Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

New NetBSD Port, NetBSD/Iyonix

Posted by michael on from the is-there-anything-it-can't-do? dept.

agent dero writes "Gavan Fantom of NetBSD, has imported a new port into the NetBSD source tree, the new NetBSD/iyonix port. The IYONIX pc is an ARM-based desktop machine. It offers virtually silent operation, low heat, and all the other odds and ends offered by a modern PC. NetBSD is one port closer to a NetBSD/toaster port."

23 of 76 comments (clear)

  1. Port like port, but the machine...? by Gadzinka · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Well, port like port, they will make NetBSD run on everything. Having quite open ARM machine with existing Linux port makes is trivial for porting gurus to port NetBSD to it.

    But the machine itself...? Oh my God, why is this piece of trash SO expensive?

    I mean, you can buy VIA EPIA low-power, low-noise for a fraction of that price. If you want to go kinky, you can buy standard size ATX PowerPC board capable of running MorphOS (Amiga OS clone) and Linux for 415eur (G3 600MHz) or 670eur (G4 1GHz).

    So, aside from running Risc OS, why would I want to buy that?

    Robert

    --
    Bastard Operator From 193.219.28.162
    1. Re:Port like port, but the machine...? by redhotchil · · Score: 1

      I agree. That's probably the slowest machine for the most money I've ever seen./

    2. Re:Port like port, but the machine...? by gl4ss · · Score: 1

      ****
      IYONIX pc Panther TC 2x120GB HDD; 1GB DDR RAM; CDRW; Multi-media keyboard *Special offer save £200 £1399
      IYONIX pc Panther 120GB HDD; 512MB DDR RAM; CDRW; Multi-media keyboard £1399
      IYONIX pc (512MB) 120GB HDD; 512MB DDR RAM; CDRW; Card reader £1399
      IYONIX pc (256MB) 80GB HDD; 256MB DDR RAM; CDRW £1299
      IYONIX pc (128MB) 40GB HDD; 128MB DDR RAM; CD ROM £1249
      X122c IYONIX pc desktop 120GB HDD; 512MB DDR RAM; CDRW; Card reader £1399
      X112 IYONIX pc desktop 80GB HDD; 256MB DDR RAM; CDRW £1299
      X111 IYONIX pc desktop 40GB HDD; 128MB DDR RAM; CD ROM £1249
      ****

      monitors extra on top... quite pointless from price point of view.. (and performance too)

      --
      world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
  2. Re:Caution: OS Wars Ahead by noselasd · · Score: 1

    >Now only if it were useful as a desktop OS...
    Why should it not be ? Note that beeing a desktop OS isn't NetBSDs goal,
    but you can run just the same KDE/Gnome/whatever desktop on it as on a linux distro. I have NetBSD and Fedora dual booting. There really isn't that much diffrence once things are set up.

  3. Alternative ARM machines by nurb432 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I also tend to agree, but i rarely see reasonable priced ones at all...

    I guess its all about 'mass production' compared to 'limited market'...

    --
    ---- Booth was a patriot ----
  4. netapp by cmaxx · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Machines called 'toasters' (by the faithful) already based upon NetBSD (long long ago, see the aknowledgements in a DataOnTap manual near you).

    --
    ...an Englishman in London.
    1. Re:netapp by Guy+Harris · · Score: 2, Informative
      Machines called 'toasters' (by the faithful) already based upon NetBSD

      ...if by "based on NetBSD" you mean "including, in the low-level support code for Alpha-based machines, some code from NetBSD".

      Data ONTAP is NOT "based on NetBSD" in the sense of being a modified version of NetBSD, or even of having a kernel that's a derivative of NetBSD. (Note that there aren't any Alpha-based machines currently being made by NetApp, so none of the current toasters are NetBSD-based.) There is a significant chunk of BSD-based code in ONTAP, mainly the networking stack and networking commands (the latter being modified to run in the kernel, without demand paging, and with all processes running in the same address space), but that's mainly 4.4BSD-based, with some FreeBSD stuff.

      (Yes, I do speak with authority on this matter, having been, among other things, one of the people who worked on the initial Alpha port of ONTAP.)

  5. Re:Caution: OS Wars Ahead by irc.goatse.cx+troll · · Score: 1

    Thats the same argument I use when people ask why I run windows. I've got the same gnu binutils, perl, gaim, moz, ssh, etc as I would on linux. I could even run kde if I were into that sort of thing (I'm not).

    --
    Pain lasts, kid. Its how you know you're alive. Sometimes I think this growing up thing is just pain management-TheMaxx
  6. Re:Caution: OS Wars Ahead by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    Man if you can run KDE or Gnome on your toaster, then... well, you paid too much for your toaster.

  7. you're obviously not a software engineer... by stoborrobots · · Score: 3, Funny

    http://www.funnyhumor.com/jokes/254.html

    --
    "Go to CNN [for a] spell-checked, fact-checked summary" -- CmdrTaco
  8. Correct me if I'm wrong... by ArbitraryConstant · · Score: 5, Funny

    But don't many toasters only have 1 bit of memory? And that bit tends to zero itself after a minute or two. Can NetBSD be ported to a machine with only one bit?

    I'd like to see that.

    --
    I rarely criticize things I don't care about.
    1. Re:Correct me if I'm wrong... by Profane+MuthaFucka · · Score: 1

      Jeez, what is it with you people who insist on running these underpowered computers? Can it really be so hard to get ANOTHER slice of bread?

      --
      Fascism trolls keeping me up every night. When I starts a preachin', he HITS ME WITH HIS REICH!
    2. Re:Correct me if I'm wrong... by M51DPS · · Score: 1

      Jeez, what is it with you people who insist on running these underpowered computers? Can it really be so hard to get ANOTHER slice of bread?

      Yes. Now what if I need the ability to ssh into my toaster from across the room to make toast? Or set up cron to make toast every morning? Or have a webserver to let me keep track of toast production? Or use sendmail to get me updates?

      If I didn't have network enabled appliances unnecessarily hooked in to every facet of my life, I don't know what I would do.

    3. Re:Correct me if I'm wrong... by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      Besides which, if these are low heat machines, isn't this a step farther from running on a toaster?

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
  9. ...Or you have one of these by ReKleSS · · Score: 1

    One of these. The wonders of mini-ITX and people with far too much time on their hands...
    -ReK

    --
    md5sum -c reality.md5
    reality: FAILED
    md5sum: WARNING: 1 of 1 computed checksum did NOT match
  10. Re:Caution: OS Wars Ahead by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

    - suspend (not hibernate) - you said suspend though, do you really know what it means?

    OK.

    - hotplug (what the hell is that? I can plug in my thumbnail drive on NetBSD after it has booted and mount it, is that the same thing?)

    In Linux one can plug and unplug PCI cards, even PCI controllers, CPUs, etc.

    - ACPI: check (in 2.0)

    OK.

    - 'lots of devices': I have lots of devices, see GENERIC.

    Not nearly as many as Linux for 386. NetBSD doesn't support nearly as many CPU ISAs either, nor as many relevant ones (oooh it has vax, but no PPC64 or IA64 - the two fastest CPUs available today).

  11. Re:Now, *that's* something. by pp · · Score: 1

    Once you have 32 CPUs or so and have an OS that is able to run pretty well on those (Linux does, depending on the workload of course, people are
    using Altixes with 256-512 in a single system image and are quite happy with them), being to able to replace cpus without rebooting starts getting pretty important (since occasionally they do fail).

  12. Re:Now, *that's* something. by ulib · · Score: 1
    Firstly, I don't know if *BSDs have to reboot to replace CPUs. But anyway... being able to replace cpus without rebooting sounds like a *very* peculiar requirement. Beyond some weird exceptional cases, it really sounds like a pretty useless feature.

  13. uh.. trolling is "interesting" to sb :-/ (no txt) by ulib · · Score: 1

    *cough* I said "no txt".

  14. Re:Caution: OS Wars Ahead by tedu · · Score: 1

    um, weren't we talking about the desktop? have you ever hotplugged a cpu on your desktop?

  15. I mean... *really* amazing. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

    NetBSD again sets Internet2 Land Speed World Record (30 Sep) :-)

  16. Learn to code! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    Do it. Your community needs good coders - badly. :-D
    NetBSD again sets Internet2 Land Speed World Record (30 Sep)

  17. Re:Caution: OS Wars Ahead by nicolas.e · · Score: 1

    You have a crappy WM for native windows apps.
    fork() is terribly slow in cygwin.
    Windows eats more resources, is more expensive...