8/4     Why do people on the motd cap on Linux? Is FreeBSD so much better?
        I just tried to install FreeBSD on a machine, and in some
        places I could barely tell WTF the installer was doing. After
        I got it running, it seemed much less user friendly. I'll
        admit my experience is limited, but setting up my Linux machine
        was a breeze and getting Linux info on line is a snap. I didn't
        really see anything in FreeBSD that wasn't available to me on
        Linux either, esp. since FreeBSD seems to rely on Linux Binary
        Emulation for a lot of stuff.
        \_ Because now that Linux is the "in thing", all the rebels don't
           get a woody from yelling about it any more, so they pick the
           next "outcast" in line to defend
           \_ That's what I thought.
        \_ FreeBSD is known for stability when stressed.
           \_ I've seen the stats for the network stack and yes FreeBSD
              is better than Linux, but for a home firewall connected to
              my DSL line, I don't need all of those capabilities. I'm not
              running <DEAD>cdrom.com<DEAD> or yahoo.
              \_ This is what you get when you say "Is X better."  Is FreeBSD
                 a better desktop Win98-replacement GUI desktop for running
                 all of those precompiled commercial apps you love?  Of
                \-what stats are these? --psb
              \_ This is what you get when you say "Is X better than Y?"
                 Is FreeBSD a better desktop Win98-replacement GUI desktop for
                 running all of those precompiled commercial apps you love?  Of
                 course not.  --dbushong
        \_ openBSD 2.6 and above have really good installers.  I installed
           2.7 + X in the time from the powell street to berkeley bart stations
           on a dell inspiron.  Linux has better driver support (at least it
           has cardbus).  I've noticed that openBSD is useful on old systems
           since I can run windowmaker on a P133 (whereas when I ran fvwm on it
           the machine ran dog slow) reasonably.  Linux does have better sound
           and has a much better camraderie. - paolo
           \_ I really like the way OpenBSD keeps the source for the entire
              system in /usr/src and you can rebuild the whole thing with just
              "make build".
              \_ I may be mistaken, but aren't all open-source *BSDs like
                 that?
                 \_ Yes, but for FreeBSD it would be "make buildworld"
                        \_ except for FreeBSD it would be "oh shit I've
                           gotta reformat because I let myself get two
                           revisions behind".  OpenBSD almost certainly
                           has the same problem.
           \_ Is it similar to the RH 6.x installer? I found the FreeBSD
              installer to be pretty confusing. No, I am not a newbie, I've
              installed *BSD's before, but mainly NetBSD.  I was attracted to
              OpenBSD because of the security features, but the state of Java
              on OpenBSD seems to be pretty bad. I have a set of servlets that
              I run at home and I would prefer not to have to rewrite them in
              Perl.
              \_ NO there is no X graphics, it's all SANE step by step
                 text based instructions. (Think Slackware) you just need
                 to get used to diskedit which shows things in 512K blocks
                  not 1024.  If you're going to use linux, then dear God,
                 use Debian (especially if you're a business) for their
                 almost-cronable upgrades. BTW:  I don't recommend
                 freeBSD for laptops since there's no cardbus support
                 That being said, I don't really recommend freebsd at all
                 either go with openbsd or go with linux/windows if you must
                 put openbsd on your firewall and portforward http[s] - paolo
                 \_ How is OpenBSD berter than FreeBSD?  OpenBSD lacks
                    significant performance features (like SMP) and provides
                \_ we all know how much experience paolo has in this area.
        \_ These were the type of responses I was looking for. Thanks for
           all of the sanity. Sometimes the motd can be very hostile.
                                                             \_ I love you! :D
                                                                        -yermom
        \_ And as we all know, ease of use is the sum of an operating
           system's value.  Why aren't you using a Mac?
           \_ My day to day computer is a PB G3 2000. My main desktop
              is a SMP LinuxPPC box. I was looking at replacing my Linux
              2.0.36 firewall box with a *BSD box.
        \_ Use what work better for -you-. I have heard many success stories
           about BSD. Good for them. But even if it is better than Linux,
           Linux does well what I need it to do and I see tripple
           digit uptimes on our production Linux boxes, so I am mostly happy
           with it.
           \_ BSD's stability is a myth.  Look at soda uptimes.
                    nothing more than a false sense of security.
                 \_ I'm more interested in the SANE step by step installer
                    than anything else. The RH installer was pretty clear,
                    thats what I liked, not the GUI crap. I'll try installing
                    openbsd today. Does the ftp install work over a firewall
                    and nat? I also liked the clear and complete docs for
                    openbsd. Thier web site and docs seem quite professional.
                    Much more so than the sketchy docs in FreeBSD.
                    \_ I have installed OpenBSD via ftp from behind a nat
                       firewall. --Galen
                       \_ Just finished installing it myself. Much easier
                          than FreeBSD. I think that I'll buy a CD even.