oh, BSD, not LSD

Story: 10 differences between Linux and BSDTotal Replies: 16
Author Content
tuxchick

Aug 23, 2010
12:08 PM EDT
I was going to say "no difference", but...never mind!
Scott_Ruecker

Aug 23, 2010
12:30 PM EDT
FOSS is so..like cool and trippy man..;-)
hkwint

Aug 23, 2010
1:13 PM EDT
Linux Standard Distribution... Sounds like a good idea to me!

Linux in the Sky... with Diamonds
gus3

Aug 23, 2010
1:23 PM EDT
The Linux Standard Distribution already has a name: Ubuntu.

At least that's what Mark Shuttleworth wants us to think.
Bob_Robertson

Aug 23, 2010
1:28 PM EDT
> At least that's what Mark Shuttleworth wants us to think.

I wonder what he's on.
tuxchick

Aug 23, 2010
1:39 PM EDT
Groovy. I feel mellow.
Steven_Rosenber

Aug 23, 2010
1:44 PM EDT
Best ... LXer ... discussion ... topic title ... ever

We've all seen lots of pretty, swirling, nonsensical colors in front of our eyes if we've been in this game more than a few hours, right?
Steven_Rosenber

Aug 23, 2010
2:00 PM EDT
Now that I've actually read the post, I get the feeling the writer is neither a habitual nor casual user of any BSD project.

Sure there are licensing differences, and in the abstract the whole kernel + userland in one project thing does have meaning, but for users those things don't mean as much as how well a given system works and what it can do.

The whole "you can update your entire base system with a single command" thing is not really all that relevant. It's the rest of the system that needs more frequent updating, and such updating is harder by many orders of magnitude than in most Linux systems. PC-BSD is just about the only project that aims for a, dare I say, "Linux-like" experience in which you can easily do binary updates of the entire system.

I finally figured out how to patch an OpenBSD installation from -release to -stable. It's far from a single command, and it has nothing to do with add-on applications. I never did figure out how to update more than the base of FreeBSD (and the freebsd-update command is a bit of a godsend) and instead ended up in such lovely circumstances as a three-day-plus session of compiling the entire installation from ports that could've gone longer had I not stopped the box after the aforementioned 3 days.

These are the kinds of things that make Slackware look easy.

I know this sounds negative, and there is a lot to recommend in the BSD projects, but easy maintenance and patching of a full desktop system isn't BSD's strong suit, at least in my experience.
hkwint

Aug 23, 2010
3:27 PM EDT
Tell me about it... I gave up on OpenBSD when I had been trying to install Opera and make the printer work for over a week, with no results.

However, once your knowledge grows, this becomes easier.
gus3

Aug 23, 2010
3:45 PM EDT
Quoting:once your knowledge grows, this becomes easier.
Yes, when you already know it won't work, giving up is much easier. Viz. securing Windows.

(Although I suppose removing the power supply is a good start...)
Scott_Ruecker

Aug 23, 2010
4:44 PM EDT
Quoting:Best ... LXer ... discussion ... topic title ... ever


I know right? Who here hasn't been found in their backyard talking to the tree at least once..
Steven_Rosenber

Aug 23, 2010
5:02 PM EDT
Quoting:Tell me about it... I gave up on OpenBSD when I had been trying to install Opera and make the printer work for over a week, with no results.


You're not trying to do this without CUPS, are you? I could never get printing to work the super-geeky way in OpenBSD - CUPS is the only way.

And Opera only works on 32-bit installs. If you have AMD 64, it won't run.
hkwint

Aug 23, 2010
6:00 PM EDT
Tried LPRng. CUPS - I never heard of such a thing back then. Probably tried it, but it looked harder than LPR or there were other issues. I didn't knew about the graphical 'webpage' configuration tool probably, so I had to write CUPS-config files by hand. Try it, and you'll understand writing LPRng config files is easier I guess... LPRng almost worked, at least for plain text (using the aXe editor!) it did.

But the 1994 Xerox4510 printer I had back then was not very mainstream, and I had never used any OS beyond C64/DOS/Windows, so that may explain why it was so hard.
Steven_Rosenber

Aug 23, 2010
6:19 PM EDT
My daughter's laptop screen is threatening to die. If it does, the OpenBSD 4.7 machine goes to her. ... but will I keep OpenBSD or wipe it for Xubuntu (which is all the rage among Linux-using 7-year-olds)?
jdixon

Aug 23, 2010
7:14 PM EDT
> ...which is all the rage among Linux-using 7-year-olds...

I thought that was Quimo. http://www.qimo4kids.com/
caitlyn

Aug 23, 2010
7:22 PM EDT
> ...which is all the rage among Linux-using 7-year-olds...

I thought that was Hannah Montana Linux, at least for the girls. http://hannahmontana.sourceforge.net/Site/Home.html
Bob_Robertson

Aug 23, 2010
8:14 PM EDT
My 7-year-old loves Battle for Wesnoth.

The problem turns out to be that Disney Fairies (.com) and Time4Learning.com don't work on Linux. VirtualBox fills that need.

Posting in this forum is limited to members of the group: [ForumMods, SITEADMINS, MEMBERS.]

Becoming a member of LXer is easy and free. Join Us!