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NetBSD Celebrates Its 10th Anniversary

Posted by timothy on from the chooses-energizer-bunny-as-new-logo dept.

jschauma writes "This week marks the tenth anniversary of the beginning of development of the NetBSD Operating System. The very first commit to the NetBSD source tree (src/Makefile) was by Chris Demetriou on Friday 21 March, 1993. Parties are being held in various cities around the world, see the press release for more details. Happy 10th Birthday, NetBSD!"

12 of 100 comments (clear)

  1. Birthday sale at linuxjewellery.com by HeroicAutobot · · Score: 5, Informative
    I'm not affiliated with them in any way (I swear!), but I noticed that the Linux Jewellery Store is having a BSD Birthday Sale.

    If you're looking for Beastie to add to you (non-virtual) desktop, this is probably the time to get one.

    --
    I'm looking for a HEPA media filter for my TV. I'm alergic to reality shows.
  2. I have a question by soorma_bhopali · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Linux has also been around for 10 years. And just like NetBSD there are various other open source alternatives to linux. Why then has Linux grown so much popular in the corporate world? Is it because of GPL or because Linux is superior to these other alternatives?

    1. Re:I have a question by Jungle+guy · · Score: 5, Informative
      When NetBSD started, back in 1992/1993, there was a huge lawsuit against a company called BSDI (that used the BSD code to develop a proprietary operating system and called it Unix). They were sued by USL, a spun-off company formed by AT&T that had rights over Unix. To make a setlement, professors from University of California developed what they called 4BSD - an operating system without the files that were proprerty of USL. FreeBSD an NetBSD had to resynchronize their trees with 4BSD to avoid lawsuits.

      The project lost precious time in its early infancy, while Linux progressed at warp speed (people say that Linus was REALY active those days). Linux was also seen as a haven for possible lawsuits as it was writen from scratch, even tough it was technically inferior in the early days. But, as the community around it grew faster, soon it gained momentum and critical mass. Its use of GNU software was also important. The whole story is in the book Open Sources.

  3. Hrm by B3ryllium · · Score: 5, Funny

    My toaster STILL can't run NetBSD. They need to hurry up the development of it.

    Also, my coffee machine, microwave, and toaster oven all could use a little NetBSD loving.

  4. Re:10th anniversary! by asparagus · · Score: 3, Interesting

    And may it keep on dying in the future.

    NetBSD runs on 17 or so processor architectures and 50+ platforms. A pretty impressive feat, especially when you consider all the massive changes that have made it into the industry in the past ten years.

    Kudos to the Net and other BSD teams. Keep that code clean and portable!

  5. Re:Which is older by shamilton · · Score: 3, Informative

    NetBSD is slightly older. FreeBSD 1.0 was released in November of 1993.

    I'm told Linux was comparable back then, too.

    --
    "[A] high IQ is like a Jeep; you will still get stuck, just farther from help!" --Just d' FAQs, c.g.a
  6. Re:Are they girls at these parties? by RLiegh · · Score: 3, Interesting
    She might show up

    If I had mod points, they'd be yours.
  7. Parent was moded "Funny"? by /Idiot\ · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Dying? We are all dying my son :-)

    NetBSD is an excelent OS. Some may prefer Linux, some may perfer NetBSD. Me, I use both!

    NetBSD might not be *your* particular brand of vodka on i386/x86 arch, but compare the progress of NetBSD on non-i386 archs to Linux on the same arch and, well, NetBSD is the ONLY real choice to make my uVAX more than just a space-heater!

    Dying, definately not. NetBSD is not an example of how great an open source OS can become.

    While I am here, a big thanks to all the NetBSD developers, where ever you are!

    --
    /dev/Idiot/
  8. Still the most portable by Dr.+Manhattan · · Score: 3, Informative
    "Of course it runs NetBSD."

    Really true. I just started playing with it a few weeks ago, sticking it on an old Mac SE/30. It's now a very capable webserver, more than able to saturate my pathetic DSL upload bandwidth. (Watch, now the poor thing melts from a Slashdotting.)

    Linux support for Mac68K seems to have stagnated; the 2.4 kernel still doesn't compile for 68K Macs. Sure, they're not common anymore, but Linux is supposed to scale.

    It may not have every whiz-bang feature that Linux has, but portability is important, too. Almost any random hardware with an MMU runs NetBSD, and runs it well. I love Linux, and I run it on my PCs and at work, but NetBSD made way more sense for this project. It was very easy to set up, too. Configuration is... different from Linux, but I can't say it's worse. I'm not finding it too hard to learn.

    Congrats to them, and best wishes for the future. They do good work.

    --
    PHEM - party like it's 1997-2003!
  9. Parties? by xchino · · Score: 3, Funny

    Parties are being held in various cities around the world...

    I don't think 10 guys doing a shot together over IRC counts as "parties in various cities",

    --
    Everyone is entitled to their own opinion. It's just that yours is stupid.
  10. Best kept secret by felix9x · · Score: 3, Insightful

    NetBSD is realy great many admins just love it. The system is rock solid and its not unusual that it woudl be running for years without a reboot. Many admins use it for things like mail, ftp, web servers internaly in companies and no press no hype is generated but the OS keeps on working doing its job.

  11. Re:Elegy for *BSD by dick+johnson · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Died?

    Think again.

    Try Mac OS X.

    It's the biggest selling Unix operating system on the market today (better than four million copies per year)

    It's also a BSD unix.

    --
    - dj