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Raq'ing up NetBSD

Posted by Nik on from the NP:-the-eve-of-the-way dept.

Got a Cobalt Raq 2, but want to keep your BSD fetish going? If so, Soren Jorvang's announcement of a prelimenary port to this particular piece of blue iron should be right up your street.

8 comments

  1. I still don't understand this by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Whats the point of porting to every friggin piece of hardware that has a CPU? How does this help? It may be a neat hobby, but whats the point?

    1. Re:I still don't understand this by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Here's the thing.
      Cobalt makes specialized servers to do tasks which are configured via a web GUI. They charge alot more for their hardware then other people offering the same hardware. You're paying for more money for the ease of configuration. That's Cobalt's market. If I want a unix server I'm not gonna buy a Cobalt unless I want that web-GUI for goobers.
      So, why would you want to pay the extra money to run to specifically run BSD on a Cobalt when there are other options that make more sense for a rack mounted server?
      Cobalt's aren't super-powered behemoths. I don't see how running NetBSD will offer any huge gains over Cobalt's own version of Linux. So buying an expensive Cobalt rack-mount and then to dump it and put a BSD on it to satisfy a personal taste for an OS doesn't make much sense to me.

      NetBSD may kick Linux's butt on some laundry list you have but still I'd advise another platform besides Cobalt, UNLESS you want that simple web admin screen they have for their strange version of Linux.

    2. Re:I still don't understand this by rjmnz · · Score: 1

      What about "Beceause I can". NetBSD developers put a lot of effort into abstracting the hardware as much as possible. New developments in core code are quickly incorporated into all ports eg UVM.
      As a consequence the effort required to adopt a new platform is a lot less.
      How many people today can say that "I ported UNIX to a new hardware platform" With NetBSD you can.
      There are several ports brought up from nothing to booting into single or multiuser by 1 or 2 people before anyone else gets involved.

    3. Re:I still don't understand this by Trick · · Score: 2

      Well, suppose the box was originally bought as an easy all-in-one server, as a lot of Cobalts are... Then somewhere down the road, the company hires someone with a bit more of a clue who doesn't need or want the GUI. How can having a choice between the stock OS and BSD be a bad thing then?

      ---
      Consult, v. t. To seek another's approval of a course already decided on.

    4. Re:I still don't understand this by Trick · · Score: 3

      While there may be a few semi-ridiculous ports flying around, what I can't understand is how someone could get bent out of shape about someone porting BSD to a server platform. It makes all the sense in the world, and I could give you 1,000,000 reasons why someone might want to run BSD on a server.

      Relax a little. This one makes sense.

      ---
      Consult, v. t. To seek another's approval of a course already decided on.

    5. Re:I still don't understand this by dlc · · Score: 3

      I think the best reason is for consistency. One of the things I like about Linux and the BSD's is that they run on a lot of hardware. If I get a PowerPC for my desk, and I happen to not like the MacOS (!!!), then I like the fact that there are other options (quite a few in this case). Running NetBSD, or Linux, or whatever on my Intel box, my Sparc, and my PPC means consistency from box to box. Yeah, the binaries are not compatible, but the source is -- I can actually utilize the PPC hardware to its fullest potential if I put NetBSD on it rather than the MacOS.

      darren


      Cthulhu for President!
      --
      (darren)
  2. OK, I admit it. I understand it a little. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I relent.

    I see how code portibility would be very nice if all your servers ran NetBSD and you had some lone Cobalt sitting around that nobody was using for its original intended purpose. Thats cool.

    I guess what I'm saying is I'd never buy a Cobalt rack-mount just so I could run NetBSD on it, which I doubt many people would do in the first place.

    I do like those NetBSD ports to little hand helds. The thought of UNIX power on some dinky little hand held is cool. I would though, purposely buy a new hand held and dump whatever crud Wince like OS it had and replace it with NetBSD.

  3. FreeBSD 4.0 iso! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ftp://ft p.freebsd.org/pub/FreeBSD/releases/i386/ISO-IMAGES /4.0-install.iso