FreeBSD or Linux?

[Alastria]

Some recent upgrades have caused me to have a spare P3-600 MHz (w/ 384MB RAM and GF2-MX400 AGP video), and I'd like to run Linux on it. Since its a spare, I just need it for basic web surfing, email, office, mp3s, samba etc. It also needs to work w/ a wi-fi card, as it will be upstairs, and the router downstairs.

My linux knowledge is somewhere just above beginner. I've used it sparingly over the years, and I'd like to know more (why I'm doing this).

I've been investigating distros until my eyes are bleary. The ones that look the best are Fedora Core 4 or Debian Sarge.

But what has me interested is FreeBSD. Its Ports system looks impressive. But how hardcore is BSD? Can I find BSD wlan drivers for my wifi card? And which will run better on an old P3?

I don't want the thread to descend into some sort of BSD vs. Linux thing. I'd just like to know which would be better in my situation. Thanks.

 

[bersl2]

I say coin flip.

 

[Nothinman]

Debian.

 

[phisrow]

BSD is usable as a desktop OS, certainly; but it is best known for being a highly portable, and pretty much bulletproof, server OS. I'd go Linux on this one, though you could certainly make things work either way.

 

[djdrastic]

Ports Will set you free , not saying yum , apt and the rest are bad its just that ports are brilliant

 

[Nothinman]

Ports Will set you free , not saying yum , apt and the rest are bad its just that ports are brilliant

Ports are far from brilliant.

 

[stars]

Slackware

 

[n0cmonkey]

What wifi card?

 

[n0cmonkey]

Originally posted by: Nothinman

Ports Will set you free , not saying yum , apt and the rest are bad its just that ports are brilliant

Ports are far from brilliant.

:roll:

 

[Alastria]

Originally posted by: n0cmonkey
What wifi card?

I already have a spare Belkin F5D6050 USB 802.11b. If that didn't work, I thought about picking up a Linksys WUSB11 from NewEgg for $14 AR ($39-$25 MIR).

 

[djdrastic]

N0c

Yeah Double :roll: :roll: from me

 

[Nothinman]

I already have a spare Belkin F5D6050 USB 802.11b. If that didn't work, I thought about picking up a Linksys WUSB11 from NewEgg for $14 AR ($39-$25 MIR).

It's hard to say if it'll work without knowing what chipset it uses and most manufacturers don't put that information any place easy to find. But I would avoid Linksys stuff like the plague, almost all of their new stuff uses Broadcom chipsets which you will never find native Linux support for, I would instead suggest a Ralink based card: http://ralink.rapla.net/

 

[n0cmonkey]

Originally posted by: Nothinman

I already have a spare Belkin F5D6050 USB 802.11b. If that didn't work, I thought about picking up a Linksys WUSB11 from NewEgg for $14 AR ($39-$25 MIR).

It's hard to say if it'll work without knowing what chipset it uses and most manufacturers don't put that information any place easy to find. But I would avoid Linksys stuff like the plague, almost all of their new stuff uses Broadcom chipsets which you will never find native Linux support for, I would instead suggest a Ralink based card: http://ralink.rapla.net/

Agreed. The D-Link G122 hardware rev. B1 works great under OpenBSD and Mac OS X. If you want PCI, search for edimax on newegg and get the 802.11g card. I've got 2 and they work great.

 

[Batti]

Try Damn Small Linux! Debian based, whole distro is 50MB. Boot from CD or USB.

Use the 'toram' option and run it all in memory. Nice and fast. This message being sent from Damn Small Linux via wireless on an old laptop.

DSL

 

[Alastria]

Originally posted by: Nothinman

I already have a spare Belkin F5D6050 USB 802.11b. If that didn't work, I thought about picking up a Linksys WUSB11 from NewEgg for $14 AR ($39-$25 MIR).

It's hard to say if it'll work without knowing what chipset it uses and most manufacturers don't put that information any place easy to find. But I would avoid Linksys stuff like the plague, almost all of their new stuff uses Broadcom chipsets which you will never find native Linux support for, I would instead suggest a Ralink based card: http://ralink.rapla.net/

Thanks! I did some digging and found it had an amtel chipset, and found a Sourceforge project for drivers for it. My adapter is listed in its USB table, so I'll try that. I noticed that table also lists the Linksys WUSB11, but only v2.1 and v2.6. I have no idea which version it is that NewEgg is selling.

I'm also considering getting a wireless bridge, which may be simpler. NewEgg has a Linksys WAP11 for $15.99 AR. I could put the WAP in wireless bridge mode, and just use the Netgear wired ethernet card I've got inside the PC. Linux support for just a standard old ethernet card should be much better than the wireless stuff.