Re: [TCLUG:22179] freeBSD

[Ben Kochie <ben@nerp.net>]

> Why don't you go to http://www.freebsd.com and have a look.  I for one can
> say that certain things about FreeBSD are far more mature than Linux.
> 
> I will give one point - all binaries in /bin and /sbin are statically
> linked, thus the system will always boot - even without the C libraries.  To
> make such a distribution on Linux is problematic - because it is all based
> upon GNU source code - and some of the binaries from a single package reside
> in both /bin and /usr/bin for instance.  So the same package would have to
> be compiled twice and only the relevent binaries copied.
i think that's more distro dependant.. but i have had very few library
booting problems before, and I'd much rather have /bin/bash dynamicaly
linked to save memory.  I do keep a copy of staticaly linked /bin/ash
around for emergency fixing.  but i rarely have to use it.

> 
> Also, the kernel is organized in a much different manner.  I think the Linux
> kernel source is far easier to read and understand, but it is not as
> efficient as the BSD kernel.  That is changing every day and the two are
> getting closer.
also, last time i checked, the BSD kernel is not support dynamic modules,
if you need to make changes, you will have to recompile the whole thing,
and reboot.

> 
> Linux still supports more hardware - but the gap is nearly closed on that
> one (and out of the box - before kernel patches - FreeBSD may have Linux
> beat).
linux and BSD have been sharing device drivers, and kernel code for a
while now.  linux took from the BSD networking code, improved on it, now
linux has a very fast networkign stack.  BSD has taken many device drivers
from linux, Iomega Zip paralell driver comes to mind.  To me, this is a
good thing, sharing code is what open souce is about.

> 
> If you have UltraDMA storage hardware, you can't beat FreeBSD.  Linux does
> not have the ATA chipset support (with or without hendrick's patches) that
> FreeBSD has.
I'm not sure exactly what you are talking about, from my understanding
FreeBSD has allways had lackluster IDE support.  as far as DMA mode, most
distros leave DMA mode disabled by default for compatability reasons.  a
simple /sbin/hdparm -d 1 /dev/hda turns on DMA support, making things MUCH
faster

> 
> Tom Veldhouse
> veldy@veldy.net
> 
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Chris Opp" <cop7586@hotmail.com>
> To: <tclug-list@mn-linux.org>
> Sent: Thursday, October 05, 2000 8:25 AM
> Subject: [TCLUG:22179] freeBSD
> 
> 
> >
> >
> > Got a quick question-
> >
> > I was at the store last night and I saw freeBSD software being sold. It
> > grabbed my attention so I picked up the box and looked it over. Too my
> > amazement it looks similiar to Linux. How is BSD different from Linux?
> From
> > what I read on the box it didn't look like much. I guess that there is
> > probably more than meets the eye with this, so could someone please
> > elaborate for me? I think it was version 4.4.x or something. It had KDE
> and
> > I think GNOME and many of the same tools and programs as  the popular
> linux
> > distributions.
> >
> >
> > Thanks,
> >
> > Chris Opp
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