Re: Current Gentoo user
-BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE- Hash: RIPEMD160 Grant wrote: > It has recently come to my attention that FreeBSD is "similar" to > Gentoo Linux. I've been a Gentoo user for about 5 years and I love > the concept, but it feels like the project is slowing down. I like to > learn/use/know one OS for server, media system, laptop, router, etc. > How would you compare the two OSes? We use mainly a mixture of FreeBSD and Gentoo at work. Virtually all of the application software you would want to use will work on either system -- the exceptions being certain proprietary bits such as the very latest Flash or management applications for particular RAID controllers. The Unix environment is pretty much the same, although /bin/sh on FreeBSD is not bash -- that you'ld have to install from ports. There are various odd differences in commands but those tend to be the more obscure bits as both systems comply with POSIX.2 Things you'll find different: * Although portage was certainly inspired by ports, it is a very different beast. They fulfil much the same function, but don't get frustrated when you start thinking in the portage way and find that doesn't map onto ports very well. Ports is, to paraphrase Terry Pratchett, intuitively obvious once you've spent enough time learning how it works. * You'll find that the base FreeBSD system being separated from the rest of the installed software seems odd at first. Especially when you start looking under /etc for configuration files that FreeBSD puts under /usr/local/etc. You will quickly come to appreciate that it makes a huge difference in the ease and manageability of maintaining the system. * I tend to find that FreeBSD comes with much better diagnostic and monitoring capabilities built in -- programs like systat and gstat have no direct equivalents, and things like vmstat often seem to be missing from Gentoo boxes, although that is probably just an oversight by the person building the system. * Although either OS will work in either role, Gentoo-ers seem to me principally interested in developing the desktops, whereas FreeBSD-ers think "network server" first of all. Cheers, Matthew - -- Dr Matthew J Seaman MA, D.Phil. Flat 3 7 Priory Courtyard PGP: http://www.infracaninophile.co.uk/pgpkey Ramsgate Kent, CT11 9PW, UK -BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE- Version: GnuPG v2.0.4 (FreeBSD) Comment: Using GnuPG with Mozilla - http://enigmail.mozdev.org iD8DBQFHYPwg3jDkPpsZ+VYRA7pcAKChv1PJ0eHTMcts5YeFMW5bnw0jnACgpdEd 7FoLHWlXviWk+dh+pSUwTNc= =V2b8 -END PGP SIGNATURE- ___ freebsd-advocacy@freebsd.org mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-advocacy To unsubscribe, send any mail to "[EMAIL PROTECTED]"
Re: why BSDs got no love
Charlie Kester wrote: On Tue 15 Dec 2009 at 07:33:49 PST Jan Husar wrote: http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/opensource/?p=1123&tag=nl.e011 Others have pointed out that PC-BSD meets the need expressed in this article. As for FreeBSD itself, the question must be asked: do we WANT to get more love from people who judge an OS by whether or not it has a graphical installer? Heh. It's almost worth implementing a graphical installer just to shut up the constant moaning. While I agree that it is a very basic error to judge by form and appearance rather than by substance, unfortunately much of the rest of the world appears not to agree. As a project, by not having this sort of layer of gloss on what is likely to be the very first thing a new user sees we run the risk of putting off complete neophytes who have no other basis on which to judge the OS, and who could otherwise develop into the next generation of capable users. At the risk of being challenged to produce code (Which, alas, I don't have sufficient skill to do. Or sufficient time.) I'd design an installer as a CLI program that reads in a fairly simple fixed script or language to do the installation work, and have separate Curses and/or X based programs to allow users to create the installation script interactively. I think that would fulfil just about everybodies' requirements, from the people that want a *shiny* graphical interface to people wanting to do automatic unattended installs over serial lines. Of course, this sort of project has been attempted before, and been a complete failure. Cheers, Matthew -- Dr Matthew J Seaman MA, D.Phil. 7 Priory Courtyard Flat 3 PGP: http://www.infracaninophile.co.uk/pgpkey Ramsgate Kent, CT11 9PW signature.asc Description: OpenPGP digital signature
Re: Why Are You Using FreeBSD?
On 31/05/2012 09:58, David Chisnall wrote: > http://wiki.freebsd.org/WhyUseFreeBSD > I am currently looking at updating some of our advocacy material > (which advertises exciting new features like SMP support), and before > I do I'd like to get a better feel for why the rest of you are using > FreeBSD. If you had to list the three things you most like about > FreeBSD, which would you pick? Are they the same as when you first > started using it? Heh. My original reason for ever trying out FreeBSD was that I could install it by downloading only one floppy-disk image. I'll bet that dates me. Anyhow, one point about the ports you don't mention but which I think is a real win, and a real distinguishing feature is the marvellous flexibility it allows. For instance: ever tried to install memcached on various linuxen? When you specifically want memcached-1.4 with the repcached patches? Not easy. It's just an OPTION setting in ports. Easy. I've seen it said by very competent admins that "if you're running software package X as the primary engine of your business then you really should be compiling it yourself from source with your own configuration choices rather than relying on the packages supplied with your distro." Which is quite true. Except, with the ports, you can not only do that, but you don't have to give up on the benefits of using the OS packaging system. Cheers, Matthew -- Dr Matthew J Seaman MA, D.Phil. PGP: http://www.infracaninophile.co.uk/pgpkey signature.asc Description: OpenPGP digital signature
Re: Spreading the word
On 09/09/2012 22:09, Allen Kenner wrote: > Is anyone here aware of any work being done to make it so that > Updating, Patching, and so on, on FreeBSD, becomes as easy as it is > on PC-BSD? Personally I'm VERY biased towards FreeBSD, and I'd switch > to it completely and no longer even bother much with Linux if I could > just get it to where I could do security fixes on Ports without > having to go through such a long process. There is this rather shiny little project: http://wiki.freebsd.org/pkgng I'd call it quietly revolutionary, except that it hasn't been particularly quiet. There's been plenty of discussion in freebsd-ports@ and freebsd-current@ as well as what's linked to from that Wiki page. Cheers, Matthew -- Dr Matthew J Seaman MA, D.Phil. PGP: http://www.infracaninophile.co.uk/pgpkey signature.asc Description: OpenPGP digital signature
Re: About FreeBSD.org visitors
On 06/10/2013 05:01, Erich Dollansky wrote: > this type is called 'design'. As an engineer I do the software behind > an website but I do not dare to make the design. Ok, I tell the > designer, when I think the design could be improved but I do not dare > th change it myself. The trick is to realise that site design is simply another form of engineering, albeint with rather different contexts and constraints than writing software. Writing a website so that the users can interact with it readily, find and understand what they wat, avoid frustration and have a pleasant overall experience is conceptually much the same sort of thing as writing a website so it doesn't hog server resources or continually fail ungracefully or have a badly indexed sub-optimal database schema. Basically you want it to do it's job efficiently and smoothly, whether 'it' is the back-end server code, or the on-screen presentation. Granted, optimizing sites for human interaction is a whole different skill set, but it's not some holy task that only some annointed designer with the mandate of heaven can undertake. Cheers, Matthew -- Dr Matthew J Seaman MA, D.Phil. PGP: http://www.infracaninophile.co.uk/pgpkey signature.asc Description: OpenPGP digital signature
