FreeBSD: a Victim of Isolation and Linux's Hype?

[ThePreacher]

Dont get me wrong, I am by no means an enemy of FreeBSD, but it just wasnt what I needed in an OS. Of course at least I made the effort to try it out. By the way thanks Jabberwocky for the heads up on the dhcp thing.

[instronics]

Also thank you preacher for you reply on my question. I will still give it a try (just curious to see it). Also when it comes to security i want to see the difference to linux. I hear that bsd uses something called "ipfilters" instead of iptables. Thats something i want to look into. So far i am very happy with iptables, so ipfilter will have to surprise me a great deal for me to switch away from iptables. Any comments on that?

Cheers

[slarty]

I agree largely - FreeBSD has a reputation for reliability and security, but unfortunately it doesn't have Linux's hardware support, commercial applications or feature support.

I can't see any chance of these things catching up really. Commercial software houses are entirely ignoring it (except, curiously, Microsoft), its support for *some* hardware is patchy (I understand) and the newer high-performance features that Linux is beginning to get are a long way off yet.

I see it as something that is used in firewall appliances and little else - a niche where it is deemed to be excellent

[blackmask]

Hi all, thanx for the replies.
BTW i hear ppl here telling that FreeBSD lacks applications.Actually FreeBSD supports more applications than linux.It has its own native ports + linux emulation support.Some applications that are made for linux run better on FreeBSD.I agree that FreeBSD didn't catch up...with linux only bcoz it was in court over the UNIX trademark problem with AT & T.And that's when linux appeared and became the "first open source OS".I am not against linux.I too love it coz it could compete with M$.Beastie is a lap behind linux now...may be some time in future it will cross the penguin in the race.

ThePreacher : Which version did you try ?You can install X by choosing X-Developer or X-user package at install time.It also asks for the WM you want to install after you configure X( atleast in 4.7).

[Guus]

I'm using freebsd for about half a year now (practically no experience with Linux) and I'm liking it. Main reason was that I couldn't get my DSL-modem running under either Debian or RedHat - I installed it in FreeBSD and it worked like a charm.

Right now, I'm using it only in console mode to run some servers and services (natd, ftpd, ut, ssh, apache). Works for me.

[slarty]

BTW i hear ppl here telling that FreeBSD lacks applications.Actually FreeBSD supports more applications than linux.

You probably mean non-commercial apps. I mean commercial ones.

It is often necessary to run some commercial software. I use (for example): Macromedia Flash Plugin, Opera and Sun JDK. These applications in some cases have no equivalent open source versions.

Although some can be run for FreeBSD using Linux compatibilty layers, the companies who make them do not support this configuration hence it may not work. As they are closed-source apps, there is nothing much you can do if they fail.

(note: Yes, I realise Opera actually is available for FreeBSD)

[cross]

My roomie and I are putting FreeBSD on our 4th box. It will be our 2nd *nix box. The other *nix is Mandrake linux, which so far is OK. Our experiance with *nix is limited, however we are very quick to learn! I will let you all know about my experiance installing/using FreeBSD.

[sweet_angel]

My freeBSD working like champ..

It is often necessary to run some commercial software. I use (for example): Macromedia Flash Plugin, Opera and Sun JDK. These applications in some cases have no equivalent open source versions.

I have macromedia flash plugin (for my Netscape communicator) installed on my FreeBSD, you can install it from /usr/ports/www or you can use Linux binary to install it if you already install Linux support for FreeBSD and I have flash plugin installed for my mozilla (you will find flashplugin-mozilla under /usr/ports/www too). I have Sun jdk 1.3 running installed from Sun.
And yupe Opera now available for freeBSD.

Cheerss

[cheesegoduk]

I have just downloaded Freebsd5 Disk 1, and I am continuing to get the rest, I am looking forward to trying them out, although it will probally be through vmware first though.

[ThePreacher]

Originally posted here by blackmask

ThePreacher : Which version did you try ?You can install X by choosing X-Developer or X-user package at install time.It also asks for the WM you want to install after you configure X( atleast in 4.7).

I used 4.7 as well and had no trouble getting X installed, and I was able to get twm, blackbox, gnome and sawfish installed, but I just couldnt figure out how to select the default window manager during the install. Keep in mind this was the first time I ever installed FreeBSD so I might have missed this. I wanted the default window manager to be blackbox, but it defaulted to twm.