How you came to unix world!

First Siemens Sinix, then SGI Irix in the early 90s, at the same time early experiments with Slackware Linux at home and some NetBSD on a Amiga (68K with MMU and 68882 FPU)
 
2006 My parent's couldn't afford to buy me a new computer so I had to use one that ran Win NT or XP (extremely slowly). So I started to look around for fixes. I needed to write papers for class really. Didn't and couldn't spend all day in the HS library.
Found Damn Small Linux from a book in the Lincoln Library. I really liked it and started using it regularly.
From there it was Slackware to and old version of FBSD (can't even remember what version I started with now). Then to slax. Got a new computer (new for me) moved to DSL. Tried Ubuntu and Fedora Core and kept moving around. Eventually settled on BSD freshman year of college 2008. Tried PC-BSD for a while but decided that I liked the control of FreeBSD and now I'm using it on an older desktop computer (But I'm finally getting a new as in new computer just ordered it :).
Unix just clicked with me.
 
One day I was working on my PC with Windows XP when I saw the famous Blue Screen Of Dead, at that time i had no idea what that was and I had to format my PC.

I lost my music, pictures, movies and manny other information and while the format run i thought: "Windows is the only SO in the world?...I hope no".

After format I spent 3 days searching on the Internet and I read about Linux, 2 weeks later I had Linux install and i love it since the first time ]=)
 
As someone who taught himself to program in C back in the 80's, I've always felt that Unix was my native OS. Nowadays it's been obscured by the prevalence of GUI apps and IDE's, but a C programmer moving back and forth between his code and the commandline never experienced an abrupt change in environment. When you know C, a lot of things about Unix make more sense -- and vice versa.

My first Unix was Interactive 386/ix and I didn't delete Windows in order to install it. Windows had never been on that machine! I'd read the Dr Dobbs articles about the work the Jolitzes were doing to bring BSD to i386 machines, and briefly considered going with their stuff, but decided to stay with something more fully baked instead.

Later on, my career -- including a stint at Microsoft -- forced me to use and program for Windows. But that's behind me now, thank God. I came back to Unix and BSD in particular by way of OS X, after toying around with a few Linux distros and finding all of them unsatisfactory.
 
In addition to fiddling with zipslack on an old 80486, I was trying to get something to work on an old DEC Multia. Technically, Windows NT4 should run on it, but I didn't have a disk handy and FreeBSD was free for the downloading. Sadly it succumbed to the famous Multia Heat Death.
 
Well mine story is this:
I was a Windows user about a year. From the first time i loved computers and i wanted to learn everything about them.
I always was asking my friend (is a programmer) how to do things. For one day and after i start asking things that was impossible to be on windows because were from unix world.
So my friend tells me: You don't need Windows. You need Linux. E??? What is linux?
This have programs? Is anyone else using this?
He installed me Ubuntu. When i saw compiz my eyes were out of my head! Ouaou! This is better than Windows!!!!
For about a week i didn't sleep! I was 24 hours per day on my computer!
After this week i said. What is the most difficult distro? I really love this OS and i want to use this. Not Windows. Also i can do everything for here. I don't need windows!
A google search show me Gentoo. I say to my friend. I want to use Gentoo. He starts laughing.
But i was very sure that i want to do the step. This was the beginning. I start learning Linux from the hardcore side :)
And i really liked it too much. My friend told me that he couldn't believe that i made it and suddenly stop laughing.
From this day i start install every unix i know to my desktops, laptops, virtual machines. I loved solaris and Freebsd but Freebsd was that i was looking for.
The first post in my life on this forum was if this Os has future because i don't want to use any other and i want to stay here.
You make me believe on this Os and here i am :)
Now after half year i am still in love with freebsd and i don't want to change to other OS :)
 
One day I want something new on my computer but I didn't want Windows and because I was IBM DOS user I installed OS/2. I think it was a 1993 when I installed Debian and I hade dual boot: OS/2, Debian.
Now is just FreeBSD on my machine.
 
I left Windows as soon as it introduced online activation making it into a toy operating system.

I left Linux after I realized that every single distro makes you completely reliant on their online package servers and as you know, making the whole IT infrastructure rely on a free community project's server is not ideal

I came to FreeBSD and found that with the Ports framework, it simply shows me the changes that I need to make to any 3rd party source code for it to compile. This IMO makes FreeBSD the *only* operating system that can be used offline.

Though I do find it funny... Download a single OpenOffice package for windows... it installs... Download a single OpenOffice package for Unix and you get thousands of errors saying that the package is lacking the actual software... I do know the reasons but it does make Unix particularly unsuited for running large applications e.g OpenOffice, VirtualBox etc...

*I tried Mac OS X for a few weeks but realized that as soon as a new Mac OS X comes out, Apple and the rest of the world completely stops supporting the previous version making it useless for anyone other than children.

*Arch linux is not a solution for "Ports on linux" because rather than compile all the required software, it instead downloads dependencies via its community web server and only compiles the originally single bit of software, not its dependencies recursively.
 
well...dunno why do u like so much about an OS(in this case fbsd)that doesn't have flash and it is difficult to install-flash-! gnash is SO buggy,crappy,slow,heavy,lousy,blablabla...
:OOO
 
well...dunno why do u like so much about an OS(in this case fbsd)that doesn't have flash and it is difficult to install-flash-! gnash is SO buggy,crappy,slow,heavy,lousy,blablabla...
Because this is not Freebsd's problem. Is Adobes's problem that don't release flash for BSD.
Also if you finally install flash you will have no problem because is responding just perfect to everything.
And bsd have ufs/zfs/dtrace/, is more secure, more stable, has not 1000000 distros, excellent community, don't like to be easy 0S with gui apps and easy setup, over 21000 packages on ports, no binary packages but source to compile, flags, compelete pure unix and a lot more.
If you don't like it, don't use it (don't take it personal). Everyone make his choices. But from my turn i will stay here :)
 
Topic answer: The old astlavista site, searching for "portable OS", a blurb.

Basically, the BSDs are fun to use. Interactive learning.

It's been posted multiple times, someone from this community tried to get adobe to make a bsd compatible flash plugin.
The excuse? Basically, not enough people that use the system.
That's bobagem.
 
Was using gentoo 2005, someone mentioned freeBSD 4.6 in irc and been using linux/freeBSD ever since. Laptops run Linux and my desktops run freeBSD/linux. Servers run free/openBSD and my cluster runs freeBSD.
 
kpedersen said:
...Though I do find it funny... Download a single OpenOffice package for windows... it installs... Download a single OpenOffice package for Unix and you get thousands of errors saying that the package is lacking the actual software... I do know the reasons but it does make Unix particularly unsuited for running large applications e.g OpenOffice, VirtualBox etc...

Haha I'm totally agree with that ]=)
 
jumbotron said:
well...dunno why do u like so much about an OS(in this case fbsd)that doesn't have flash and it is difficult to install-flash-! gnash is SO buggy,crappy,slow,heavy,lousy,blablabla...
:OOO

I ask myself the same. On Linux works much more applications better and faster (GNOME, KDE, OO..., flash...K3b...)
 
Code:
I ask myself the same. On Linux works much more applications better and faster (GNOME, KDE, OO..., flash...K3b...)
I don't belive that. Will work perfect if you know to setup everything correctly.
Well that needs a lot of time because there are a lot of things that we don't even know that they exist (including me)
It's a pure unix & open source. That means that you can configure & change everything as you want.
The point is to know to do it.
 
In risk of this topic becoming an all out linux vs freebsd war...

we shall all agree that linux is an unusable mess, and move on :D
 
i prefer penguin! i hate to death the million distros...(puke)

i like bsd cause just only 10 distros!(please stop it there-i mean NO MORE distros-)
 
sk8harddiefast said:
jumbotron i am not attacking you :(
Both of them have good and bad things.
As any OS. Just everyone choose that he thinks is the best solution for him.

It is the same question as is BMW better than Mercedes...for example.
 
lumiwa said:
It is the same question as is BMW better than Mercedes...for example.

Well, not to fan the dying embers of an incipient flamewar, but I think even the BMW vs Mercedes question is objectively answerable. But first you have to specify: better for what?

FreeBSD is better than Linux for some purposes, and Linux is better for others.

Another meaning of the word "better" refers to aesthetics. An operating system, like an automobile, can have a certain elegance and sleekness that make it a joy to behold. But here again, you can't have a rational debate without first specifying the aesthetic criteria you're using. If others don't agree on those criteria, there's really no point in arguing about whether A meets them better than B does.
 
ckester said:
Well, not to fan the dying embers of an incipient flamewar, but I think even the BMW vs Mercedes question is objectively answerable. But first you have to specify: better for what?

FreeBSD is better than Linux for some purposes, and Linux is better for others.

Another meaning of the word "better" refers to aesthetics. An operating system, like an automobile, can have a certain elegance and sleekness that make it a joy to behold. But here again, you can't have a rational debate without first specifying the aesthetic criteria you're using. If others don't agree on those criteria, there's really no point in arguing about whether A meets them better than B does.

Ckester, I fully agree with you. I use FreeBSD because it fits my preferences.

Let me explain.
I use Windows on our families PC because of the games and applications that we like. Some of them require Windows. At work I have to use Windows because it is the required Campus OS and for the applications I have to use.

I use FreeBSD on our home's NAS and Server because it runs UNIX applications better than other OS's I have tried. For me Linux does not. I am not saying Linux is bad. I admin around 120 Linux/Solaris/AIX/SCO/HPUX/SGI servers where I work. They were picked because of either vendor preference or because the project required a certain OS.

Now before I get flamed please re-read what I said. It's either a user preference or a vendor/project requirement.

Admin, if this thread starts to be only a flame war, please disable posting.
 
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