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

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February 1st, 2003, 03:10 PM
blackmask

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

Hi,

http://www.osnews.com/story.php?news_id=2650

Linux has really pushed FreeBSD into darkness :( .Now every one is going for Linux....and some even don't know that a good and rock solid unix called FreeBSD exists.FreeBSD also makes good desktops....besides servers.Today if its not M$ then its Linux.To all those who are going for linux....this is my request that you try out FreeBSD too.I won't say that you should not go for Linux...but just gove a try to FreeBSD too.Soem say that installing FreeBSD is like hell.I don't think so...all u have to do is to just read the handbook.hope some of you try out FreeBSD.For more info on FreeBSD visit http://www.freebsd.org

:)

This is only a personal opinion...i don't intend to hurt any one.
February 1st, 2003, 08:06 PM
instronics

You have got a point there. I am using linux so far, but i have got my freebsd discs somewhere in here.....im just waiting to get my new box ready so i can install it. I always have wanted to try it. I dont expect to find any major difference to linux, so it will be fun to see. I will let everyone know my opinion on it once i get it setup and running.

Maybe one reason that people already using linux stick with it is because they are very satisfied with it. People who are on MS, and want to switch to another OS will take any other OS available.... :p j/k on that last remark. Anyways..... i know people who do use freebsd, and they all say it rocks.

:)
February 1st, 2003, 10:07 PM
lockejr

I'm in the same boat as instronics. just waiting to get my second box running. I have slackware on my main box and I love it. But my buddy keeps preaching to me about freebsd so i figured I'll try it out.
February 1st, 2003, 10:08 PM
ThePreacher

First of all let me tell any linux users attempting to try FreeBSD, that once installed, they are extremely similar. My main gripe was with the install itself. It was a text based install, this did not bother me as I have installed slackware before several times. However, its installer is much more difficult than the slackware installer to use. For instance I couldnt find anywhere in the install to set up dhcp. Yes there was a network configuration part, but I did not see anything about dhcp there. I probably just missed it, but after searching frustratedly for a few minutes, it really irritated me. Then another annoying thing was that at no point during the install did it ask which window manager to use in X. I intended on using BlackBox, however, it defaulted to twm and I had to manually change this after the install. I believe that if I had never used linux first, FreeBSD's install would have been too much for me to handle. Once everything was installed and configured, FreeBSD was rock solid and worked quite well. One thing I really enjoy about FreeBSD over linux is that it boots much faster. After using freeBSD I chose to stick with linux though.
February 1st, 2003, 10:36 PM
thread_killer

Interesting bit of info preacher......I just burned the FreeBSD .iso's the other day but haven't had a chance to try them out. Thanks for the heads up.
February 1st, 2003, 10:54 PM
instronics

The Preacher.....

Quote:

After using freeBSD I chose to stick with linux though.

Just curious, but why?
February 2nd, 2003, 10:11 PM
ThePreacher

Quote:

Originally posted here by instronics
The Preacher.....

Just curious, but why?

There are a number of reasons. The current distros of linux have a lot more support for cutting edge hardware than freeBSD. Also linux has a large number of applications that make general tasks much easier. When it comes down to it though, FreeBSD just isnt enough of an improvement to justify a switch. It looks and performs nearly identically to linux so sticking with linux was just fine.
February 2nd, 2003, 10:40 PM
g00n

My *nix education started with FreeBSD 2.5, and i've installed in a couple times since then. Unless the 5.0 series has great advances in simplicity in the installer that is what i would say it's weakest point is. You really need to know what you are doing when you install FreeBSD or you will get confused and/or damage your existing system (if you are trying to dualboot).

However, once it is installed correctly and you have gone through the steps of configuring and installing X11 and gotten everything you need working that you will use. FreeBSD is a very very stable and powerful operating system. The users of Jaguar should know this, since their crap gui basically sits ontop of it.

Personally i'd rank the power of well known OS's with FreeBSD at the top, linux in the middle, and windows on the bottom, but for installation process and usability i'd reverse that list. FreeBSD is not a good beginners OS, But if you are familiar with linux and know the differences between linux and the BSD OS family, and want somthing strong and stable FreeBSD is the way you should go.

But, who am i? a lowly 30 somthin post lurker that nobody here knows, so... take this for what it is, my opinions. ;)
February 3rd, 2003, 04:34 AM
phaza7

i agree with black mask
freebsd has been push in the darkness but will come to the light
sooner or later.

But thats why I chose 2 go with FreeBSD on my new box.
February 3rd, 2003, 04:41 AM
Jabberwocky

i started out with freebsd also and switched over to linux on my main box about a year ago. i recently put 5.0 on my second machine but it's at home right now so i won't get to play with it until the semester is over. from what i remember about the 4.4 version, the installs were almost identical except for the gui. oh and you can't configure dhcp during the normal or express install, you have to do it in the expert install or afterwards with /stand/sysinstall. (in 4.4 at least)

i agree that it's a little clunky and needs some more apps to be used as a steady desktop system, but you can't beat it for servers of almost any type.
February 3rd, 2003, 10:39 AM
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.
February 3rd, 2003, 11:21 AM
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 :)
February 3rd, 2003, 12:36 PM
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
February 3rd, 2003, 02:41 PM
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).
February 3rd, 2003, 04:22 PM
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.
February 3rd, 2003, 05:05 PM
slarty

Quote:

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)
February 3rd, 2003, 08:14 PM
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.
February 3rd, 2003, 09:17 PM
sweet_angel

My freeBSD working like champ..

Quote:

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
February 3rd, 2003, 11:23 PM
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.
February 4th, 2003, 10:21 AM
ThePreacher

Quote:

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.
February 4th, 2003, 11:38 AM
sweet_angel

Quote:

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.

1.Do you have XDM(login manager) running on your FreeBSD or not?

If not if you wanna use blackbox as your desktop you can do this :

-go to your shell and then type :
# echo "/usr/X11R6/bin/blackbox-session" > ~/.xinitrc and then reboot if this command not working try to changed "blackbox-session" with "blackbox"
February 4th, 2003, 02:45 PM
blackmask

Yeah..blackbox dosen't appear to be in the list of the X wm's.It has to be installed from the ports.I too use blackbox and i love it.I agree with sweet_angel on the flash plugin matter.It can be installed from the ports.The area in which FreeBSD still lacks is threads and java support.But it has been included in 5.0.I think it should solve the problem and maybe sun will release a native java port for FreeBSD too.Here is a link for all those who don't know what BSD is.Just follow the links on the page.

http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO...bsd/index.html

And here is a comparision btw linux and BSD.

http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO...g-bsd/x91.html

To boot blackbox just add blackbox to the end of your .xinitrc file.All others like bbkeys etc should be at the top portion and start it in background.

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