Hi, does any one knows the real difference b/w freeBSD and Linux, other than the fact that freeBSD is more unix based, and is operated only by one core team ? thanks!

Linux is Unix-like, meaning it acts like Unix but is slightly different in how programs interact and how you work w/ the system. (Technically, Linux is just the kernel. The entire OS is GNU running on the Linux kernel, hence the more accurate GNU/Linux title).

FreeBSD is Unix. Well, since SCO owns the copyright and trademarks to the name "Unix", all the BSD's and other Unix-like OSes aren't legally Unix. But BSD is the child of Berkeley Unix, so format-wise it's Unix. (There are several versions of BSD: FreeBSD is the most popular since it's designed for the X86 chips, OpenBSD is designed to be the most secure *nix available, and NetBSD has been ported to nearly every CPU every made. These are "the big 3" though other versions exist).

FreeBSD uses "ports" to install software whereas GNU/Linux uses RPM or DEB, depending on the distro. Most of the software available for Linux can be installed on BSD, especially if it's compiled from source. BSD can use the different GUI's available to GNU/Linux, such as KDE or GNOME, so visually you can't tell the difference. The CLI shell for GNU/Linux is bash whereas FreeBSD uses csh (the C shell) for root and sh (the Bourne shell) for users, by default.

Probably the biggest difference is that GNU/Linux was built to be a Unix clone; there is no Unix code used in it's creation but it has a Unix-like environment. There are other differences, but those are probably the biggest.

For those who don't know, OS X is based on the Darwin core OS utilizing FreeBSD underpinnings and uses the Mach kernel. It uses fink to allow for BSD "porting" of applications so users can use most of the F/OSS software available.

I see. Thus i suppose if u mastered freeBSD u infact mastered Unix ? Well, judging from what you said, i suppose freeBSD is supposedly more stable than ?

Well, there are several flavors of Unix. You got the *BSD's, Sun Solaris, HP-UX, AIX, SCO Unix, AT&T Unix, etc. So "mastering" Unix is sort of a misnomer, since each version will have it's own quirks. However, I would say mastering *BSD will put you ahead because it's the most common "true" Unix out there.

What do you mean by "more stable"? Linux has more commercial software built for it (via .rpm or .deb binaries) and is updated more frequently than *BSD so it can support more hardware. But yes, FreeBSD is extremely stable; it is slowly losing ground to Linux for enterprise servers but is still extremely popular.

Ar okay, understand it now. Thanks fer e information!

Btw, i was looking at all the various cool Linux screen shot, and i was wondering how they managed to do all those ? using GTK? Theres like displays showing system information and stuff.

GNOME and KDE both have a built-in tool for taking screen shots. All people do is pull up the windows they want then click the screenshot tool.

You mean those apps like system information and stuff are included in gnome and kde ?

for example:
http://www.lynucs.org/index.php?scre...189&p=scre en

This guy has some pretty cool system information thing on theright, and a weather report thing on the top left.

The task bar is also changed, it looks so much nicer than mine.

Yes. That particular screenshot is (obviously) a skin for GNOME, but much of the info included on it comes w/ GNOME by default. At the bottom of the page there's a listing of what was used in the screenshot: the system info appears to be part of the gDesklets app (it's just eye-candy for the GNOME system info app); it's also probably responsible for the weather app. I know KDE has a built-in weather app that can run in the kicker (that's the "taskbar").

You can always look at the home pages for KDE and GNOME to get a list of all their features or you can install them and just poke around. I usually use KDE when I run Linux (personal preference) and just rummage through the various menus to see what's available. Often the default programs are funcional but minimalistic; using secondary enhancement programs can make them much better, as the screenshot shows.

ar, ok, i get it now.. I went to the gnome website, it dint provide much links to other eye candy stuff that can be installed.

Just out of curiosity, do you know of any website that have listing of all the various eye candy applications that can be downloaded ?

like eg, windows have themexp websites, Apple has widgets tt can be downloaded etc.
I have been googling for such website, but to no avail. my googling skills isnt that good yet i guess =/