Unix

[juice]

Can someone please provide me a link from where I can download unix and a link which explains how to install it.
I have downloaded FreeBSD 8.2 and it has following files, but I don't know what to do with them.

->FreeBSD-8.2-RELEASE-i386-bootonly.iso
->FreeBSD-8.2-RELEASE-i386-disc1.iso
->FreeBSD-8.2-RELEASE-i386-dvd1.iso
->FreeBSD-8.2-RELEASE-i386-livefs.iso
->FreeBSD-8.2-RELEASE-i386-memstick.img

[Salem]

The FAQ maybe -> Frequently Asked Questions for FreeBSD 6.X, 7.X and 8.X
Seriously, if you download "foo" from the "www.foo.com" website, the most likely place to find the answers is at - you guessed it - foo.com

[CommonTater]

Can someone please provide me a link from where I can download unix and a link which explains how to install it.
I have downloaded FreeBSD 8.2 and it has following files, but I don't know what to do with them.

->FreeBSD-8.2-RELEASE-i386-bootonly.iso
->FreeBSD-8.2-RELEASE-i386-disc1.iso
->FreeBSD-8.2-RELEASE-i386-dvd1.iso
->FreeBSD-8.2-RELEASE-i386-livefs.iso
->FreeBSD-8.2-RELEASE-i386-memstick.img

The ISO files are intened to be burned to DVD (or CD if they're small enough), most DVD writer software knows what to do with them, just choose the "write image" (or such) option. From there you stuff them into a drive,reboot... activate your boot menu and select the DVD drive... The OS should boot from the disk... but BE CAREFUL with this... it's probably going to want to intall itself and that means potentially wiping out the current OS on your system.

The memstick.img should be transferred to a thumb drive (memory stick) with a utility like IMGWrite in which case you get a bootable thumb drive...

[manasij7479]

It was explained exactly where you downloaded it from...
If you don't understand what the following means, you are better of trying out something simpler.

FreeBSD 8.2 can be installed from bootable ISO images or over the network. Some architectures (currently amd64 and i386) also support installing from a USB memory stick. The required files can be downloaded via FTP or BitTorrent as described in the sections below. While some of the smaller FTP mirrors may not carry all architectures, they will all generally contain the more common ones such as amd64 and i386.
MD5 and SHA256 hashes for the release ISO images are included at the bottom of this message.
The purpose of the images provided as part of the release are as follows:

dvd1
This contains everything necessary to install the base FreeBSD operating system, a collection of pre-built packages, and the documentation. It also supports booting into a "livefs" based rescue mode. This should be all you need if you can burn and use DVD-sized media.

disc1
This contains the base FreeBSD operating system and the documentation packages for CDROM-sized media. There are no other packages.

livefs
This contains support for booting into a "livefs" based rescue mode but does not support doing an install from the CD itself. It is meant to help rescue an existing system but could be used to do a network based install if necessary.

bootonly
This supports booting a machine using the CDROM drive but does not contain the support for installing FreeBSD from the CD itself. You would need to perform a network based install (e.g. from an FTP server) after booting from the CD.

memstick
This can be written to an USB memory stick (flash drive) and used to do an install on machines capable of booting off USB drives. It also supports booting into a "livefs" based rescue mode. The documentation packages are provided but no other packages.

As one example of how to use the memstick image, assuming the USB drive appears as /dev/da0 on your machine something like this should work:
# dd if=FreeBSD-8.2-RELEASE-amd64-memstick.img of=/dev/da0 bs=10240 conv=sync Be careful to make sure you get the target (of=) correct.

[MK27]

Can someone please provide me a link from where I can download unix and a link which explains how to install it.
I have downloaded FreeBSD 8.2 and it has following files, but I don't know what to do with them.

Just to be sure you know: FreeBSD is not Unix, but it is derived from Unix, as is GNU/linux (G.N.U. = Gnu's Not Unix). Sometimes these are referred to collectively as *nix operating systems.

Unix itself is an open specification:

The UNIX System, UNIX System

I don't know the extent to which linux or FreeBSD comply with this, but I would guess: not completely.

Out of curiosity, I went to find out how much Solaris (the most popular commercial Unix) charges; you have to create a login account there:

Solaris

which I didn't bother doing, but I believe that it might be free for educational purposes, and you can definitely download an x86 based .iso from the site. If you are supposed to be studying Unix proper, you might want to try that (unless you also want access to source code, because it is not open*). Solaris are not short of money; they probably do a slick job of the installer, etc.

* however, if you look at the wikipedia page for Solaris, you will find some clues about some open source forks of the Solaris OS.

[CornedBee]

Actually, FreeBSD is a true Unix (a descendant of Berkeley Unix), whereas Linux is a Unix-like kernel that has no roots in Unix whatsoever.

[MK27]

Actually, FreeBSD is a true Unix (a descendant of Berkeley Unix),

Sure, but I don't think FreeBSD has maintained compliance (to a common standard) as it has evolved to the same extent that the commercial vendors have (for what that is worth), which is why it is usually called another "unix-like" OS.

Also, skimming this:

Unix wars - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

it seems that the BSD code base was purged of proprietary content in the early 1990's, at which point it stopped calling itself a true unix (again, for what that's worth), and this is when the open source spin-offs began.