What is Exacty BSD?

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MikeSalZap

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hello... well i was reading a little and i don't realy understand what is exactly the BSD
i know that is "Berkeley Software Distribution" and that originaly was close source and now is open but...
whats the concept of it ? i don't realy get it ...
is it better than linux, is it linux compatible?
 
FreeBSD is a BSD distribution like Ubuntu is a Linux distribution. BSD systems can have Linux binary compatibility installed but aren't by default. "Better" is a matter of opinion but many regard it as more secure and more stable but often more complex and more difficult to administer than Linux. Those are just opinions.
 
BSD is like the Server editions of Windows to a home user. While it can have some of the same functionality as the versions used at home by users, it requires a bit more to get such things working that you expect out of the box. They are much harder to get used to and handle, but when you do they are powerful.
 
Ah I should have seen this before,

BSD is essentially the oldest most stable unix out there and is a direct decendant of the Original AT&T Bell labs unix. It is a rock solid stable system that is used for lots of serious servers and network applications.
Linux while similar is not the same BSD predates it and has a more mature code base and some will also argue developer mentality, features only get committed to the main release when they serve a function and are stable and code is reviewed before being committed to release and not every tom dick and harry can contribute to a release.
 
ok ok... then if BSD is like a Unix Direct Decendant, like the AT&T's original, so... is there some place that you can get the original Unix (just for curiosity), and if so, which kind of peaple will us it... like in Disney Servers or something like it ???
repeat JUST curiosity...
 
I think the origional Unix wasn't free. It cost like hundreds of dollars, right Saxon? My knowledge on this is slim.
 
MoM is correct, you can't find a copy of the original unix but there is possibly some (less than a klock of code and that is a very old estimate too) of the original unix source in BSD given the last count and most of it is in the Kernel. The closest you can get is FreeBSD or possibly System 7 (although I haven't looked into system 7 in a long time it is from the same lab and was designed as a replacement and can't vouch for how much of the source is still there).

The reason I say possibly is that there was a legal battle with AT&T / Bell about the giving away of the code and compiled binary's, this was at the dawn of the popular domestic ISP market and the uptake of Comp Sci as a good alternative to science or engineering and most students when in the lab wanted a unix box at home, When they saw the legal battle that was jeopardizing life of FreeBSD they chose Linux as a alternative and when they matriculated university and it was the dawn of the .com boom and they needed a few dosen servers on the cheep they used Linux over BSD as they had experience with it even though BSD offered stability and features that Linux either had but where unstable or just totally non existent, after that it was a toss up with SunOS (now Solaris, that was back then almost BSD with sun branding) or BSD.

I have for a time thought about trying to get as much of the old code as I can find (pre FreeBSD 4.0) code and a system that belongs in a museum and seeing what I can get out of it. Unix is the grand daddy of all serious unix systems out there and provides a stable platform that most commercial unix platforms and most of the open source hash jobs just can't hold a candle too.
 
ooohhh... (sorry if i didnt reply before)...
then BSD and almost unix-like systems are mostly stable because is a much more primitive code, and you can say is more... pure ?... and be cause of that you can say is more stable than a newer OS, ???, (i mean, like a example of a totally new OS) ???
 
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