On Thu, 20 Jun 1996, john goerzen wrote:

> NOTE: please CC a copy of your reponse to me at jgoerzen@complete.org 
> because I'm not subscribed to this list!
> 
> Hi,
> 
> I am currently running FreeBSD on my PC and am very happy with it, except 
> for one thing: It lacks good DOS emulation.  All it has are two slow X 
> programs, pcemu and Bochs.
> 
> I am looking at switching over to NetBSD because it has DOSEMU.  I have a 
> few questions before I do, though.
> 
>  - How easy is it to install NetBSD?
>  - Does the DOSEMU program work over non-console terminals?
>  - Will NetBSD read my FreeBSD filesystems?  (FreeBSD uses ufs, I believe)
>  - How good is NetBSD's Linux emulation?  (Even though I don't run it 
>    personally, a good test is how well it runs Linux doom or Netscape)
>  - Does it have sound capabilities for the Pro Audio Studio/Spectrum
>    sound card?
>  - How about PPP?  How good is it?
>  - Security and networking are also things I need to know about.
>  - Support?  How do I get it and how good is it.  I have been very impressed
>    with FreeBSD -- have even spoken to the project president a few times.
>    They are very helpful.
>  - Installation methods.  Can I install it from a PPP connection or
>    CDROM?
>  - Binary-level compatibility.  Will it run FreeBSD binaries without
>    recompilation?  I know FreeBSD has a NetBSD emulator; does NetBSD
>    have a FreeBSD emulator?
>  - Where can I get a NetBSD CD-ROM?
> 
> Thanks in advance for your help!
> 
> John Goerzen
> 
> (PS...remember to CC a copy to me at jgoerzen@complete.org -- thanks!)
> 
> 
	      
	Although I am rather new to the NetBSD realm, I will seek to
answer as many of your questions to the best of my ability. NetBSD comes
not on a CD-ROM, but is available from ftp.netbsd.org in the appropriate
/pub/NetBSD path. It is installed by means of pre-built kernels and 
installer files which are mirrored onto floppy disks. These are used to 
boot a perspective NetBSD system and install the basic file system. There 
are tar'd files which contain the base, manual, security, source code, 
and other sets which are either copied as whole tar.gz files or cat'd 
from floppy sized fragments (base11.aa ,base11.ab, etc.). NetBSD uses the 
same OS ID as FreeBSD (0xA5), so getting the partitions to co-exist may 
be a problem. I have yet to see anything about DOS emulators, but there 
is a mount_msdos utility which I figure FreeBSD also has. Hope I answered 
some of your questions.

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