consider a switch to freeBSD

After a struggle to install apache on Linux, I am now considering making a switch to freeBSD. Is freeBSD easy to install and what version should I use. Where can I download it?

Is freeBSD better than Linux? Should I make a switch?
Your comment is appreciated.
Cindy

>> Is freeBSD easy to install

Yup, plain easy.

>> what version should I use

4.3-STABLE

>> Where can I download it?

ftp://releng4.freebsd.org/pub/FreeB...0010509-STABLE/ as of today.

Here is a brief instructions for installation:
1) download ftp://releng4.freebsd.org/pub/FreeB...ols/rawrite.exe
2) download ftp://releng4.freebsd.org/pub/FreeB...oppies/kern.flp
and ftp://releng4.freebsd.org/pub/FreeB...ies/mfsroot.flp
3) use rawrite to write the two images to two floppies with kern.flp being the 1st floppy. The easiest way is to download all 3 files to C:\, then execute rawrite and type in the image name.
4) During install, you will be asked to configure ISA network card, if you don't have any, just disable all of them. Be sure not to disable npx (math processor) and sc (System console).
5) select FTP install

You should check the FreeBSD handbook for further details.

Most FreeBSD newbies tend to download the ISO CD image, which is plain dumb. If you have a CD Burner, you can only fetch everything from ftp://releng4.freebsd.org/pub/FreeB...0010509-STABLE/ except packages and XF86336, it's about 200mb something. In doing so, upon successful install, you are running 4.3-STABLE out of the box (not 4.3-RELEASE, the ISO).

Q: Why don't I need the packages and XF86336?
A: That packages is for precompiled binary. FreeBSD got the ports tree, equivalent to source tarballs, but the ports system makes compiling from source whole lot easier (almost never fails), though it might take longer to get particular program installed. The advantage of packages over ports is just speed, but it lacks of reliability and configurability. As for XF86336, FreeBSD comes with version 3.3.6 (pretty outdated), so don't configure X during initial installation. Instead, the latest 4.0.3 can be found from your ports tree.

>> Is freeBSD better than Linux?
Hell yes. Just to name a few,
1) FreeBSD follows UNIX standard path layout, so to say, files and directories would never be all over the place like Linux and Solaris.
2) You almost never need to add manpath or libpath manually
3) More secure out of the box
4) Easier to upgrade (via cvsup)
5) Linux emulator, in case there is no native port for FreeBSD

>> Should I make a switch?
Immediately without a doubt. After migrating from Linux to FreeBSD and the other BSDs (Net and Open) 4 years ago, I still haven't found a good reason to go back to Linux. No regret, enough said.

Go check out http://bsdvault.net if you have any BSD's questions. Your message is a bit off topic here.

Hi freeBSD

Can I boot off cdrom instead of floppy?

Thank you

>> Can I boot off cdrom instead of floppy?

I have never tried that but you probably can according to the ftp://releng4.freebsd.org/pub/FreeB...BLE/INSTALL.TXT

Once again, don't fetch anything in packages, you don't need them.

I am just finished installing freeBSD. But now, I'm in the command prompt. How can I configure to access a windows desktop, like in GNOME,CDE, or KDE desktops...

Thank you

>> I'm in the command prompt

You shouldn't configure X (the very last thing to do), check /etc/defaults/rc.conf, then override whatever you have to to /etc/rc.conf. There are many essential things you should do, like recompiling your kernel and configure a firewall (IP Filter).

Q: Why are those steps more important? Why can't I configure X now?
A: Say you have a sound card, you must recompile a kernel in order to have sound in FreeBSD. Though, this no longer seems to be the case for 4.3, you might be able to load it dynamically. You should check out the latest doc for that. If you failed to configure sound prior to configure X, X would assume your system have no sound support and disable it. Say you have got KDE2 installed, you will have a hard time or (impossible without reinstalling kde2) configuring sound.

If you don't have a sound card and must install X+kde2:

1) Create /etc/make.conf manually if it doesn't already exist
2) Put or append XFREE86_VERSION=4 and USA_RESIDENT=YES to it
3) Go to /usr/ports/x11/XFree86-4 and run make, then make install clean.
4) Go to /usr/ports/x11/kdebase2 and run the same make...
5) Go to /usr/ports/x11/kde2 and do the same thing

Step 3 to 5 above could take 20 hours or 2 days to complete if you have a slow connection. You can pre-fetch all the requires tarball prior to running any make, but still, compiling alone could take 10 hours. Place the following tarballs to the locations below, check the appropriate Makefile to find out where to download them

/usr/ports/distfiles/xc/4.0.2-4.0.3.diff.gz
/usr/ports/distfiles/xc/Wraphelp.c
/usr/ports/distfiles/xc/X402src-1.tgz
/usr/ports/distfiles/xc/X402src-2.tgz
/usr/ports/distfiles/xc/X402src-3.tgz
/usr/ports/distfiles/kdebase-2.1.1.tar.bz2
/usr/ports/distfiles/kdegames-2.1.1.tar.bz2
/usr/ports/distfiles/kdegraphics-2.1.1.tar.bz2
/usr/ports/distfiles/kdemultimedia-2.1.1.tar.bz2
/usr/ports/distfiles/kdenetwork-2.1.1.tar.bz2
/usr/ports/distfiles/kdeutils-2.1.1.tar.bz2
/usr/ports/distfiles/qt-x11-2.3.0.tar.gz
..
there are more dependencies, check the Makefile to find out where and the distinfo for the exact file name. The best way is to just run make and let FreeBSD to automatically fetch all the requires tarballs.

BTW, I don't run any XWindows on any of my Open, NetBSD or FreeBSD boxes. Win98SE is still my number choice for desktop.