Category Archives: Privat

Why FreeBSD – My Personal view.

Hi,

Just a review of myself since i’ve need it for my talk :-)

I’ve started playing with Linux in 2000/1, and since then I have been switching between Linux and Windows from time to time. By the end of 2001, I switched completely to Linux because I had enough of windows blue screens problem. After some hardcore testings of other distributions like debian, slax, crux, fedora, suse and gentoo, I finally stayed with Gentoo for 1 ½ years. But after portage got more and more buggy, I started to look for a new challenge. I’ve met some BSD Guys in IRC, and after a while I setup FreeBSD in dual boot and started playing with it. I was really surprised on how fast and stable it runs, and also the community impressed me with their helpfulness. If you ask anything over the mailing list, you will always get helpful answers from the developers and users. My experience with Linux community is totally the opposite. It was common for me to get answers such as “RTFMâ€? or “Try googleâ€?, which is not what I hoped for. I still remember today how many times I had to reinstall Linux just to fix up some mess. After a while with Linux I have the impression that Linux is going more and more towards mainstream, which is of course nice for the end users, but the fact that anyone can install Linux without knowing what happened in the background makes it even worse. Not to mention about the kernel size, which I have always seen some new stuff in, but the old codes were left unmaintained. This leads to a bigger kernel with more security holes, which leads to system instability. The kernel is now 63MB, which is so much bigger compared to FreeBSD kernel.

I believe that Linux now has a big user base where 70% of the users do not understand what is occurring in the background or if they even know what ‘terminal’ is Thank you Ubuntu, Suse, Fedora. Well alright I think I stop here because you maybe start thinking that I’m bashing Linux, which I am not :-) . I also have a lot of good experience with Linux :) and of course I won’t forget which user base I was from :) .

In November 2005, I moved completely to FreeBSD. After a while using FreeBSD, I was thinking on how to give something back to the community. I started submitting patches to the FreeBSD project, and in Jun 2006 I got my FreeBSD ports commit bit. Since then I am one of the most active member in the Project. At least, this is something that I could do in return of being able to enjoy a good and a stable system with a big choice of applications that is easy to handle using the package management system.

There are a lot of things that I love about FreeBSD, and I bet you know most of them already. FreeBSD has a clean structure that makes it so easy to understand. It is a rock solid system, very stable and easy to maintained. For applications, you have a choice between package system, if you want it fast, or the famous ports system, if you wish to compile applications yourselves with specific options. Another great thing about ports system is its easy framework, which provides flexibility to FreeBSD users to build their own stuff.

FreeBSD’s user base is probably not as big as Linux’s, but I can safely say that FreeBSD’s community support is one of the best in the open source world. As I have mentioned previously, I have not been in a more helpful community than FreeBSD’s. If you’re in the mailing list or a community member, you’ll know what I mean :) .

FreeBSD has a lot to offer to new users. The deep learning curve is probably tough for a first timer, but all is worth it. And FreeBSD has the best gift to new users, the handbook. FreeBSD handbook is one of the best documented operating system, and this is another reason why I like FreeBSD so much.

Well there another 5000 reason…

So long miwi :-)

still life but ..

sadly I did’t found free time to write here anything, real job makes
me too busy, it’s huge fun even if it is not always easy.  I am now
almost three months in Kuala Lumpur, and I am still impressed by the
large squares, by the peoples and the culture. I did’t found time
to go more outside, but i think/hope this will change someday.
Oh yes i found here a FreeBSD Geek, I am very impressed by this
people because I’ve never tought I will find someone here, that
has the Technical understanding, it must be added that we interested
have some commonalities. I hope I get this opportunity people even
closer to get to know :-) . Food and drink tastes good, I am doing
quite well so far…

PS: Pics can you find on Facebook :)

= Martin

Kuala Lumpur first Impressionen!

Well more or less the first week is over now, It’s
very hot here and we european guys need to learn
here with the climate, and of course with the other
timezone :) . The culture here is very nice and very
friendly, eating is ok so far, there are also MC
Donalds, Buerger King, Pizza Hut etc. we don’t miss
anything here.

Mostly you’ll find a lot of meals with chicken in
all possible variations but all what we found/got
was tasty :) . My new Job is nice, i’ve learned a
lot over the week here, but unfortunately my english
is very bad to hear and spelling right but i think
thats not alone my fault the peoples here speak very
very fast and whisper that you can’t hear all right :)
But all my colleagues help me if i need that :)
(many thanks Guys!)

This was all the good thing, now the only bad news,
my Laptop is gone, the sata controller thought it
is too hot here and and didn’t want to work longer
here so now it’s broken. Tomorrow I get a new one
with hoping to get FreeBSD installed quickly and
hopefully without any big problems. My plan was to
get Xorg finish this week but i have 2 problems
in the house we don’t have internet yet and too
much stress in the office to start fixing all the
problems I really hope to get this finish over the
Weekend.

So finally here are two urls with pics i made here.
First one is from the hotel where we sleeped the
first night and the secound url is from the house
where we live now.

First Days
House

- Martin

Moving to Kuala Lumpur

Now that everything is alright I’d like you to inform you that
I’ve got the best chance of my life! I got a job offer in
Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) to work as a System Administrator.
The plan is to move next week on Thursday, the flight is
12 hours, a long boring time :-) That will be my first flight and
I’m a bit nervous :)

The good thing is that the time I have to work for
FreeBSD will not be affected.

I’ve created a new category Kuala Lumpur here in my
Blog. I think that if I find a bit of time I’ll post some
news with some pics.