Ive heard that Unix machines are better for running servers than RISC OS. Is that true?
In general, yes. The state of the art in server technology is usually more advanced for Unix than for RISC OS. If you have requirements for mail handling, for example, beyond anything very simple then you will probably have trouble under RISC OS. The same applies if you want to run your own news server, or provide ftp access for multiple users with flexible access controls. F.2 But isn’t a Unix machine really expensive? Aren’t its commands really arcane and difficult to use? Not necessarily. There are now a number of free “Unix clones”, such as FreeBSD and Linux. Given a copy of one of these, and virtually any PC machine (for example, an old 386 or 486 that’s been retired from duty as a Windows machine), you can build your own Unix server at pretty minimal cost. Take a look at http://www.freebsd.org/ and http://www.linux.org.uk It’s also not true that Unix is inherently difficult to use. It can be a bit daunting at first, but there are plenty of books available to teach you the basics.
