FreeBSD

FreeBSD rocks. I've been using FreeBSD as my free, Unix-like OS of choice since mid 1999. I used to be a Linux penguinista (for about six years before I discovered FreeBSD), but I got fed up when the 2.4 kernel came out and broke all my old stuff, so I started looking for alternatives. Yes, it was a knee-jerk reaction to cut and run but I'm glad I did; otherwise I wouldn't be using FreeBSD today.

These pages are hosted on a FreeBSD machine. Nifty, eh?

Why do I like FreeBSD so much, you may ask. Glad you asked. Let's start with things I view as strengths for FreeBSD.

• Organization. FreeBSD is a complete operating system, not just a kernel with a couple dozen groups' interpretation of what should be packaged with that kernel. The organizational model comes from there only being "one" FreeBSD, not a bunch of distributions of a common kernel with differing tools. Since there's just "one" FreeBSD it's easy to set and maintain informal standards that pretty much any FreeBSD machine you'll come across will stick to.
• Standards. FreeBSD may do some things differently than other operating systems, but it does things consistently. Organization and consistency are evident throughout the OS, from the uniform boot structure to the organized file system layout. Things have a place to go and, although it may differ than where the original application authors thought they should go, the system works well.
• Great software-management system. FreeBSD's Ports and Packages Collection is a system designed for easy installation, maintenance, upgrade and removal of software. Things stay organized when you use the Ports or Package system. Some believe the system is too rigid and not flexible, but once you understand what's really going on the system is very flexible.
• Performance. FreeBSD performs very well in most cases. SMP performance is a bit lacking in the 4.x series but the SMP system is being rewritten for 5.x, so hopefully SMP performance will improve.
• Experienced user base. On the whole, FreeBSD users are generally a pretty sharp crowd because most FreeBSD users have a reason for using FreeBSD besides buzzword status.
• Lots more, but I'm too lazy to write more tonight.

Ok, to be fair FreeBSD has some weaknesses as well.

• Lack of bleeding-edge, end-user hardware support. FreeBSD has often times been behind Linux in things like video drivers and the like. A lot of this can be attributed to most FreeBSD users worrying more about developing and using the OS than on marketing. It's assumed that companies will develop and support FreeBSD "on their own" if they are interested.
• Relatively poor SMP performance in the 4.x series. This one pretty much speaks for itself; when you get in to upscale hardware you're generally talking SMP and SMP performance isn't one of FreeBSD 4's stronger points.
• More, but I'm not writing any more tonight. :)

Useful links

• FreeBSD.org: the site to start looking for information about FreeBSD.
• The FreeBSD Handbook: a collection of documentation and directions for doing just about any basic task with FreeBSD. It's assumed that you have a bit of Unix experience going in, but the Handbook covers things pretty well otherwise.
• The FreeBSD Diary: a collection of stories, tips and news from someone that uses FreeBSD for their public (and private) server duties. This site is chock full of good info.
• FreshPorts: similar to Linux's FreshMeat, this site provides new things for use with FreeBSD's Ports system. Looking for something that you'd think someone would have ported already but doesn't seem to be in the Ports tree yet? Check FreshPorts.
• DRI on FreeBSD: Eric Anholt's personal site dedicated to XFree's Direct Rendering Infrastructure for FreeBSD. Eric is the XFree port maintainer for FreeBSD, has been integral in getting DRI to play nice on FreeBSD and is responsible for making sure DRI continues to work. His site is great if you want to see what's going on with X as it relates to FreeBSD.
• The FreeBSD Forums: a site that allows people to ask questions about FreeBSD (and other BSDs; there's also a Linux section if you're in to that sort of thing) and receive help from others. There's a lot of sharp people there; if you're stuck chances are someone there can help you out.
• Daemon News is a news site dedicated to the *BSDs. They have a particularly good article by Robert Watson about BSD advocacy.

My experiences with FreeBSD

This section is fairly short right now; more will be added as I write it. :) I've had a lot of good experiences with FreeBSD (along with a few bad ones, generally self-inflicted), but they were all learning experiences.

• FreeBSD as a Secure Mail Server Using sendmail and imap-uw: I decided to set up my own mail server and this is what I ended up with. It does AUTH-based relaying and encryption both directions (sending and receiving) if client support is there.
• Switching to Ports-installed sendmaili is definitely worth checking out if you are sick of rebuilding sendmail every time you update your machine via FreeBSD Update.
• Installing and Using procmail as the LDA for sendmail under FreeBSD: procmail is cool. Here is a nice way to use procmail across the board. This is part of my never-ending quest to make my mail server do more for me, offer more flexibility for the users that want to do more complex, automated mail management but not get in the way of the users that don't want to bother with any fancy stuff.
• FreeBSD Information and Tips is a page chock full of little tidbits that some may find helpful. The page consists of things that didn't warrant a page of their own, but could still be interesting.

Page created 20030406 00:23.
Page modified 20150626 23:29.
Comments? Suggestions? Send them to hemi@puresimplicity.net.