I have the day off from BN so I decided to re-install these three operating systems:
Microsoft Windows XP Professional SP-2
cENTOS 4.2
FreeBSD 6.0
I chose to switch from Red Hat Fedora CORE 4 Security Enhanced Linux to cENTOS 4.2 because I carefully asessed my needs. I do not need cutting edge software releases for my needs including web browsing, e-mail, PIM, and light CD/DVD-Video copying. What I do need is a reliable, secure, and stable OS with the option of high up time. With so many radically different OSes being installed today, I do not want to upgrade any particular OS more than once per year; that means the Fedora CORE is no longer my best option. Since my knowledge of Linux is centered around Red Hat, I did not want to stray too far away. In essence, I need Red Hat Enterprise 4 SELinux, but I do not want to pay for their subscription and support services. cENTOS 4.2 is a good compromise because it is modeled very closely after RHEL 4 SELinux, but it is open source and free software. So, I am downloading cENTOS 4.2 via Bittorrent now. Once I have downloaded the file, I will check the MD5SUM and I will burn the DVD ISO onto a blank 4.7GB DVD-R disc. Then, I will delete all of the existing partitions on my 30GB HDD early this morning and I will use FDISK to create three 10GB partitions. First, I will install Windows XP Professional SP-2 on the first partition with a fixed 512MB swap file. Next, I will install cENTOS 4.2 on the second partition and I will also specify a 512MB swap partition plus I will install GRUB as my boot manager. Finally, I will install FreeBSD 6.0 on my last partition with a 512MB swap partition and I will choose not to install its own boot manager as I do not need any conflicts. This will be my special project for today.
I finished my special project today. It was a bit complex, but it was not impossible. I now have all three major OSes installed correctly on my HDD. Now, I have to install the appropriate Toshiba Satellite drivers for Windows XP Pro SP-2 and I have to upgrade the packages for both cENTOS 4.2 and FreeBSD. That will be my other special project over the course of this weekend. I noticed that when I boot into FreeBSD, it gives me the terminal screen. I do not yet know how to load up the graphical X software. I would like to learn how to do so soon so I can setup and upgrade that OS as well. One immediate difference that I noticed is that cENTOS 4.2 is much much faster than Red Hat Fedora CORE 4 SELinux. The entire OS loads and responds much more smoothly with less lag. I do not even recall RHFC4 SELinux behaving so quickly after a fresh re-installation. The other thing I noticed is that FreeBSD is even faster at least with respect to both the boot up process and the terminal logon. I read that FreeBSD is tuned for performance, diverse hardware compatibility, and security along with ease of usage for beginners. Perhaps that might be true.
