[ale] FreeBSD and Debian

[Preston Boyington]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Dylan Northrup 
> Subject: Re: [ale] FreeBSD and Debian
> 
> 
> I prefer FreeBSD because I like the idea of re-compiling 
> packages (ports)
> from source instead of downloading and installing binaries 
> (which never
> seems to work properly for me).  In addition, I like the fact 
> I can boot my
> boxes from two floppies and, with a reliable network 
> connection, have a
> fully installed box inside of a few hours (including config 
> and download
> time) including re-compiling a customer kernel and doing a 
> reboot (though
> I've gotten pretty good at the last step, so it takes me less 
> time than it
> used to :-)
> 

debian also has this ability, look for "network install" or some such.  apt
(or aptitude) is a great package manager, but you can still compile from
source if you wish and if you let apt "know" you compiled a program from
source it will not "accidentally" overwrite it with the binary version.

depending on which version of debian you install (stable, testing, unstable)
you will have access to different packages.  if you installed stable (woody)
then you are probably thinking "hey, this apt thing is great.  hmm, the
programs are a bit older than what is available on other distro's."  then
you could possibly upgrade to testing (sarge) and be much happier as it has
newer software.

should you wait a couple of weeks "sarge" will be the new stable as it is
almost where the debian folks want it to be.  when this happens and you do a
"dist-upgrade" you will notice a massive download/upgrade take place as all
older packages will be upgraded to the new stable (if you choose).  

i left FreeBSD a couple of years ago because of Linux's momentum and have
only glanced back a couple of times.  last year i switched my FreeBSD server
to Adamantix (formerly "Trusted Debian") and haven't had any complications
(which is saying something for me).

you should also check the Debian lists for this architecture if you don't
find an answer to your satisfaction here.

preston