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If you want to buy a system to hack on then buy a Dreamcast. They're cheap (about $40) - and you can run Linux to your heart's content on the thing.

Not only Linux, either - lots of homebrew games, NetBSD and even QNX

There are even lots of good, and now very cheap, commercial games available for it.

Sure, it's not as advanced as an Xbox or a PS/2, before someone makes that very obvious point. But that is not what we are about, is it? The fun for many of us is in subverting the manufacturer's intentions and doing something unorthodox with the hardware - well the DC's the best for that.

It was never dropped, it never existed. The rumors that you heard were from columnists, and the occasional person from Apple who thought it would be a cool academic exercise.

OTOH, if you don't like how fragmented Linux is, give BSD a shot. http://www.freebsd.org, http://www.openbsd.org, or http://www.netbsd.org. I personnaly use OpenBSD, and a bit of FreeBSD. But to each his own. Enjoy!

"All Platforms"?

Sounds like a Mac problem to me.

Upgrade your operating system.

NetBSD will run on almost any 16+ bit computer you can find.

NetBSD needs at least 32 bits and an MMU.

a point I haven't seen brought up is that putting IRIX compatibility into NetBSD/sgimips carries over to other big-endian MIPS ports as well. granted there aren't a lot of these still in production aside from a few evaluation boards, but at least the option is there.

I have a poor, dejected Cobalt Qube that I don't even use anymore because the software on it is so full of holes that it would be suicide to use it as a server. The last updates to the unit were posted by Sun in 2000.

I have two words for you: Debian and NetBSD.

In general, when you are thinking to yourself "Gee, the vendor stopped supportings this Foo... the hardware still has life in it, but the software is no longer being updated... how can I use it when I can't trust it on the network with no security updates?" (where Foo is an older, possibly non-x86 machine) then the answer is usually one of the above two...

Where you been, son? Mac OS X was released over a year ago!

Yes, but Mac® OS X is not a UNIX® brand system. FreeBSD's not UNIX. NetBSD's not UNIX. GNU's not UNIX. (This trademark confusion almost makes me want to put together a distribution of GNU/Linux software and call it KLEENIX.)

OK, now what UNIX® system has a GUI as pretty as Mac OS X's?

Oh, like we should all believe some Anonymous Coward... it's well-known that Theo has a grudge against the other BSDs, especially NetBSD... I remember when he was threatening to crapflood the NetBSD and FreeBSD mailing lists through an anonymous remailer.

Hmmm, could this policy change possibly be because of this?

NetBSD has had NetBSD support in current for quite some time. Does that make it number 2?

slashdot is unbelievable, they post BETA info of mandrake on the FRONT page but not NetBSD 1.5.3 being released yesterday. This is a BETA release for crying out loud, it's even more buggy than mandrake is when it's actually released. slashdot editors need a kick in the head for being linux-infatuated rejects.

Here ya go, click and drool:

netbsd.org
ftp.netbsd.org
official text of the release
Mirror listing, for when the ftp server gets slashdotted

Here ya go, click and drool:

netbsd.org
ftp.netbsd.org
official text of the release
Mirror listing, for when the ftp server gets slashdotted

Here ya go, click and drool:

netbsd.org
ftp.netbsd.org
official text of the release
Mirror listing, for when the ftp server gets slashdotted

Here ya go, click and drool:

netbsd.org
ftp.netbsd.org
official text of the release
Mirror listing, for when the ftp server gets slashdotted

www.slackware.com
www.redhat.com
www.debian.org
www.mandrake.org
cm.bell-labs.com/plan9dist/
www.atheos.cx
www.freebsd.org
www.openbsd.org
www.netbsd.org

That's that problem solved, then. Next, please!

But why port NetBSD to the S/390 when it runs on the VAX already?

The thing I think is interesting about this port is that it puts freebsd on the s/390 while NetBSD isn't. They do say a port of NetBSD to the s/390 would be relatively staightforward though.

anyone who has anything to do with a standards body nowadays know's that people try and hijack standards so their tech/patent gets into it

this way if you implement the standard you have to pay

you can't have an opensource MPEG 4 without paying 3million bucks when you distribute it and they call that a standard

ok real hardware and software

in terms of a kernel their is in My Humble Opinion

Linux

Open BSD

netbsd for every arch under the sun (joke included)

then we have the problem of hardware

Opencores provides some of the effort BUT my favorate is

LEON-1 VHDL model
- Functional SPARC compatible processor core integer unit. Runs on Altera, Mietec, Temic MG2, Xilinx. Developed for space missions. Implemented as a highly configurable, synthesisable GPL VHDL model.

Altera 10K200E FPGA or Xilinx XCV300 enable this you can also get a LCD and keyboard AMBA devices from www.gaisler.com

what I would like is a machine that you could say that the whole thing is opensource

regards

john jones

that NetBSD runs on XBox first.

from your link:
PowerPC 601-based machines
The PowerMac 7200 series machines and original 7500 machines are powered by a PowerPC 601 microprocessor. The rest of the chipset is essentially the same as the other early PCI PowerMacs. Right now, there is no PPC601 support in the kernel. Once someone adds this, these models should "just work".

Do you absolutely need to be running Linux? Chances are NetBSD is Unix-y enough for most purposes, and it runs on absolutely everything.

Supported 68k systems
Supported PPC systems

Do you absolutely need to be running Linux? Chances are NetBSD is Unix-y enough for most purposes, and it runs on absolutely everything.

Supported 68k systems
Supported PPC systems

Do you absolutely need to be running Linux? Chances are NetBSD is Unix-y enough for most purposes, and it runs on absolutely everything.

Supported 68k systems
Supported PPC systems

Well, given that it runs on NetBSD under linux emulation (see this message to netbsd-users), I wouldn't be surprised if it works under FreeBSD as well...

Well, given that it runs on NetBSD under linux emulation (see this message to netbsd-users), I wouldn't be surprised if it works under FreeBSD as well...

Actually, you can. There is already a Playstation 2 NetBSD port and a RedBoot (eCos) port. RedBoot allows you to load any binary over the network interface.

Both of these projects require Sony's "boot CD" that is distributed with their $200 "Linux kit".

NetBSD: Most portable. If it's got 32 bits and a MMU, it's got NetBSD.

That's not neccessarily the case anymore.

NetBSD/atari

This NetBSD system uses German keyboard mapping for console and X. You can change this by typing wsconsctl -w encoding=<language>

Because of the lack of further space on the CDROM only German locales are installed.

Can anyone who has a faster pipe verify this?

The release notes appear to be hastily translated from German -- there are a couple "ist"s (where there should be "is"s).

NetBSD installation ISO images are available
here.
They just don't have the graphical KDE installer that many Linux users depend on.

1) On the CD are tools with which you can build
such CDs. (
Mailing list msg announcement)

2) The (release) isos continue to be on the web

3) The full source is out there

4) NetBSD ain't Linux :)

You mean *BSD (instead of BSD*). Like FreeBSD, OpenBSD, NetBSD. Its just a little thing but it shows you probably don't know what you are talking about.

Wasabi Systems has made a viable capitalist business out of supporting people who are using embedded NetBSD in various devices.

Wasabi Systems has made a viable capitalist business out of supporting people who are using embedded NetBSD in various devices.

My friend is such an elitest that linux is too mainstream for him.. He uses FreeBSD.

The truly elitist geek uses NetBSD. FreeBSD is so mainstream these days . . . .

Did you know that NetBSD's ports collection is actually slightly larger than OpenBSD's? Everyone knows that FreeBSD is a cornucopia of packages....possibly even more than Debian, depending on how you count.

Personally, I think if FreeBSD wants become more sucessful it needs to place the highest emphasis on porting to a few more architectures. Start with PPC and sparc64 since they're already fielded and widely used, then work on ia64 and x86-64 after that. I say this because x86 won't be around forever....look at all the consolidation and standardization among consumer PC's already...the trend is toward 'set top boxes' but I think it's been slowed with the tech economy's depression. Intel's insane price cuts on CPU's can only be hastening this devastation of profit margins.

With a commerical advocate in Wasabi Systems, NetBSD is poised to make a big splash in the growing embedded/wireless business and might well be the OS for anyone interested in wireless applications to focus on.

> One thing noticeably missing from the Debian package listing [xdv.org] is AC3 support.

Two words: software patents.

Quoting from the letter from Dolby laboratories (emphasis mine):
---
AC-3 code and its components are the exclusive property of Dolby Laboratories (San Francisco, California) and are registered as such with the United States Patent and Trademark Office.

[...]

Without a license, you may not distribute or utilize the AC-3 code or its components and doing so exposes you to civil liability including money damages.

[...]

Dolby Laboratories considers the unauthorized use and distribution of the AC-3 technologies a direct threat and will pursue their legal right to extent permissible by law.

---
It doesn't exactly look like Dolby laboratories is interested in attracting audio professionals from the Open Source community, does it?

"Isn't this the SAME Sony that is pushing "copy protected" CD look-a-likes in an effort to eliminate your fair use rights? And you purchase their products? Doesn't that just tell them that what they're doing is OK?

Or is that Sony an evil twin from the mirror universe?"

It is. It's got the real Sony locked in a basement porting linux and netbsd.

That's the difference between Good and Evil.

fe80 is a link-local address (i.e. your ethernet card). Your Ethernet card's MAC address is stored in the lower 64 bits of the address (54:ff:fe:6e:f6:c2). There's a lot of useful info at http://www.netbsd.org/Documentation/network/ipv6/.

Derek

Hmm, Trollaxor.com is DEAD, but BSD lives on...

For that price or less you could buy a Dreamcast and, of course, run Linux or NetBSD on it.

There is even a thriving dev scene

Interestingly, Just this morning I received an mailshot from a company selling a piece of software for a windows PC that emulates an Acorn A5000. It is shipped with RISC-OS3 and is available for 30UKP from Virtual Acorn

I think it's a real shame that Acorn didn't market their systems better, they were so ahead of their time, and would probably have prevented all the microsoft anti-trust BS that dominates the tech news these days (Imagine cries of 'Micro-who?'). Acorn even released a UNIX (BSD) version of the Archimedes in 1989. These machines even had X windows.

Why didn't Linus, Ts'o or someone else just use a different design for the FS layers of the kernel? NetBSD, for example had 64 bit FS support for quite a while (1994). The FS size limit is twice that of the Linux kernel - 4TB. The files can also be terabyte-sized - since 1994!.

There has been a fair number of posts about whether or not Java is really an "Open-Standard". The first thing to remember is where this article originates, Business 2.0.

Taking that into account, Java is an open standard. Are there other compilers for Java? Yes. Are there multiple interpreters for Java? Yes. Is the standard published on how it works? Yes (Addison-Wesely publishes several books on it). So, for the average intended reader of business 2.0, Java is an open standard.

I'm probably going to get flamed for this, but something doesn't have to be controlled by an international standards organization to be open.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go prepare for flames as I've posted something that people are going to have problems with.

Wasabi Systems, an embedded NetBSD company, is doing really well, last time I heard.

The article goes about the tunnel process in a different manner, but it still does not say anything about interoperability with win2k. Could the authors (or someone else) comment on how to get an IPSec replacement for WEP that works with both FreeBSD and Win2k.

I'm aware of this article, but it uses transport mode and is inadequate as a WEP replacement.

Thanks in advance.

I like Mr. Supniks emulators a lot. Even though
they lack visually to a real PDP-11 or a VAX
I like to use the simulators instead of the
real hardware. Call me a heretic but I'd rather
save on my electricity bill and I do take my
older systems out on a test drive once in a while.

OTOH, I'd love to get a real HP 2100 instead of an emulator :)

Oh yeah, you can boot NetBSD on the VAX simulator, dmesg
here..

FreeBSD NetBSD OpenBSD OS X Have a nice day!

BTW, ever notice how if you have NETHACKOPTIONS set in your environment, screen's messages are all Nethack-like? Stuff like "You start writing on your scroll of logging named 'screenlog.0'" :)