Which linux OS?

Freedom Toasters are a pain in the butt! I tried the one at uni (Monash) and it just keeps giving errors. A great idea, but they should be looked after/maintained more
 
Freedom Toasters are a pain in the butt! I tried the one at uni (Monash) and it just keeps giving errors. A great idea, but they should be looked after/maintained more

Yes, I usually get peeved about stuff like that because it reflects badly on open source. Perhaps you should send an email if there's a contact person.
I admin an http/ftp server on our campus (NWU) with a bunch of Linux, *BSD isos and free Windows apps, and I try to keep it functional and up-to-date, although it has nothing to do with my job description. It's strictly intraweb, (thanks Ivy), but now that the community wireless thing is picking up I'm seeing hits from people in town too. (The wireless community consists mostly of staff and off-campus students, and access is limited with no Internet peering of course.)
 
The first thing I did was go and speak to whoever I could think of getting it fixed. :D Havent been to check if it is fixed yet :p Decided to just download the iso myself :d
 
Really? In what respect? Still using FreeBSD 6.1, NetBSD and Slack here.

You should upgrade to ver 7.0; unless of course you are running special programs on your 6.1 box.

If you do upgrade to v7; and you have the "src" directory for v6.1; then you may be glad to know that you only need to download 49mb of files...

As for FreeBSD 7 being faster than linux;

read people.freebsd.org/~kris/scaling/mysql.html

and have a look at:

people.freebsd.org/%7Ekris/scaling/os-mysql.png
 
Um. Could you explain what you mean by that? The only reason that I feel that BSD gets released slower is simply because it has a much smaller userbase and therefore less development is done.

FreeBSD uses development branches; experimental code goes into the current branch; tested, ex-experimental, approved code goes into the stable branch; 1-2 times per year a snap shot of the stable branch is released as a "production release"

If you are adventurous you can install from the current branch; less adventurous, install stable; or alternatively you can install a release.

FreeBSD is source based, and it changes daily. You can download changes from a cvs mirror once per day via the cvsup tool.

FreeBSD uses cvs mirrors located around the world. Last time I checked, two of those mirrors were located in SA.

As for the "smaller userbase", you really should read the netcraft archives: uptime.netcraft.com/up/today/top.avg.html

Yahoo for example has been using FreeBSD for years....

I have it on good authority that the Linux kernel committer will use the FreeBSD development model "sometime soon"...
 
No. FreeBSD, or BSD for that matter is UNIX, and UNIX IS NOT Linux, nor is Linux UNIX. Linux comes from UNIX, but has evolved on it's own over the years.

Linux is more aimed at the end user and newbies, and it will more than often support the latest hardware and technologies, whereas UNIX is a much more stable & secure OS, and that's it's main focus. It's made for servers / security / networking / routers / etc

P.S. Have you tried OpenBSD? :)

Technically both Linux and the *BSD's are "Unix". To trade under the name "Unix" though requires the payment of vast sums of money to "The Open Group".

Since neither of the two camp will accede to what is basically "daylight robbery", the term "Unix-like" was introduced.

Then there was that SCO lawsuit...
 
BSD is pretty awesome, I will admit, but I wouldn't use it as a workstation myself as it is just too much effort. I can understand using it on one's servers (although OpenBSD is probably a better chocie), but for me I just don't see any reason other than masochism that would lead one to install it on their workstation :D

Read section 2 of the handbook:
freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/install.html

Read section 4 of the handbook:
freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/ports.html

Have a look here:
freebsd.org/ports/index.html

And here:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gentoo_Linux

As for "masochism",

Both the *BSDs and Linux has good and bad attributes.

To really get a feel for these technologies you need to install and use
them long enough to form your own opinion.

Having experience with both will only benefit you...
 
You should upgrade to ver 7.0; unless of course you are running special programs on your 6.1 box.

If you do upgrade to v7; and you have the "src" directory for v6.1; then you may be glad to know that you only need to download 49mb of files...

As for FreeBSD 7 being faster than linux;

read people.freebsd.org/~kris/scaling/mysql.html

and have a look at:

people.freebsd.org/%7Ekris/scaling/os-mysql.png

Ah, so ULE scheduler is the default now. I did recompile the kernel in 6.1 with it and didn't notice much difference. Interesting stuff, but I'm more interested in HPC than databases. Would be interesting trying out ZFS though.

BTW, benchmarks are like opinions, everyone seems to have one ;):
http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/people/npiggin/sysbench/
 
Which OS can you reccomend and have used it, because there are so many?

Debian. (NOT Ubuntu. I recently installed, tested and compared both Ubuntu and Debian - Ubuntu had its plus points, but Debian was definitely better in too many other respects to ignore. That said, I believe the next major Ubuntu release is due next month, so maybe it'll be a big improvement. But one big thing for me is that Debian simply comes with far more software, as it's DVD-based while Ubuntu tries to fit on a CD.)

On the whole though the differences are not terribly huge.
 
Technically both Linux and the *BSD's are "Unix".

Actually Linux is not "Unix", because it does not conform to the Unix spec (so wouldn't be able to pass certification anyway) - at least, last I checked. That is the main reason people call it "Unix-like". Check http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unix-like and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux.

Interestingly Mac OS X *is* Unix, but oddly, in terms of the "spirit of the approach" to overall design/usage of the system, Linux could be said to be more like Unix than OS X, or at least, more in the spirit of Unix.
 
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Debian. (NOT Ubuntu. I recently installed, tested and compared both Ubuntu and Debian - Ubuntu had its plus points, but Debian was definitely better in too many other respects to ignore. That said, I believe the next major Ubuntu release is due next month, so maybe it'll be a big improvement. But one big thing for me is that Debian simply comes with far more software, as it's DVD-based while Ubuntu tries to fit on a CD.)

On the whole though the differences are not terribly huge.

A far as I know, Ubuntu Ultimate comes on DVD and has far more packages than the CD versions.
 
Ah, so ULE scheduler is the default now. I did recompile the kernel in 6.1 with it and didn't notice much difference. Interesting stuff, but I'm more interested in HPC than databases. Would be interesting trying out ZFS though.

BTW, benchmarks are like opinions, everyone seems to have one ;):
http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/people/npiggin/sysbench/

"benchmarks are like opinions, everyone seems to have one". Absolutely right...

I always find it amusing though when people with agendas would use a benchmark to push a particular product; only for re-test to expose their bias.

Here's a benchmark:
http://new.isc.org/proj/dnsperf/OStest.html

and here's the retest
http://people.freebsd.org/~kris/scaling/bind-pt.png

You should read the thread as well...
http://unix.derkeiler.com/Mailing-Lists/FreeBSD/questions/2008-02/msg01906.html

What is clear though is that there is some real competition between Linux and FreeBSD; and for some time to come.

The end result is a win for the users....
 
Actually Linux is not "Unix", because it does not conform to the Unix spec (so wouldn't be able to pass certification anyway) - at least, last I checked. That is the main reason people call it "Unix-like". Check http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unix-like and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux.
I'm glad to see someone agrees with me :)

Interestingly Mac OS X *is* Unix, but oddly, in terms of the "spirit of the approach" to overall design/usage of the system, Linux could be said to be more like Unix than OS X, or at least, more in the spirit of Unix.[/QUOTE]
Interestingly, Mac OS X uses BSD kernel, and If I'm not mistaken a lot of FreeBSD for it's underlaying OS.
 
Actually Linux is not "Unix", because it does not conform to the Unix spec (so wouldn't be able to pass certification anyway) - at least, last I checked. That is the main reason people call it "Unix-like". Check http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unix-like and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux.

Interestingly Mac OS X *is* Unix, but oddly, in terms of the "spirit of the approach" to overall design/usage of the system, Linux could be said to be more like Unix than OS X, or at least, more in the spirit of Unix.

Sorry for the late reply...

Yes you are right -- Linux is "unix-like", however I don't see a problem with using the same name to describe O/S's that are fundamentally similar.

OTOH: You can say with absolute confidence that Windows is not Unix...
 
/I have used ubuntu, and its still installed, but feel i need a broadband connection. So its on hold until i move and get a decent connection.

Question is, i can go to ubuntu full time, but, i have one program (legacy) i use regularly, of which their is no linux equivalent, or if there is, its nowhere near qualtiy of what the windows equavalent is.

So, whats the story of running a windows based prog. on ubuntu.

Can i run it through a 3rd party program on ubuntu, or do i need to install windows on another partition (<- this would suck)
 
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