BSD Unix Systems

These are my own WWW pages about BSD systems:

• A document comparing NetBSD and FreeBSD, including comments on OpenBSD.

• A description of the process to get the smallest possible kernel on a given BSD machine.

• Some hints on how to update a BSD release to a -current or -stable system.

• The FAQ (frequently asked questions) of the BSD User Group Hamburg.

Some BSD-related Links:

http://www.freebsd.org

This is the main FreeBSD WWW Server. It has a lot of useful information, among them the FreeBSD handbook and links to other locations where new users might get information.

Much of the documentation provided here is valid for the other BSD derivates, too, especially some system administration procedures desribben in the FreeBSD manual.

http://www.netbsd.org

This is NetBSD's WWW server. Here is the right place to look for descriptions of NetBSD and it's parts and goals. You can get information on specific ports and supported hardware (make sure to browse the WWW pages and the archive of the appropriate mailing list). This server does not provide much introdutional material.

http://www.openbsd.org

OpenBSD's home. Besides the description of goals, it has pages for each port describing the differences to NetBSD's port to the same architecture.

http://www.bsdi.com

BSD/OS is a commercial BSD system for Intel-based PCs. It preserves what makes BSD systems good (elegant interfaces, light-weighted implementation, a good TCP/IP stack with an excellent description in Richard Stevens book), but has a commercial support organization behind it. One of the goodies is that you can buy the source code for the OS.

I think BSD/OS is an excellent choice for TCP/IP-based servers when commercial support is needed and the responsible people want an operating system they can fully understand and they want to solve problems instead of crying for help. Besides others, the Internet connection of Compuserve is based on BSD/OS machines.

Unfortunatly, they recently raised the price for a binary licence to a level that is not acceptable for me.

©2007 Martin Cracauer $Id: bsd.html4m,v 1.4 1996/12/17 15:44:04 cracauer Exp $