Getting BSD, newbie to linux

[Guest_imported]

Where can I get BSD? Is it available on the web? If so, where? Also, what is the difference between BSD and Mandrake?

Thanks

 

[Karl Blessing]

Mandrake is a Linux Distribution.

FreeBSD(or BSD being the commercial non-free OS) , is a completely different OS, although based on a much older Unix platform (when they say older, they do mean tested and realiable)

if you want to download FreeBSD goto freebsd.com

Karl Blessing aka kb244{fastHACK}

 

[Guest_imported]

So BSD is not a distribution of Linux?? Does BSD have a gui(graphical user interface) or is it command line only? Would you recommend learnig BSD or Linux?

Thanks

 

[Karl Blessing]

BSD has a GUI , very much like that of Mandrake or any other distro, in fact I'm pretty sure it uses XWindows on it.

FreeBSD has been noted by many as being the best internet language, it's setup is slightly a bit different, and definitly not as easy as Mandrake's , but it does seem to be a worthwhile OS. Karl Blessing aka kb244{fastHACK}

 

[rycamor]

I use FreeBSD all the time, nowadays. The distinction between BSD and Linux is this:

1. FreeBSD (

http://www.freebsd.org)

comes right from the source: BSD Unix, where Unix more-or-less started. It inherits branches of code from as long ago as perhaps 30 years. This I consider to actually be a Good Thing, since much of the code it came from was some written by only the best, and there as been 20-30 years to continually refine, add, and trim where needed. Because of this, FreeBSD is the most stable operating system I have ever seen.

2. Linux:

http://www.linux.org

(Mandrake is a Linux distribution) comes from a 10-year-old code tree, and was essentially a clone of Unix, adhering to the same specifications and standards (mostly), but arriving at many of them through different means. This has some good and some bad effects. The good is that some core aspects of Linux are a little more cutting-edge than FreeBSD. The bad is that in my experience, and many others, Linux is not quite as stable as FreeBSD (although much more stable than anything Microsoft puts out)

3. Both Linux and FreeBSD, since they adhere to the same standards (called POSIX), can benefit from literally thousands of programs available, both as free software and commercial software. Therefore, often the actual working environment can be almost identical for the end user. They both have access to the same GUI environments, which are mainly based on the X Window system (

http://www.xfree86.org)

and an increasing number of what are called window managers or desktops, which are what the user actually sees. I recommend for anyone unfamiliar with Unix or Linux, to try the KDE (

http://www.kde.org)

desktop first, since it has almost all the functionality of Windows, plus some neat things you can't get in windows.

There is a lot more that can be said for either Linux or FreeBSD, but I will say: FreeBSD is more for advanced users, while Linux is probably a little (only a little) easier to setup and install. However, once I became familiar with FreeBSD, I really prefer it's logical, consistent arrangement to the many different configurations of Linux.

If you have any questions about the actual install of either, please feel free to post here or in the FreeBSD forum.

 

[Karl Blessing]

I have a downloaded copy of FreeBSD Myself, I never got it installed as of yet (the Asus A7V appeared to have problems working correctly with Linux, and FreeBSD, I no longer have this motherboard, so going to give it a try again, i just know linux worked flawless on an Abit KA7 I had prior to the Asus)

excelent distinstion above, I knew FreeBSD was based on older, yet more refined code, i just wasnt sure how old.

the good thing I can see with FreeBSD, is that, it's not multiple distributions you chose from, but one set standard. So Support I would imagine would be much better. Karl Blessing aka kb244{fastHACK}

 

[Guest_imported]

Thanks, I appreciate the info. I got red hat 7.1 and installed that on my computer with the gnome interface.
I had a couple questions though.

1. What exactly is the file and directory system that Linux uses? For example with Windows, it starts with C:\Windows and everything else flows from there. If I am looking for something I know exactly where to go to find it in the directory.
With Linux I can not figure out what the system is, I see the desktop folder, and a root folder, but I can not make sense of how it all relates. Is there an easy way to understand it?

2. Along with the linux was the browser Mozilla. It seemed pretty close to Netscape, so is it just a modified version of netscape, or is it a completely different browser, and also what directly would the cookies and cache be stored in?

3. I used DHCP to automatically assign the linux machine an IP address on my network, but if I was moving it to a new domain and needed to change the IP address, and domain name, where do I go to do that?

Thanks