FreeBSD Quickstart Guide for Linux Users
freebsd.org
FreeBSD Quickstart Guide for Linux Users
1–10 of 45 posts
Re: FreeBSD Quickstart Guide for Linux Users
#2Heh,
You know Linux has been getting soft and Gooey around the edges when there are Unix manuals for Linux users :-)
When I went from Slackware to FreeBSD in 1998, the only document you needed was INSTALL and the hardware compatibility list. In fact, FreeBSD was more posh than slack, it had a curses install and came with a luxurious handbook.
Speaking of which, I absolutely don't miss the days of taking a list of supported devices to the computer shop, and reading the fine print on boxes looking for chipset specs and firmware versions.
Re: FreeBSD Quickstart Guide for Linux Users
#3Great guide. It tells me how. Is there a similar document that tells me why?
The main thing I can think of is kqueue, but I'd love to see a list of all the features BSD gives me but linux doesn't (and vice versa).
Re: FreeBSD Quickstart Guide for Linux Users
#4Great guide. It tells me how. Is there a similar document that tells me why? The main thing I can think of is kqueue, but I'd love to see a list of all the features BSD gives me but linux doesn't (and vice versa).
Relevant previous discussion: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1569559
Re: FreeBSD Quickstart Guide for Linux Users
#5Considering the high-quality and availability of Linux distributions these days, what are some of the advantages of using FreeBSD over Linux? More specifically, are there any competitive advantages that could be obtained from using FreeBSD over Linux that would outweigh the costs of deviating from the Linux standard on web servers?
Re: FreeBSD Quickstart Guide for Linux Users
#6Considering the high-quality and availability of Linux distributions these days, what are some of the advantages of using FreeBSD over Linux? More specifically, are there any competitive advantages that could be obtained from using FreeBSD over Linux that would outweigh the costs of deviating from the Linux standard on web servers?
If you have to ask that question and you're running web servers the BSD's are probably not right for you.
OS choice mainly comes down to preferences, some people like the way the BSD's do things, and some don't. There are some features that Linux has that the BSD's don't and vica-versa (like ZFS support on FreeBSD). But it's probably not going to matter on a web server.
Re: FreeBSD Quickstart Guide for Linux Users
#7Considering the high-quality and availability of Linux distributions these days, what are some of the advantages of using FreeBSD over Linux? More specifically, are there any competitive advantages that could be obtained from using FreeBSD over Linux that would outweigh the costs of deviating from the Linux standard on web servers?
If you have to ask that question and you're running web servers the BSD's are probably not right for you. OS choice mainly comes down to preferences, some people like the way the BSD's do things, and some don't. There are some features that Linux has that the BSD's don't and vica-versa (like ZFS support on FreeBSD). But it's probably not going to matter on a web server.
Very true. At work, our sysadmin prefers Solaris so everything we run here is Solaris-based. I actually prefer Ubuntu Server for my personal projects since I prefer its Apache structure and easier package management. In the end, the results are the same.
Re: FreeBSD Quickstart Guide for Linux Users
#8Considering the high-quality and availability of Linux distributions these days, what are some of the advantages of using FreeBSD over Linux? More specifically, are there any competitive advantages that could be obtained from using FreeBSD over Linux that would outweigh the costs of deviating from the Linux standard on web servers?
At least for servers, FreeBSD is more polished than mainstream Linux (RedHat, Debian, and ancestors), if you ask me. The ports system keeps far more up to date than the typical Linux packaging system and the releases seem to be on a somewhat sane schedule. Of course, Linux is sort of this amalgamation of the kernel and whatever distribution you choose, so the ecosystem is fragmented and lacks the centralized command-and-control that FreeBSD has.
However, I still recommend and use Linux, mainly for support reasons. 7-8 years ago it was more of a toss-up as far as support, because Linux was far less established. These days it's a different ballgame. All the reasons to prefer FreeBSD (network & VM performance, stability, security, etc) are no longer clear advantages when compared to contemporary Linux. You are correct in your assertion that there simply isn't enough benefit to using FreeBSD to weigh out the lack of support both from a community and a hardware perspective.
Also, the Gentoo crowd seems to be similar, at least in spirit, to the FreeBSD folks. While they don't have the same deep integration of kernel & environment, they do have the same values when it comes to clean aesthetics and keeping up-to-date with packaged software.
Re: FreeBSD Quickstart Guide for Linux Users
#9Great guide. It tells me how. Is there a similar document that tells me why? The main thing I can think of is kqueue, but I'd love to see a list of all the features BSD gives me but linux doesn't (and vice versa).
One big reason should be ZFS.
And the ports. I love ports.
Re: FreeBSD Quickstart Guide for Linux Users
#10Great guide. It tells me how. Is there a similar document that tells me why? The main thing I can think of is kqueue, but I'd love to see a list of all the features BSD gives me but linux doesn't (and vice versa).
One big reason should be ZFS. And the ports. I love ports.
How do BSD ports differ from apt/yum?