Andrew L. Gould wrote:
A FreeBSD vs Linux anecdote:
I've read several articles over the years talking about how Linux can
breathe new life into old computers. After the last couple of weeks, I
don't buy it.
After combining the hardware from 2 old computers (circa 1996 and
1998 -- anyone remember ISA cards, serial mice and AT cases?) I went
through the process of finding a good operating system for it. The
computer has a Pentium II 333MHz chip and 384MB RAM; so it's definitely
worth keeping. I was unable to successfully install Fedora Core 4,
SUSE Linux Professional 9.3, or Ubuntu 5.10. I was given the advice to
try old versions of Linux; but how, then, does one deal with
security issues?
FreeBSD 6.0 and NetBSD 3.0 installed without any problems. The onboard
sound chip was dead; so I swapped out the ISA modem for an ISA
sound card, which was supported by both *BSD's. The onboard video is
supported by both XFree86 and xorg. There are 3 PCI slots, so I added
a D-Link Atheros wireless card and a USB2 card to get around most of the
motherboard's limitations. For example, the hard drives connected via
IDE are limited to ~8GB partitions; however, the computer seems to deal
with a 60GB external, USB2 hard drive without problems.
The computer is currently without keyboard, mouse or monitor. I am
adding applications to the computer via ssh while I work. As soon as I
get openbox and tightvnc installed, I'll switch to tightvnc so I can
disconnect without disrupting jobs. (Hmm, I wonder if I'll have to add
a mouse or keyboard at that point.)
Andrew Gould
You probably didn't get past the GUI end of Linux distros. Most
distros are tailored to end users nowadays so you have to grind your way
through the mucky X junk they require to be installed in order to get to
the guts of the distro.
Depending on what you are trying to accomplish though, you should
use whatever tools best fit the job at hand. Me? I hate FreeBSD desktop
use (tried it for 1.5-2 years, but didn't like the means of updating),
so I'm sticking with Gentoo for that purpose.
My server however? It's a lower end Celeron with FreeBSD on it, and
I like it that way because it has just enough tools to share my files
between my 2 PCs via NFS and Samba, as well as it's fairly secure and
doesn't demand a lot of CPU cycles for compiling stuff necessarily like
Gentoo does (even though I schedule it for portupgrade via cron every
once in a while).
For everything else? My iBook serves as my portable link because
Apple makes pretty solid hardware and software, given other hardware
vendors and software makers on the market. It's the perfect mix between
proprietary and non-proprietary/open-source software (available via Fink
and other Cocoa/Carbon developer's sites).
So, is there really one perfect solution? No... if there was then
everyone would use the same thing. Are there good solutions for
particular applications? Yes, and that is why you need to define your
goals and expectations before asking others about what you want to
accomplish.
-Garrett
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