Linux Vs. FreeBSD 7123

what's wrong with compiling? i like it, it's very intoxicating

i was able to grasp the concept of exporting CFLAGS && CXXFLAGS variables and running (.-autogen.sh) && .-configure && make && su(do) make install in the first week i started using linux, which was slackware 9.0 btw.

and i like the fact u can automate compiles when u set up a new system very easily

like when i install a new distro and want all the xmms (or beep-media players plugins) compiled asap

i do something like this:

tar -xjvfnetdisk-xmms* (yes all my plugins are bz2 format); for i in *; do { cd "$i"; if -f autogen.sh; then .-autogen.sh && .-configure && make && sudo make install && cd ..; else .-configure && make && sudo make install && cd ..; fi; }; done

and it just compiles and installs all my plugins ...

i like this it brings a big 'wow' effect to my non technie friends. It's also very satisfactory to learn these 'new' read non windows things and expand your knowledge ... and in that decade i learned not even the fraction that i've learned within these awesome 3 yrs of using slackware! I sometimes wonder where i would stand if i had switched over 8 yrs ago when i was still young and my brain was still developping! (young ppl grasp things very rappidly!)

as for binary compatibility i have to say i bugtested openoffice1.9rc.. and there were only rpms available which i installed on my slackware 10.0 without the rpm2tgz conversion utility

rpm -Ivh --nodeps *.rpm and guess what ... it worked perfectly!

Also if i compile something i'm always able to do other things at the same time (the only exception is 3D games) the linux scheduler handles multiple tasks extremely well eg im running a celeron 600 mhz with 256 mb ram and ati radeon 9200 se 64 meg!