152 lines
7.6 KiB
Plaintext
152 lines
7.6 KiB
Plaintext
<!-- $Id: nutshell.sgml,v 1.5 1995/09/01 04:54:14 jfieber Exp $ -->
|
|
<!-- The FreeBSD Documentation Project -->
|
|
|
|
<sect><heading>FreeBSD in a nutshell<label id="nutshell"></heading>
|
|
|
|
<p>FreeBSD is a state of the art operating system for
|
|
personal computers based on the Intel CPU architecture, which
|
|
includes the 386, 486 and Pentium processors (both SX and DX versions).
|
|
Intel compatible CPUs from AMD and Cyrix are supported as well.
|
|
FreeBSD provides you with many advanced features previously available
|
|
only on much more expensive computers. These features include:
|
|
|
|
<itemize>
|
|
<item><bf>Preemptive multitasking</bf> with dynamic priority
|
|
adjustment to ensure smooth and fair sharing of the
|
|
computer between applications and users.</item>
|
|
<item><bf>Multiuser</bf> access means that many people can use a
|
|
FreeBSD system simultaneously for a variety of things. System
|
|
peripherals such as printers and tape drives are also properly
|
|
shared between all users on the system.</item>
|
|
<item>Complete <bf>TCP/IP networking</bf> including SLIP, PPP, NFS
|
|
and NIS support. This means that your FreeBSD machine can
|
|
interoperate easily with other systems as well act as an enterprise
|
|
server, providing vital functions such as NFS (remote file access) and
|
|
e-mail services or putting your organization on the Internet
|
|
with WWW, ftp, routing and firewall (security) services.</item>
|
|
<item><bf>Memory protection</bf> ensures that applications (or
|
|
users) cannot interfere with each other. One application
|
|
crashing will not affect others in any way.</item>
|
|
<item>FreeBSD is a <bf>32-bit</bf> operating system and was designed
|
|
as such from the ground up.</item>
|
|
<item>The industry standard <bf>X Window System</bf> (X11R6)
|
|
provides a graphical user interface (GUI) for the cost of a
|
|
common VGA card and monitor and comes with full sources.</item>
|
|
<item><bf>Binary compatibility</bf> with many programs built for SCO,
|
|
BSDI, NetBSD, and 386BSD.</item>
|
|
<item>Hundreds of <bf>ready-to-run</bf> applications are
|
|
available from the
|
|
FreeBSD <bf>ports</bf> and <bf>packages</bf>
|
|
collection. Why search the net when you can find it all
|
|
right here?</item>
|
|
<item>Thousands of additional and <bf>easy-to-port</bf> applications
|
|
available on the Internet. FreeBSD is source code compatible
|
|
with most popular commercial Unix systems and thus most
|
|
applications require few, if any, changes to compile.</item>
|
|
<item>Demand paged <bf>virtual memory</bf> and `merged VM/buffer cache'
|
|
design efficiently satisfies applications with large appetites
|
|
for memory while still maintaining interactive response to other
|
|
users.</item>
|
|
<item><bf>Shared libraries</bf> (the Unix equivalent of
|
|
MS-Windows DLLs) provide for efficient use of disk space
|
|
and memory.</item>
|
|
<item>A full compliment of <bf>C</bf>, <bf>C++</bf> and
|
|
<bf>Fortran</bf> development tools. Many additional
|
|
languages for advanced research and development are
|
|
also available in the ports and packages collection.</item>
|
|
<item><bf>Source code</bf> for the entire system means you have
|
|
the greatest degree of control over your environment. Why be
|
|
locked into a proprietary solution and at the mercy of your vendor
|
|
when you can have a truly Open System?</item>
|
|
<item>Extensive <bf>on-line documentation</bf>.</item>
|
|
<item><bf>And many more!</bf></item>
|
|
</itemize>
|
|
|
|
FreeBSD is based on the BSD 4.4-lite release from Computer
|
|
Systems Research Group (CSRG) at the University of
|
|
California at Berkeley, and carries on the distinguished
|
|
tradition of BSD systems development. In addition to the
|
|
fine work provided by CSRG, the FreeBSD Project has put in
|
|
many thousands of hours in fine tuning the system for
|
|
maximum performance and reliability in real-life load
|
|
situations. As many of the commercial giants struggle to
|
|
field PC operating systems with such features, performance
|
|
and reliability, FreeBSD can offer them <bf>now</bf>!
|
|
|
|
The applications to which FreeBSD can be put are truly
|
|
limited only by your own imagination. From software
|
|
development to factory automation, inventory control to
|
|
azimuth correction of remote satellite antennae; if it can
|
|
be done with a commercial UNIX product then it's more than
|
|
likely that you can do it with FreeBSD, too! FreeBSD also
|
|
benefits significantly from the literally thousands of high
|
|
quality applications developed by research centers and
|
|
universities around the world, often available at little
|
|
to no cost. Commercial applications are also available
|
|
and appearing in greater numbers every day.
|
|
|
|
Because the source code for FreeBSD itself is generally
|
|
available, the system can also be customized to an almost
|
|
unheard of degree for special applications or projects, and
|
|
in ways not generally possible with operating systems from
|
|
most major commercial vendors. Here is just a sampling of
|
|
some of the applications in which people are currently
|
|
using FreeBSD:
|
|
|
|
<itemize>
|
|
<item><bf>Internet Services:</bf> The robust TCP/IP networking
|
|
built into FreeBSD makes it an ideal platform for a
|
|
variety of Internet services such as:
|
|
<itemize>
|
|
<item>FTP servers</item>
|
|
<item>World Wide Web servers</item>
|
|
<item>Gopher servers</item>
|
|
<item>Electronic Mail servers</item>
|
|
<item>USENET News</item>
|
|
<item>Bulletin Board Systems</item>
|
|
<item>And more...</item>
|
|
</itemize>
|
|
You can easily start out small with an inexpensive 386
|
|
class PC and upgrade as your enterprise grows.</item>
|
|
<item><bf>Education:</bf> Are you a student of computer science
|
|
or a related engineering field? There is no better way
|
|
of learning about operating systems, computer
|
|
architecture and networking than the hands on, under the
|
|
hood experience that FreeBSD can provide. A number of
|
|
freely available CAD, mathematical and graphic design
|
|
packages also make it highly useful to those who's
|
|
primary interest in a computer is to get <em>other</em>
|
|
work done!</item>
|
|
<item><bf>Research:</bf> With source code for the entire system
|
|
available, FreeBSD is an excellent platform for research
|
|
in operating systems as well as other branches of
|
|
computer science. FreeBSD's freely available nature also
|
|
makes it possible for remote groups to collaborate on
|
|
ideas or shared development without having to worry about
|
|
special licensing agreements or limitations on what
|
|
may be discussed in open forums.</item>
|
|
<item><bf>Networking:</bf> Need a new router? A name server
|
|
(DNS)? A firewall to keep people out of your internal
|
|
network? FreeBSD can easily turn that unused 386 or 486 PC
|
|
sitting in the corner into an advanced router with
|
|
sophisticated packet filtering capabilities. </item>
|
|
<item><bf>X Window workstation:</bf> FreeBSD is a fine
|
|
choice for an inexpensive X terminal solution, either
|
|
using the freely available XFree86 server or one
|
|
of the excellent commercial servers provided by X Inside.
|
|
Unlike an X
|
|
terminal, FreeBSD allows many applications to be run
|
|
locally, if desired, thus relieving the burden on a
|
|
central server. FreeBSD can even boot
|
|
"diskless", making individual workstations even cheaper
|
|
and easier to administer.</item>
|
|
<item><bf>Software Development:</bf> The basic FreeBSD system
|
|
comes with a full compliment of development tools
|
|
included the renowned GNU C/C++ compiler and
|
|
debugger. </item>
|
|
</itemize>
|
|
|
|
FreeBSD is available in both source and binary form on CDROM and
|
|
via anonymous ftp. See <ref id="mirrors" name="Obtaining FreeBSD">
|
|
for more details.
|