103 lines
4.2 KiB
Plaintext
103 lines
4.2 KiB
Plaintext
<!--
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$FreeBSD$
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about.sgml
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General information about FreeBSD. Most contents of this file
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come from the old ABOUT.TXT.
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-->
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<sect1>
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<title>About &os;</title>
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<para>What is &os;? &os; is an operating system based on 4.4 BSD
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Lite for Intel, AMD, Cyrix or NexGen <quote>x86</quote> based PC
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hardware and Compaq (formerly DEC) Alpha computers. Versions for
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the IA64 and PowerPC architectures are currently under
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development as well. &os; works with a
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very wide variety of PC peripherals and configurations and can be
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used for everything from software development to Internet Service
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Provision.</para>
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<para>This release of &os; contains everything you need to run
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such a system, including full source code for everything. With the
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source distribution installed you can literally recompile the entire
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system from scratch with one command, making it ideal for students,
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researchers or folks who simply want to see how it all works.</para>
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<para>A large collection of third party ported software (the
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<quote>Ports Collection</quote>) is also provided to make it easier
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for you to obtain and install all your favorite traditional UNIX
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utilities for &os;. Over 5000 ports, from editors to programming
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languages to graphical applications, make &os; a powerful and
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comprehensive operating environment that extends far beyond what's
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provided by many commercial versions of UNIX.</para>
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<para>For more documentation on this system it is recommended that
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you purchase The Complete FreeBSD, available from local bookstores
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and from The FreeBSD Mall (<ulink
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url="http://www.freebsdmall.com">http://www.freebsdmall.com</ulink>),
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as well as the 4.4BSD Document Set from O'Reilly Associates and the
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USENIX Association, ISBN 1-56592-082-1. We have no connection with
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O'Reilly, we're just satisfied customers!</para>
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<para>If you're new to &os; then you should also read
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<emphasis>everything</emphasis>
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listed in the Documentation menu on the boot floppy. It may seem
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like a lot to read, but you should at least acquaint yourself with
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the types of information available should you later get stuck. Once
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the system is installed, you can also revisit this menu and use a
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Web browser to read the installed FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions)
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and Handbook HTML documentation sets for &os;. Note that on-line
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versions of the <ulink
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url="http://www.freebsd.org/faq/">FAQ</ulink> and <ulink
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url="http://www.freebsd.org/handbook/">Handbook</ulink> are also
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available from the <ulink
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url="http://www.freebsd.org/">FreeBSD Project Web
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site</ulink>, if you have an Internet connection. See
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<filename>README.TXT</filename> for more information on the
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resources available to you.</para>
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<note>
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<para>If you read no other documentation before installing a given
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version of &os;, you should at least by all means <emphasis>read
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the errata</emphasis> for that release so that you don't stumble
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over problems which have already been found and fixed. The
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<filename>ERRATA.TXT</filename> file accompanying your release (it
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should be right next to this file) is obviously already out of
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date by definition, but other copies are kept updated on the net
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and should be consulted as the <quote>current errata</quote> for
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your release (this is also what your
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<filename>ERRATA.TXT</filename> file says, by the way). These
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other copies of the errata are located at:
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<orderedlist>
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<listitem>
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<para><ulink url="http://www.freebsd.org/releases/">http://www.freebsd.org/releases/</ulink></para>
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</listitem>
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<listitem>
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<para>ftp://ftp.freebsd.org/pub/FreeBSD/releases/your-release/ERRATA.TXT
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(and any sites which keep up-to-date mirrors of this
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location).</para>
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</listitem>
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</orderedlist>
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</para>
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</note>
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<warning>
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<para>While &os; does its best to safeguard against accidental
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loss of data, it's still more than possible to <emphasis>wipe out
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your entire disk</emphasis>
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with this installation! Please do not proceed to the
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final &os; installation menu unless you've adequately backed up
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any important data first! We really mean it!</para>
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</warning>
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</sect1>
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