FreeBSD gear (Clothes, machines)

[Allen-37]

I'm wondering how many people here buy FreeBSD stuff. Like for example,
I have a FreeBSD teeshirt, a pair of FreeBSD boxers (very comfy by the
way) and I also purchase a lot of the things I find about FreeBSD
because, quite frankly, the quality of products are very high, and I
think Patrick Volkerding of Slackware Linux said it best when he said
"If you're trying to learn Linux / Unix, just read the BSD stuff, it
doesn't have the PR crap most Linux tech stuff has and gets to the
point". I think he's mostly right about that. If you've ever tried
reading over some of the Linux stuff other than Slackware, Debian, and
some of the SUSE stuff, you've probably noticed it's mostly PR and not
very technically and leaves you wondering sometimes why there aren't as
many answers. You read FreeBSD, and they have the PR stuff in the PR
section, and the tech stuff in the part it should be.

I think Slackware and FreeBSD must be pretty close; when I made an order
of a Slackware 4 CD-ROM set and a Slackware Mouse Pad, I also the same
day ordered a FreeBSD mouse pad, a FreeBSD CD-set, and a copy of EACH of
the FreeBSD books you can get on the FreeBSDMall page (It was a big
order, I got one of every book they sell except for the third edition of
"The Complete FreeBSD because I already had it, so I bought the newer
one available) and for the FreeBSD stuff I paid for overnight shipping.
I hate waiting a week to get stuff and I really wanted to see what was
in the books and see what the CDs were like, so I decided I'd try
overnights.

I was also not planning on waiting forever for my Slackware Store order
either and got second day shipping. I was shocked to see that 17 hours
later a huge package was on the porch with not only my FreeBSD stuff,
but the Slackware stuff too, in the same box. I only paid overnight on
BSD, but got Slackware too. It's like it came from the same place and
they noticed I had two orders and paid more for faster shipping.

I also noticed that the Slackware CDs and FreeBSD CDs look a lot alike,
and that the Slackware Book is a lot like a FreeBSD book (Font and all
that are very similar). Are the Slackware store and BSD Mall in the same
place?

Anyway, I love the books I got. I've read a lot of BSD stuff like NetBSD
and OpenBSD, but I've always been very partial to FreeBSD which is in my
eyes the better choice. That's why I'm on the Advocacy Mailing List, I
like spreading the word.

I actually got a phone call the day after my order came from a woman
asking of my order arrived OK, because she said one order had come back
and they were checking to see if it was mine, so I went over what I
ordered with her and she was actually shocked to see how much money I
spent and I almost chuckled because it's no where near the first time. I
basically said "Hey, as long as some of this gets back to the people who
make FreeBSD and it helps them in some way I'll keep making orders of
this size. Of course you'll need new products, but I don't mind helping
financially when I can".

I'm sort of wondering how much of any given order gets back to the
people who make FreeBSD, and spend their time doing it. I read somewhere
it was a certain percent, so I'm Hoping they do get something back.

I'm a persona who stands by what I like. I take crap for it sometimes,
we all do or will when we believe in something. When I was in college a
few years ago and my Professor was teaching Linux, I made sure my class
saw how neat my SUSE, Slackware, and FreeBSD installs looked and how
easy they were to make things happen.

I also got my teacher to talk about BSD a little more to show everyone
there were choices. I also made a card on the board that showed how to
do things in BSD VS Linux since there are a few differences here and there.

I tried to get a BSD class for the school, but my teacher admitted I
knew more about it than he did as he learned his Unix skill on HP-UX and
I have always been a more Linux / BSD guy. I wear my Slackware shirt and
my FreeBSD tee, and my Slackware and BSD buttons, and I spread the word
to people I think may try it out.

I also help out with tech stuff in my local area, and I'm also one who
offers to install FreeBSD, for free, to anyone who wants.

Basically, I do actually go out and not only promote FreeBSD, I help
make it happen, and I'm more or less wondering what other things people
on here do to get the word out.

As Marshall Kirk McKusick said "The Linux guys go out there and they do
things and they have more market share, and I think it's important we do
the same". I'd love to meet him, he's great. And a damn good speaker. :)

-Allen

PS; not to sound weird, but does anyone here have any neat hardware
configurations? Like a machine running FreeBSD that has like CD/DVD/Tape
/Cool hardware you're proud of? Thanks!
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[Matt Olander-2]

Sorry for the top post but I only have some quick comments ;-)

Great post, Allen. I'm glad you had a good experience with the mall,
Allen. In fact, you are correct, we also host the Slackware site/store
for Patrick and handle all the production details and shipping
logistics. It's better for everyone if Patrick can focus on what he
does best, which is continuing to develop one of the few linux distros
that we'll recommend and support for linux users.

The mall is a division of iXsystems and we try and contribute back to
FreeBSD in a variety of ways. You can see from the Foundation sponsors
page that not only does the FreeBSD Mall contribute but iXsystems
contributes separately as well (and some of the employees
individually, too!):
http://freebsdfoundation.org/donate/sponsors.shtml

We also do other things like establish a FreeBSD presence at
tradeshows, sponsor specific development projects, employ a few people
to work on FreeBSD, etc.

Keep enjoying the best operating system on the planet and spreading
the word like you have been!

best,
-matt

PS - I love my BSD boxers :-D




On Fri, Sep 25, 2009 at 1:23 PM, Allen <GedankeZauberer@...> wrote:

> I'm wondering how many people here buy FreeBSD stuff. Like for example, I
> have a FreeBSD teeshirt, a pair of FreeBSD boxers (very comfy by the way)
> and I also purchase a lot of the things I find about FreeBSD because, quite
> frankly, the quality of products are very high, and I think Patrick
> Volkerding of Slackware Linux said it best when he said "If you're trying to
> learn Linux / Unix, just read the BSD stuff, it doesn't have the PR crap
> most Linux tech stuff has and gets to the point". I think he's mostly right
> about that. If you've ever tried reading over some of the Linux stuff other
> than Slackware, Debian, and some of the SUSE stuff, you've probably noticed
> it's mostly PR and not very technically and leaves you wondering sometimes
> why there aren't as many answers. You read FreeBSD, and they have the PR
> stuff in the PR section, and the tech stuff in the part it should be.
>
> I think Slackware and FreeBSD must be pretty close; when I made an order of
> a Slackware 4 CD-ROM set and a Slackware Mouse Pad, I also the same day
> ordered a FreeBSD mouse pad, a FreeBSD CD-set, and a copy of EACH of the
> FreeBSD books you can get on the FreeBSDMall page (It was a big order, I got
> one of every book they sell except for the third edition of "The Complete
> FreeBSD because I already had it, so I bought the newer one available) and
> for the FreeBSD stuff I paid for overnight shipping. I hate waiting a week
> to get stuff and I really wanted to see what was in the books and see what
> the CDs were like, so I decided I'd try overnights.
>
> I was also not planning on waiting forever for my Slackware Store order
> either and got second day shipping. I was shocked to see that 17 hours later
> a huge package was on the porch with not only my FreeBSD stuff, but the
> Slackware stuff too, in the same box. I only paid overnight on BSD, but got
> Slackware too. It's like it came from the same place and they noticed I had
> two orders and paid more for faster shipping.
>
> I also noticed that the Slackware CDs and FreeBSD CDs look a lot alike, and
> that the Slackware Book is a lot like a FreeBSD book (Font and all that are
> very similar). Are the Slackware store and BSD Mall in the same place?
>
> Anyway, I love the books I got. I've read a lot of BSD stuff like NetBSD and
> OpenBSD, but I've always been very partial to FreeBSD which is in my eyes
> the better choice. That's why I'm on the Advocacy Mailing List, I like
> spreading the word.
>
> I actually got a phone call the day after my order came from a woman asking
> of my order arrived OK, because she said one order had come back and they
> were checking to see if it was mine, so I went over what I ordered with her
> and she was actually shocked to see how much money I spent and I almost
> chuckled because it's no where near the first time. I basically said "Hey,
> as long as some of this gets back to the people who make FreeBSD and it
> helps them in some way I'll keep making orders of this size. Of course
> you'll need new products, but I don't mind helping financially when I can".
>
> I'm sort of wondering how much of any given order gets back to the people
> who make FreeBSD, and spend their time doing it. I read somewhere it was a
> certain percent, so I'm Hoping they do get something back.
>
> I'm a persona who stands by what I like. I take crap for it sometimes, we
> all do or will when we believe in something. When I was in college a few
> years ago and my Professor was teaching Linux, I made sure my class saw how
> neat my SUSE, Slackware, and FreeBSD installs looked and how easy they were
> to make things happen.
>
> I also got my teacher to talk about BSD a little more to show everyone there
> were choices. I also made a card on the board that showed how to do things
> in BSD VS Linux since there are a few differences here and there.
>
> I tried to get a BSD class for the school, but my teacher admitted I knew
> more about it than he did as he learned his Unix skill on HP-UX and I have
> always been a more Linux / BSD guy. I wear my Slackware shirt and my FreeBSD
> tee, and my Slackware and BSD buttons, and I spread the word to people I
> think may try it out.
>
> I also help out with tech stuff in my local area, and I'm also one who
> offers to install FreeBSD, for free, to anyone who wants.
>
> Basically, I do actually go out and not only promote FreeBSD, I help make it
> happen, and I'm more or less wondering what other things people on here do
> to get the word out.
>
> As Marshall Kirk McKusick said "The Linux guys go out there and they do
> things and they have more market share, and I think it's important we do the
> same". I'd love to meet him, he's great. And a damn good speaker. :)
>
> -Allen
>
> PS; not to sound weird, but does anyone here have any neat hardware
> configurations? Like a machine running FreeBSD that has like CD/DVD/Tape
> /Cool hardware you're proud of? Thanks!
> _______________________________________________
> freebsd-advocacy@... mailing list
> http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-advocacy
> To unsubscribe, send any mail to "freebsd-advocacy-unsubscribe@..."
>

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[Allen-37]

Matt Olander wrote:
> Sorry for the top post but I only have some quick comments ;-)
>
> Great post, Allen. I'm glad you had a good experience with the mall,
> Allen. In fact, you are correct, we also host the Slackware site/store
> for Patrick and handle all the production details and shipping
> logistics. It's better for everyone if Patrick can focus on what he
> does best, which is continuing to develop one of the few linux distros
> that we'll recommend and support for linux users.

I was wondering about that ;) I kept noticing how the first Slackware
book looked a lot like "The Complete FreeBSD" third edition, in terms of
font and the overall design and thought "oh neat, well Pat seems like
BSD maybe he liked that" but that's awesome you guys do that too. I'm
glad I know now, it made sense to me now when I was emailing to ask a
question the first time I ordered something.

I had never made an order before so I was emailing someone to see how
long it normally takes, and if there was anything a new customer should
know, and everyone has always been very nice, very kind, and very
helpful, and I liked the experience overall, so once I got my order I
took a few pics and sent them to the Slackware and BSD loving friends
and told them that it was not only fast on delivery but that I got
everything in the same day and everything looked good and that I
recommended them.

The only time I ever had a problem, was when I ordered a DVD (20 Years
of Berkeley Unix) and they more than went out of the way to help me out.
They had a shipping error or ran out of stock, something that happens
normally, it wasn't some big deal, but to make up for it I got a bunch
of BSD stickers for free and thought it was a very kinf gesture since
the order wasn't as big as the others and they showed me that even a
small order matters to them, so I was very happy and wrote a quick
review up and again recommended that everyone order something from
there. I also said the stickers were very nice, and my laptop to this
day is covered in them in a collage of BSD stickers and my monitors and
PCs all have one too. I like them :)

> The mall is a division of iXsystems and we try and contribute back to
> FreeBSD in a variety of ways. You can see from the Foundation sponsors
> page that not only does the FreeBSD Mall contribute but iXsystems
> contributes separately as well (and some of the employees
> individually, too!):
> http://freebsdfoundation.org/donate/sponsors.shtml

I think that was what I had read, I was happy to see something gets back
to the people who put this stuff out there without asking for a dime in
return, so I like making orders to show people this stuff not only works
but that the people designing it have taste :)

> We also do other things like establish a FreeBSD presence at
> tradeshows, sponsor specific development projects, employ a few people
> to work on FreeBSD, etc.

I've wanted to go to a BSD booth for so long! Rarely do we see those in
Michigan ;) But I'd for sure go!

> Keep enjoying the best operating system on the planet and spreading
> the word like you have been!
>
> best,
> -matt
>
> PS - I love my BSD boxers :-D

Thanks for the info! And I plan on fully continuing my help with getting
people used to the idea that you don't have to run an OS where you can't
customize a Kernel. Or one where you can actually get uptime when you
need a server that doesn't have time to reboot heh.

I go to colleges around here like I was saying and I did manage to not
only get my teachers and staff of the college to look at BSD as a way of
making things go, but I also pointed out the roots of BSD and how nice
it would be if they started pointing out that a REAL Unix OS would
probably benefit the other students, and of course there was sources for
the programmers, and how it was totally free. I tried talking them into
ordering a box of CDs from the site and that I'd volunteer to install,
but instead they had to just download since the admin is a Windows guy
lol. I did do the installs though and even put it on some personal
Desktops of a few teachers who gave me extra credit for it. I do what I
can t help out, I'm not a programmer, and I'm not a Millionaire, but
when I do have money extras,  do what I can to buy things I can get
free. It's to me a lot like an MP3 or OGG file you download; You can
download this music, for free, though most bands don't like that, some
don't mind, but they also make their living doing this, so if you like
the music you may wanna buy something or go to shows and pay for
tickets, because they don't have another job normally. So I generally
buy CDs, shirts, everything, and I also help write installation guides
because some people think a text based installer means a hard to use
one, which In don't agree with. I Love the FreeBSD installer, and the
Slackware install, and I've written docs to do both, and even dual boot
docs and got published for that one.

Sorry about message length, I'm really talkative today it seems lol.
Anyway, thanks again, and I too think those BSD boxers are amazing!
Nothing says sleek geek like BSD boxer shorts lol.

-
Allen
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[Julian H. Stacey-3]

Allen wrote:
> PS; not to sound weird, but does anyone here have any neat hardware
> configurations? Like a machine running FreeBSD that has like CD/DVD/Tape
> /Cool hardware you're proud of? Thanks!

http://berklix.com/scanjet/   FreeBSD inside a scanner.

Cheers,
Julian
--
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  Mail ASCII plain text not HTML & Base64.      http://asciiribbon.org
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[Allen-37]

Julian H. Stacey wrote:
> Allen wrote:
>> PS; not to sound weird, but does anyone here have any neat hardware
>> configurations? Like a machine running FreeBSD that has like CD/DVD/Tape
>> /Cool hardware you're proud of? Thanks!
>
> http://berklix.com/scanjet/   FreeBSD inside a scanner.
>
> Cheers,
> Julian

OK now THAT is awesome ! Heh, it's neat to think that someone sat there
one day and thought "Why the hell am I running scanner software that
can't even be updated anymore? Hmm, BSD!" wow...

I'm still waiting on the NetBSD Oven, but hey lol. I'd much rather have
FreeBSD on my oven, at least then I'd know it works better. ;)

Thank you for that, I'm reading up on it right now and showed my Wife
who also thought it was cool. (She does in fact know Unix pretty well so
She knows what BSD is).

Now that my installation of like 200 more tools for WindowMaker and
themes for it is done, I can read it without a load average getting up
there (This machine is super old, like 10 years almost... Still works
good as long as I don't try to push my luck).

Anyway,thanks again :)

-Allen
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[Julian H. Stacey-3]

Hi,
> From: Allen <GedankeZauberer@...>

Allen wrote:
> >> PS; not to sound weird, but does anyone here have any neat hardware
> >> configurations? Like a machine running FreeBSD that has like CD/DVD/Tape
> >> /Cool hardware you're proud of? Thanks!
> >
> > http://berklix.com/scanjet/   FreeBSD inside a scanner.
>
> OK now THAT is awesome ! Heh, it's neat to think that someone sat there
> one day and thought "Why the hell am I running scanner software that
> can't even be updated anymore? Hmm, BSD!" wow...

Well, 2 chaps at a German University did Linux first, then David
Malone did FreeBSD, but in essence, Yes :-) People are encouraged
to click & glance at the photo, then if one turns up some time in
company junk room, rescue it.  Companies find the original NT
software useless, but the sheet feader + scanner + BSD inside works well.

Cheers,
Julian
--
Julian Stacey: BSD Unix Linux C Sys Eng Consultants Munich http://berklix.com
  Mail ASCII plain text not HTML & Base64.      http://asciiribbon.org
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