On 2003-02-14 11:49, David Forrai <david.forrai@gemair.com> wrote:
> When I decided to move to a free Unix clone, I wanted to try all
> before committing to one.  I wanted to download (DL) from the net.
> I did not want to buy a commercial package because I didn't want to
> waste the money if it didn't work out for me.  This is what I found
> when looking about 3 years ago:
>
> Linux - Most distributions are assembled by organizations with
> commercial interests.  Their sites make it difficult to DL and
> install a minimal system.  At best, they're geared toward DLing a
> 650 Mb CD image.  This forces you to have a wide pipe and DL much
> software (SW) you probably don't want.  Most encourage you purchase
> their commercial package.  Although they usually have easy
> installers, I found troubleshooting to be extremely difficult.
> Searching for a solution to a specific problem is like finding a
> needle in a haystack.
>
> FreeBSD - Similar to most Linux distributions.

Well, there is a way to download a minimal set of tarballs and install
only the bin/base distribution.  Then, there is always FTP-install :-)

> OpenBSD - Although this has improved since I first looked, I found
> no information on how to DL and install a minimal system.  The CD
> image is copyrighted and you were encouraged to purchase a preburned
> CD to support development efforts.

I have to admit this was one of the reasons I didn't initially start
to work with OpenBSD.  I just wanted to test it for a while.  Buying
things that I will possibly throw away seems a waste of money, and I
quickly started looking elsewhere.

- Giorgos