That's great that you ordered the handbook, it helps support the project. You will also find the handbook in /usr/share/doc and it will be more current. It gets updated (when they make changes) when you do a cvsup.
I knew it was available online, but didn't knew it was in /usr/share/doc tho. I'm glad to help them out a little. Anyway, I hope I will like it. I'd like to run it on my server, but I use my server to do so many things, it'll take a while before I get enough familiar with freebsd to switch. I'll start by just setting up a desktop and we'll see.
What got me interested in freeBSD is it's Port system and it's easy config files (that I'm told).
Yanik
]]>Linux -> FreeBSD (by curiosity, not for the kernel, but for userland and documentation consistency)
Debian (after it gets a new STABLE out, because of the new installer)
FreeBSD 5.x and Linux -> NetBSD 2.0 (because of the rumors that NetBSD 2.0 has a comparable performance with Linux and DragonflyBSD, better than FreeBSD 5.x on non-SMP machines while being more mature than DragonflyBSD and still having that BSD consistency appeal that is hard to find among Linux distros)
DragonflyBSD (when a STABLE gets out)
OpenBSD and Gentoo should get the same levels of curiosity they receive now, there aren't any ground-breaking news here, I think.
I'm not saying that people will move into these directions, only that people seem to be willing to try them out.
Personally I think NetBSD 2.0 will be the great achiever of new fans over the next year. Mature, fast, small, well documented, there's more to NetBSD than just portability
(let us hope they get NVidia drivers as well )
At least until Dragonfly achieve it's moment.
EDIT: http://bsd.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid … d=10745990
The rumors about NetBSD 2.0 vs FreeBSD 5.x performance.
Bruno
]]>Is BSD becoming a trend?! Seems everyone is trying out the new freebsd.
Well I don't know wether it has to do with a trend or something. But basically it's probably because everyone who is into GNU/Linux, is going to hear about *BSD sometime and that makes it kinda interesting and Average-Linux-User maybe thinks "well, sounds cool"...
I had it (FreeBSD) installed for a few months this year and I was totally impressed. That's totally subjective, but I had the impression, that its design, documentation and stability were perfect. The only problems I had were, because I thought I could mess around with the Vinum Volume Manager without reading through the whole documentation :oops:.
So, if I needed a server OS or a standard desktop for doing some desktop and programming work and the like, I would use FreeBSD.
The only reason I switched (and fortunately found *the* linux distribution ), was because of the fact, that I have fairly exotic sound hardware that I want to use. (plus jack didn't run on FreeBSD, back then)
Okay, I'm not an expert, I'm just a desktop user and wanted to present my views on FreeBSD...
]]>As for whether it's becoming a trend, I suspect that it is. It seems that geeks go through phases, it's like, Oh, everyone does Linux, let me be different. I'm sure that part of the reason I lost interest in Gentoo was because everyone was into it after awhile.
I remember when we used LInux for what we could, then kept MS for real work. Then, Linux desktop support improved, and we began using it for most things, at that time, I had FreeBSD but was still doing most of the desktop stuff with Linux. Then, FreeBSD's desktop improves, and we have NetBSD and keep FreeBSD for desktop, etc etc.
]]>Yanik
]]>Snickering away here.
Actually, the whole line about people who do x know how to do y made me think of a line on the firefox help site, that I thought might insult MS users. It goes into detail about how to create a directory and then for Linux says, "If you're using Linux, I assume you know how to create a directory."
As far as it goes though, each operating system, (and each distribution) has its own way of doing things. I happen to know about Free and Net BSD as well as ArchLinux, and how to update them, but there are all sorts of distros that I don't know how to update. Each distribution (and O/S) has a little learning curve--I used to know all the fancy switches for RPM, but having not used RH in a couple of years, I've forgotten them.
]]>Cactus, I wonder if you're seeing things that weren't there
hmm...mayhaps. If this is the case, I apologize for my ranting.
Had a bad weekend (pipe broke in the house), so my fuse is short. Still, no excuse for me not being civil. Please accept my apology.
If, on the other hand, it was meant as a sidehanded affront..then. :evil:
No diving..everyone out of the pool.
]]>Anyway, as far as OpenBSD goes, Theo and his merry persons audit all code. Now, I don't know how closely they audit their ports' code as well, I'm not an expert on OpenBSD. (Not that I'm an expert on Free, either, but I use it at home and work).
At any rate, it is designed with security as its first goal. I've only installed it once or twice--at home, I have an LCD monitor, and when trying to partition the disk, I have to guess as things go off the screen.
Anyway, I like the BSDs but one can, of course, dig up all sorts of technical reasons to support what is, in the end, an emotional decision.
]]>1 ?
It is really hard for a kernel to have a remote exploit.
Apps running on top of the kernel...definately.
The only remote one I can think of is the tcp/ip stack vulnerability, but that wasn't an exploit. It had to do with guessing the sequence number, so it was more of a problem for apps that needed to ensure that packets were actually coming from the right host, in the proper sequence.Seriously, I could care less who runs openbsd and who doesn't. Don't even try convincing me of anything, because my mind is made up, and I have support to back it up. I truly hope you success in running any bsd that you choose. All have their strong points, and weakpoints.
And I don't appreciate the underhanded negative comment just because I have a different opinion.a person that runs OpenBSD on any computer tends to be a person that knows how to update his (or hers) system when something serious comes up.
This is an attempt to make it seem like I don't know anything about updating. Please keep snide comments to yourself. And grow up. I could care less about getting into a dick measuring contest over the merits of one operating system over another.
I didn't mean to be rude or anything
]]>Seriously, I could care less who runs openbsd and who doesn't. Don't even try convincing me of anything, because my mind is made up, and I have support to back it up. I truly hope you success in running any bsd that you choose. All have their strong points, and weakpoints.
And I don't appreciate the underhanded negative comment just because I have a different opinion.
a person that runs OpenBSD on any computer tends to be a person that knows how to update his (or hers) system when something serious comes up.
This is an attempt to make it seem like I don't know anything about updating. Please keep snide comments to yourself. And grow up. I could care less about getting into a dick measuring contest over the merits of one operating system over another.
]]>on the other hand - how many remote exploits has the linux kernel run into the latest 2-3 years?
]]>Only 3 remote exploits in 5 years in the base install. I think that is how they gauge it. I know it is more than 1, but might only be 2 now..
are you talking about OpenBSD or FreeBSD?
]]>FreeBSD is probably the easiest to use for starters, the most intuitive installer, largest collection of packages and such---NetBSD is actually somewhat slower, especially out of the box. It's a bit more primitive.
The BSDs are source based, so building packages like X and such can take awhile. The base install, however, is rather quick.
One tihng it has going for it is superior documentation--as Dru pointed out in her article, compare the two man pages.
I'm going to modestly point to a FreeBSD page of mine, http://home.nyc.rr.com/computertaijutsu/FreeBSD53.html which gives some tips for Linux users towards the bottom.
(I also have a page on NetBSD, but it's more or less written for the FreeBSD user, and is dated, as NetBSD is up to 2.0-RC something and some things have changed.)
As Greg Lehey, author of the Complete FreeBSD wrote on some list or another, each BSD's slogan gives you an idea--FreeBSD's is the power to serve, it's probably best designed for speed and power, NetBSD's is Of course it runs NetBSD, it will run on almost anything, and OpenBSD's is something like Only one security hole in 5 years or whatever, it is known as the most secure out of the box.
Good luck with it. You should enjoy using it. The differences aren't as horrendous as you might think.
]]>