[ale] Distro

[Kenneth W Cochran]

Me too, specifically wrt FreeBSD.  The ports collection
is excellent.  Perhaps more important, *documentation*
is rock-solid.  Also, FreeBSD is "close" to Slackware in its
workings/innards, or rather, Slackware is considered the most
"bsd-like" of the Linux distros.  You can also build FreeBSD
completely from source (which is the "preferred" way of updating
I guess) and it's fast & easy, especially if you're comfortable
with systems stuff.

A couple of possible nits with *BSD, though, namely FreeBSD
(no experience with the others):

Java: currently broken (v1.3.1) and licensing prohibits binary
distribution of 1.4.x in FreeBSD, so it has to be built
from source; nice, but it takes time & space.  BSD's Linux
compatibility mode likely works around this.

Some (types of) applications aren't exactly "there" yet in
BSD, for example, MythTV.  Linux compatibility mode might work
around this as well, I dunno.  {shrug}

This is very YMMV but FreeBSD is rock-solid.

-kc

(Please pardon my top-posting.)

>Date: Sun, 2 Jan 2005 16:57:14 -0500 (EST)
>From: mattyml at bellsouth.net
>To: Atlanta Linux Enthusiasts <ale at ale.org>
>Subject: Re: [ale] Distro
>
>On Sun, 2 Jan 2005, Brandon Colbert wrote:
>
>> I am looking for a new distro to use. I am currently a redhat/fedora/mandrake 
>> fan, but I want to try something new. The distro has to give free updates, 
>> and can be used as a workstation and server. Can I get some feedback on these 
>> distro's: FreeBSD, Slackware, Debian, and Gentoo.
>
>I highly recommedn FreeBSD and OpenBSD. The ports collection rocks!
>
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