New NetBSD Port, NetBSD/Iyonix

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."

Comments

Port like port, but the machine...?

[Gadzinka]

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

Alternative ARM machines

[nurb432]

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'...

netapp

[cmaxx]

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

Re:netapp

[Guy Harris]

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.)

Re:Caution: OS Wars Ahead

[Anonymous Coward]

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

you're obviously not a software engineer...

[stoborrobots]

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

Correct me if I'm wrong...

[ArbitraryConstant]

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.