FreeBSD

[xyle_one]

im curious about freeBSD, so curious that i was at compUSA today and saw a pretty little package with 10cds and the freeBSD handbook, and couldnt resist    What have i gotton myself into  :eek:      
i havent installed it yet, ill probably do that tomorrow. i guess what i want to know what the gurus  (is that the right word??)on this site think of freeBSD?? i think i should at least be familiar with it, and the handbook looks like it will do a good job at that.

[preacher]

FreeBSD users are similar to linux users in that they think their OS is better than any other. Go to netcraft top uptime statistics and you will find out why people swear it is the most stable OS. In actuality, FreeBSD is extremely similar to linux. In fact if you are running KDE 3 and Bash, and you know how to compile from source, it will be just like linux. Many linux applications can easily be run on FreeBSD and overall it is an excellent OS. There are problems however. It doesnt support as much hardware as linux does, and is almost only for the x86 architecture. There is a lot less support for FreeBSD as compared to linux, but since things are so similar, a lot of issues can be resolved with general knowledge of *nix operating systems. FreeBSD is an excellent alternative to linux, but Linux is my love.

[cloudstrife]

Ok, i got hooked on linux four years ago.  Last year i switched to freebsd, and that is all that i run now (besides os x, but thats another story   ).  As other people have said, it is just like linux.  In fact, if u have installed Slackware, you have more or less installed FreeBSD cuz they use almost identical installers.  What i like about it is that, like Slack, it is BLAZING FAST!!  It doesnt start all this needless shit like Redhat or mandrake does.
Also, it is SO MOTHERFUCKING EASY to install popular open source shit - you start the program /stand/sysinstall, you go to configure, packages, and then select ftp.  There ya go, now you have THOUSANDS of packages, and all you need to do is select the ones you want, and it downloads and installs them.  Oh yeah, and if you install linux binary compatibility you can run some linux programs on it.

[slave]

FreeBSD is nice but it is not the primary driving force behind Open Source, mainly because it does not  use a copylefted license.  Linux, on the other hand, requires that people release modifications back to the community if they plan to distribute the software, which produces a wonderful effect.  IBM, Sun, et al. can't just hijack linux one day and proprietarize it without releasing their modifications back to the community.  Think about all the GPL licensed software like GNOME and KDE which started on the Linux platform.  Sure, FreeBSD can run all of those programs, being so similar to linux and the programs being free software, but I doubt that GNOME or KDE or the many hundreds of apps for them would exist without Linux and the GPL.  Just my opinion.

[choasforages]

buts that something i like about BSD. for commecial devlopement, i hate to say it, but bsd style license is easyer to work with on both sides. only the stupid and truly greedy will takke a bsd app and complety take it. if not for the factor of lazyness, cuase its easyer to manage a single code base then 2.. but something under the bsd license is truly a gift. but unlike the bsd license, the gpl makes people give the code back in most cases. so its really up to what you think the purpose of of your apps is. if you are writing a replacement for commercial software like openoffice, gimp, or mozilla. the gpl makes more sense. but if you are trying to create a new standerd, X11/BSD all the way. it also depends more on how you think about software. i would personally put almost everything i would write under gpl unless other license prohibit it

[slave]

quote: for commecial devlopement, i hate to say it

You mean proprietary development    
Free software can certainly be used commercially.

[Master of Reality]

the BSD(s) are fast and usually clean on a default install. I havent used them much (used OpenBSD the most tho) and they're supposedly more like UNIX than Linux (at least redhat) is. BSD does some things different than Linux, some things are better and i dont know if much is worse than Linux. Trying it out is the only way to tell if you like it.

[voidmain]

When you take BSD code and proprietize it (is that a made-up word of mine sort of like evildoers?) you are legaly "stealing" the open source code. That is the kind of shit Microsoft does and it's why I prefer the GPL over the BSD/X11 licenses. It does not legally allow people to hide the code from me.

[choasforages]

i know, but the X-window system would not be were it is today with the X11 license. then agian, i would never put aything i write under a license that can't be enforced by bloodthirsty lawyers/*as long as they are working for you, they don't bite too much, but get one with DMCA-titis and they rip you to pieces and leave nothing left    */ or be stolen in anyother way, and turned propriatary.

[TheQuirk]

I got a great idea!

"BelgOS 2004!" Priced at a mere $300 USD, it is one of the most stable operating-systems for the x86 platform. It's powered by a large number or developers, because it's (insert freeBSD or NetBSD here) in binary format, packaged, and with a price tag.

Buy now! A great alternative to open-source and microsoft!

[xyle_one]

well, i now have a mission. my girlfreind wants to turn her old computer into a firewall. and she wants to do this with freeBSD. it should be fun    neither of us are very experienced with unix/linux. i have used it alot more than she, but i am not as proficient as i would like to be. anyways, thanks for the response, i guess it is just a matter of choice  

[Master of Reality]

quote:Originally posted by Xyle: Mac Commando:
well, i now have a mission. my girlfreind wants to turn her old computer into a firewall. and she wants to do this with freeBSD. it should be fun     neither of us are very experienced with unix/linux. i have used it alot more than she, but i am not as proficient as i would like to be. anyways, thanks for the response, i guess it is just a matter of choice    

good luck with that.

[dot.this]

GNU-Darwin can be found here:

http://gnu-darwin.sourceforge.net/

[xyle_one]

quote: Posted by MOR:
good luck with that.

meaning its not going to happen?? or is it seriousely hard or something, and a "noob" like me wont be able to pull it off?? or is it just not possible..

[TheQuirk]

quote:Originally posted by Xyle: Mac Commando:

meaning its not going to happen?? or is it seriousely hard or something, and a "noob" like me wont be able to pull it off?? or is it just not possible..

Meaning "good luck." Heh. Why does she want to use FreeBSD? Why not Windows98? I heared it makes a great firewall. I'm serious about the FreeBSD question, by the way.