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FreeBSD 5.1 Released
LogicX writes "FreeBSD 5.1 is now available. Mirrors and press release are at FreeBSD.org. Enjoy." Here are the release notes for this new version. Update: 06/09 18:15 GMT by S : Here's a BitTorrent link at scarywater.net, and another BitTorrent link from the original poster.
but if SCO wins we might all be using BSD!
You could always Switch to OS X. I hear it is a Free BSD based OS that has Java built-in.
Ports worked out well until they broke during an upgrade.
/usr/ports/sysutils/portupgrade, it makes managing ports much easier/cleaner/more reliable. Pretty much impossible to screw up installs using it, and even if you screw up installs when not using it (don't upgrade depends and sibling ports of those depends), portupgrade can fix them. The learning curve is pretty much nill as well. AFAIK it's only not part of the "base" system because it, like cvsup and other "must have" utilites, is written in Yet Another Funky Language that would also need to be added to the base.
/etc/ttys if you really care that much (maybe the same for Linux, but honestly one of my major Linux complaints is that I can't ever find a "basic" Unix config where it's "expected" and it's likely different per distro anyway).
.doc files, run my AIW-TiVo, etc. If someone finds a way to make EQ, PlanetSide, Unreal II, etc run on FreeBSD that's great for someone, but myself and the vast majority of FreeBSD users won't really care; We'll still use our Windows boxes. In the Linux community however, it often seems like if the lastest game or whatever doesn't have Linux support (at the Windows level or better to boot), then it's some kind of personal afront to the entire Linux world.
Install
Switching terminals was just plain wierd,
Er, virtual terminals? Alt-F#, just like Linux AFAIK? From XFree86 it's the same Ctrl-Alt-F# as Linux as well.
coming from the more logical Linux perspective, and I only had four of them (five with X-Windows when I could get it running.)
So you're bitching that FreeBSD has more enabled by default then Linux? (FreeBSD IIRC has 8 by default). Is this even an argument? Comment ones you don't want out of
I suspect I would have had a better time of it if I had gone scavenger hunting for that magical bit of hardware that wasn't too old or too new to work, but in the end I figured screw it -- just about any distribution of Linux seemed to install properly and run efficiently, so why torture myself?
Hmm...if anything, FreeBSD tends to be leaps and bounds more compatiable on older hardware then Linux. "Bleeding edge" and "junk" hardware is another story, however. The FreeBSD world historically hasn't wasted too many brain cycles on making Joe's Fly By Night $5 eModem play nice, as it's mostly targeted at "power users" (server and workstation) that don't buy hardware based on what's available this week from Fry's for FREE (w/mail in rebate).
That said, FreeBSD's hardware support is within a percentage point or two of Linux (sometimes sooner, such as FreeBSD getting USB support ages before Linux did), and what is supported is often supported better.
So basically I've been running with Gentoo for the last couple of years. Has FreeBSD gotten any friendlier lately?
Depends. For a Unix system, FreeBSD has pretty much always been "friendlier" then most/all Linux distros. For a Windows desktop conversion/political statement system, stick to Linux. FreeBSD has Wine support and such, but it's really more of an afterthought and so far as politics go...M$ tends to like FreeBSD (witness Mono on FreeBSD).
In the end it's really a question of being an "anti" person or a "pro" person.
Linux: Anti-Microsoft
FreeBSD: Pro-Unix
Personally I want/need a Better Unix and I've got no problems keeping a Win2k box on tap to play games, deal with
Seriously, whatever. If/when I ever publish desktop software (games, whatever) it's highly unlikely I'll ever bother with a FreeBSD version, much less a Linux version. If I'd publish for a non-Windows system it would be OS X ages before Linux...and I don't even own an OS X system.
My
How can the linux hardware support be so much better when freebsd is more stable?
Linux supports more varied hardware but FreeBSD crashes less. What's so complicated about that?
Windows 98 supports more hardware than Linux, so it must be more stable, right?