Dark Atheist

sorry if this is in the wrong place but as per the tile which would people go for, i have enough knowledge to set up both, im just not sure as to which one to use

j79zlr

Server for what? File storage, email, webserver, etc.

My answer is going to be linux unless you want/need active directory and/or exchange.

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NetRyder

Agreed.

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LordOfLA

I'll throw a spanner in here: FreeBSD

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Dark Atheist

web - to host my film collection using vcddb, and ftp/storage -all for home use, yes i was leaning towards linux myself.

as to frebsd - im not that grat with linux, so i think freebsd isnt an option - plus i have no cdrs atm to test it out, why dont they release a dvd - got plenty of those

LordOfLA

freebsd is imo easier to use than linux.

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Dark Atheist

i thought i had freebsd 5.2 floating about here somewhere but i dont - and im fresh out of cdrs (rarely use them now) so cant test it

madmatt

I second FreeBSD, especially for web hosting. If you have a lot of money lying around then go with Server 2003.

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Dark Atheist

even if its just going to be used in home,webhosting is not going out onto inet

LordOfLA

Really. I just switched my servers back to FreeBSD after a year running various linux distros (had to get up to speed with them and learn various software interactions for work). I also have a 2003 server for "other things" but I can pay for that monthly.

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Dark Atheist

just as i will have to learn all the feebsd commands if i choose it, diong a bit of reading on their site now

LordOfLA

90% of them are identical to linux. After all, Linux is an attempt at a unix like OS. FreeBSD being full on Unix is much more resilliant and capable though. Additionally with everything being in a set place you'll know where to find configuration files.

I truly believe it is the easier non-windows OS to spring form while also being the more powerful and able of them.

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Dark Atheist

well i need to wait till a friend brings over some blank cdrs for me ( im not buying a pack of 25 just for a few cdrs i need ) and maybe i will give it a go, see how i feel with it, on a diff note can it be used as a desktop os too, or is it more suited to server role ?

Geffy

It can run Xorg, gnome and kde just like any of the linux distros.

The best thing about FreeBSD is the quality of the man pages (some ones for Linux are appalling) and the availability of the FreeBSD Handbook

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Dark Atheist

might add it to my laptop as well then - we have to see how i get on with it i suppose

Dark Atheist

the more i read it comes down to two OS's slackware and freebsd, and quite a few are using both, now i dont kow wether to use freebsd for server and my laptop, or use slackware.........sigh - on a plus side all the reviews i have been reading praised freebsd but go on about a drive geometry bug, can someone fill me in on that? what excatly does it not see right ?

LordOfLA

What geometry bug? All my hard disks (SATA or PATA) are deteced correctly.

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Dark Atheist

just alot of the reviews and various other webpages/forums kept refering to that partitular bug, is there a way to get the bootonly iso onto a usb key so you can install it from there ?

Geffy

I've only had a drive geometry problem with FreeBSD when using one of those NetCell RAID card things which only failed because it returns spurious geometry information

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Dark Atheist

ok last thing im not too clear on although i know it will do it, but how mature is freebsd in the way of lvm.