What is FreeBSD?
Briefly, FreeBSD is a UN*X-like operating system for the i386 and Alpha/AXP platforms based on U.C. Berkeley’s “4.4BSD-Lite” release, with some “4.4BSD-Lite2” enhancements. It is also based indirectly on William Jolitz’s port of U.C. Berkeley’s “Net/2” to the i386, known as “386BSD”, though very little of the 386BSD code remains. A fuller description of what FreeBSD is and how it can work for you may be found on the FreeBSD home page. FreeBSD is used by companies, Internet Service Providers, researchers, computer professionals, students and home users all over the world in their work, education and recreation. See some of them in the FreeBSD Gallery. For more detailed information on FreeBSD, please see the FreeBSD Handbook.
FreeBSD is a free Unix-like operating system much like Linux. The main difference is that, while the Linux kernel has been written from scratch, FreeBSD is based on the freely redistributable parts of 4.4BSD (Berkeley Software Distribution) known as 4.4BSD-lite. This fact might lead some people to suggest that FreeBSD is closer to being “real” UNIX® than Linux. FreeBSD runs only on the Intel PC platform (i386 and higher); ports to the DEC Alpha and Sun Sparc platforms are being worked on at the moment. NetBSD and OpenBSD are similar to FreeBSD, and both run on several platforms. Hardware requirements for all these *BSD systems are similar to those for Linux. The development of FreeBSD is managed in a different way than the Linux development. A core team of developers serve as arbitrators and provide leadership for the project. Big changes are discussed in advance on the mailing lists. The FreeBSD project has two development trees (just like Linux): “-CURRENT” and “-STABLE”. The `
What server operating system do all the really major Internet services use? It’s UNIX. But what kind of UNIX? It all depends on how much money you’re willing to spend; and depending on which flavor of UNIX you choose, when all is said and done, your bill might run well into the six-digit range. So perhaps you’ve heard of this Open Source thing–free server software and operating systems where everybody has complete access to all the source code. Perhaps you’ve heard of Linux. While it sounds great not to have to pay anything for your software, you might be put off by the politics of a platform that defines itself by rebellion against Microsoft and the status quo. Which distribution is right for you? What about the attitude of the users that you’ve heard about? Isn’t it more trouble than it’s worth? Fortunately, there’s another Open Source alternative: FreeBSD. It’s every bit as advanced as Linux, but it’s without the political baggage or the multitude of distributions to deal with. Fre
This is a question I often hear from people with limited Unix experience. The short answer: FreeBSD is a member of the Unix family of operating systems, which is completely free, and runs on a variety of different types of computers, but mostly on Intel-based PCs. This is a fairly big family, and includes systems like IBM’s AIX, Apple’s A/UX, SGI IRIX, Linux, Apple’s OS X, Sun Solaris (a.k.a. Sun OS), and DEC Ultrix just to name a few. If you’re familiar with Linux, you can loosely think of FreeBSD as “Linux on steroids”. It’s important to note that FreeBSD and Linux are different operating systems, developed independently from each other throughout their long histories. However, to the average end user, FreeBSD and Linux are difficult to tell apart. Although the kernels (the core of the OS, which controls the hardware) are different, FreeBSD and Linux systems run many of the exact same programs such as the KDE and Gnome desktop environments, the gcc and g++ compilers, OpenOffice, and
Briefly, FreeBSD 2.X is a UN*X-like operating system based on U.C. Berkeley’s 4.4BSD-lite release for the i386 platform. It is also based indirectly on William Jolitz’s port of U.C. Berkeley’s Net/2 to the i386, known as 386BSD, though very little of the 386BSD code remains. A fuller description of what FreeBSD is and how it can work for you may be found on the FreeBSD home page. FreeBSD is used by companies, Internet Service Providers, researchers, computer professionals, students and home users all over the world in their work, education and recreation. See some of them in the FreeBSD Gallery. For more detailed information on FreeBSD, please see the FreeBSD Handbook.
