005
Posts: 18
Original Poster
Rep:
|
ok.
i couldn't find a review that gave pro's of linux over bsd.
Not in external terms, such as application quantity, or user support, but as an os; in terms of interface,security, stability etc.
Could you please refer me to such a review, or list the pro's.
Thanks.
|
|
|
03-09-2005, 09:52 PM
|
#5
|
Member
Registered: Jun 2004
Location: Germany
Distribution: Debian (testing)
Posts: 276
Rep:
|
I think that out of the box BSD is the most secure OS around, but that does not make it over-all the best. The advantages of Linux (like you said): more applications, more users (so more help), beter documentation.
BSD is great, and if you know what your doing (or are willing to learn) then check it out. Both Linux and BSD are really secure and in the right hands can be almost unbreakable. But, the thing to remember is that security is a process, it is not a state. There will always be exploits, there will always be holes, etc. The trick is to have a platform that can address those problems quickly and efficiently. BSD can. Linux can. So, your in good hands regardless.
|
|
|
03-12-2005, 10:14 PM
|
#6
|
LQ Newbie
Registered: May 2001
Posts: 14
Rep:
|
Linux is more popular than BSD largely because there was a prolonged court case back in the 90's between AT&T and BSD. AT&T claimed that BSD was infringing on its copyrights while conveniently neglecting to mention how it stole some code from BSD. In the end things worked out for BSD, but in the mean time people had been scared away from BSD to linux thus giving linux a boost in popularity.
BSD is perhaps not as user friendly to someone who only knows GUIs, but that is arbitrary as people could make BSD versions more like linux. In fact the Debian project has projects underway to release a Debian distribution with FreeBSD and NetBSD kernals. Perhaps Debian will eventually serve as a gateway for linux user to give BSD a try.
|
|
|
03-12-2005, 10:31 PM
|
#7
|
LQ Guru
Registered: Apr 2003
Location: ~
Distribution: Ubuntu, FreeBSD, Solaris, DSL
Posts: 5,337
Rep:
|
As everybody said, it depends. If you like to play games in Linux, then FreeBSD is very weak in this matter (not that Linux is strong at it either, but better nonetheless). However, if you are going to a server, *BSD is the way to go. It's very stable and secure. OpenBSD for example, had only one remote hole in the default install, in more than 8 years. So that's something to consider when running a server.
NetBSD on the other hand, runs in way more platforms then Linux ever did and most likely, ever will. Just check their page
FreeBSD invites you to the very best documentation I've ever found around. So if you like to read, consider FreeBSD a very easy to use Operating System. Nearly every question/problem I had is on the documentation. Check the documentation for a taste of it  .
FreeBSD also uses a great package management, similar to gentoo's portage, compiling and downloading things from source. But since compiling can be relatively time-consuming, you can also install packages using pkg_add. It install binaries and works similar to Debian's apt.
The only distros I've ever found that comes close to FreeBSD are Slackware, for it's simplicity and similarities to *nix and Gentoo, for it's package management and great documentation.
Give FreeBSD a shot. It's impossible not to like if you liked Slackware. It has the best of both worlds, seriously.
Last edited by Mega Man X; 03-12-2005 at 10:33 PM.
|
|
|
All times are GMT -5. The time now is 08:27 PM.
|
LinuxQuestions.org is looking for people interested in writing
Editorials, Articles, Reviews, and more. If you'd like to contribute
content, let us know.
|
Latest Threads
LQ News
|
|