[ale] BSD.v.Linux essay

[James Sumners]

The only problem I have had with BSD, specifically OpenBSD, is driver
support. The last time I gave it a shot was about two years ago. I
wanted to load it on an old Dell PowerEdge (a very big and heavy
machine) and use it to run an in-house web server. I eventually got it
to load but it would keep crashing because of the RAID controller.
Evidently, there was some quirk to the hardware that the Linux drivers
either work around or ignore but the BSD drivers crashed upon
encountering it. When the hard drives won't consistently work because
the controller drivers keep crashing the system then the OS is
useless.

Admittedly, that is only one machine (well, machine type. I had
multiple machines of the same model to work with), but the experience
left me with an impression that the driver support is lacking even
more than Linux's. However, I use a BSD derivative every day on my
PowerBook and am quite happy with it. The cp command can be a little
quirky ( http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20051112100007372&lsrc=osx
) but I get by :)

On 11/22/05, Jay Loden <jloden at toughguy.net> wrote:
> I read this article a while back and it actually convinced me to give FreeBSD
> another try. The author is a pretty fair to both sides (though clearly
> somewhat biased to his choice, BSD). Mostly he just points out that BSD is
> all about a controlled development process and structure, whereas Linux grabs
> anything useful from wherever it can find it. It's not that one is better
> than the other necessarily, just different.
>
> Both have their merits, but certain people's personalities may fit better with
> one of the other. In a lot of respects, despite being more familiar with
> Linux, I'm finding a lot of things on my test FreeBSD install that I like. It
> took some getting used to before I realized they're not the same thing just
> because they both have *nix roots, but once I got over that hurdle things
> were easier.
>
> The best thing about FreeBSD so far has been documentation. Everything from
> man pages to the FreeBSD handbook has been clear, up to date, and useful. I
> appreciate that a lot, especially the handbook.
>
> On Monday 21 November 2005 7:31 pm, Cy Kurtz wrote:
> > Here's an essay we might enjoy batting about for a while:
> >
> > http://www.over-yonder.net/~fullermd/rants/bsd4linux/bsd4linux1.php
> >
> _______________________________________________
> Ale mailing list
> Ale at ale.org
> http://www.ale.org/mailman/listinfo/ale
>


--
James Sumners
http://james.roomfullofmirrors.com/

"All governments suffer a recurring problem: Power attracts
pathological personalities. It is not that power corrupts but that it
is magnetic to the corruptible. Such people have a tendency to become
drunk on violence, a condition to which they are quickly addicted."

Missionaria Protectiva, Text QIV (decto)
CH:D 59