[1144] in NetBSD-Development
Re: NetBSD
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Yoav Yerushalmi)
Tue Dec 5 01:35:37 1995
To: David Wang <d_wang@MIT.EDU>
Cc: Yoav Yerushalmi <yoav@MIT.EDU>, netbsd-dev@MIT.EDU
In-Reply-To: Your message of "Tue, 05 Dec 1995 01:20:40 EST."
<9512050620.AA17914@al-burro.MIT.EDU>
Date: Tue, 05 Dec 1995 01:35:05 EST
From: Yoav Yerushalmi <yoav@MIT.EDU>
>
>> I presume you have a PC compatible? If not, you can
>
>Yes, I forgot to give more specifics. I am on a PC compatible.
>
>Just as a question (it may be ridiculous sounding, but bear with
>my current ignorance of the whole networking process...), what
>would be the difference between going NetBSD/X and Linux/X --
>they aren't the same, are they? What exactly IS NetBSD? What
>would be the advantages/disadvantages of both? At least, what
>appears to me is the fact that I need to run some form of PC/UNIX
>with X Windows in order to fully access and act like an Athena
>terminal, so would those options be some of the routes available?
>
>David
>
NetBSD's X server and Linux's X server are both the same program,
running on two different OS's (X is responsible for the graphics).
Therfore, there is no noticeable differences.
The question on the difference between Linux and NetBSD is often-asked,
and never satisfactorilly answered. Linux and NetBSD are both free flavors
of unix. Linux supports more hardware available for PC's, while NetBSD is
much more portable to other architectures. Currently, athena is better
supported for NetBSD, though there are more people using Linux around
the world (and on athena). NetBSD is newer, and is based on BSD4.4-lite2.
Linux is about a year older, and isn't really base don anything, though
it tries to be SystemV like and claims to be POSIX compliant (in reality,
neither of the two are fully POSIX, though NetBSD is probably more POSIX
than linux at the moment). Also, Linux is actually just the kernel, and
around it you get a distribution (debian, slackware, redhat, etc..), while
NetBSD is an entire OS.
The one you go with is really up to you. If you have the at least 16 megs
of RAM, and a fast CPU, and your hardware is supported by NetBSD, I would
suggest going with that. Otherwise, Linux might be a better option.
--
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| Yoav Yerushalmi | My opinions are mine.. |
| M.I.T student at large | so back off!! |
| http://www.mit.edu:8001/people/yoav/homepage.html |
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