[wplug] Preparing for distro Upgrade

[Brandon Kuczenski]

> > So.... Question 1: Linux or BSD?  And whichever one I choose, should I 
> > burn the isos myself for the InstallFest on July 10? Or will they likely 
> > be there already?
> 
> Boy, that's a loaded question ... you're liable to start a flame war!
> 
> Being a well-known BSD advocated, I'm going to run on the assumption that
> I can express my opinion here without getting flamed to death ;)
> 
> I think you should use FreeBSD (did you see that coming?)  Especially in
> a server environment.  In my experience, FreeBSD has better NFS services
> as well as better overall performance in a server environment than Linux.

Okay... well... my only concern, then, is that I have no idea how far the 
similarities go between Linux and BSD.  Obviously I won't be putting in a 
"2.6 kernel"... but I can still run GNU emacs?  BSD vs. Debian are MORE 
different than Redhat vs. SuSe, but they're LESS different than Redhat vs. 
Windows?  From an administrator's standpoint (basically all command-line 
stuff for me) are they really different?

I would need to install Samba, some MTA (I guess I could look into 
fetchmail; I've been using Sendmail up to now); some web server..... so 
many choices!!  I'm starting to get a little overwhelmed (this was 
supposed to be a weekend project)

I would love to learn a new system, but if it's too far removed from 
Linux, which I use every-day on my laptop, then the skills won't 
necessarily be transferrable, which makes me anxious, because, not having 
grown up hacking (and so, lacking some familiarity that some of you 
probably have), I already spend *so much* time in my life getting my 
various computers working.

My conflict is between finding the right solution to the problem and 
being able to live with it.

I also noticed there's a barely-used BSD mailing list on WPLUG. 

Um. Does anyone use it?


> Anyway, I'll try to remember to bring my FreeBSD CDs to the installfest
> (I have both 5.2.1 and 4.10 here) but a reminder close to the time
> wouldn't hurt ...
> 

You'll get it, as well as probably a request for some personal attention 
when I'm installing...

-Brandon