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NetBSD 2.1 Released
jschauma writes "NetBSD for everyone! Lots of news
regarding new NetBSD releases: On October 31st, 2005, NetBSD 2.0.3, a
source-only security update of the NetBSD 2.0 release, was announced.
Since many people are still somewhat confused by the new versioning scheme
used in NetBSD, this release was preceeded by an
explanation of the NetBSD branches. Only two days after the 2.0.3
announcement, on November 2nd, 2005, NetBSD
2.1 was released. NetBSD
2.1 is the first maintenance release of the netbsd-2 release branch, and
was announced with binary distributions for 54 architectures. Primary means
of distribution include bittorrent."
jschauma continues, "Not
entirely by coincidence, a number of security
advisories was released almost simultaneously, which for the most part
have been fixed in these two latest releases. However, since the release
engineering process could not be delayed even further, there are three
advisories that affect even NetBSD 2.1 -- a security update on this branch (ie
NetBSD 2.1.1) is expected to be released very soon as well. Finally, the
NetBSD release engineering team also released an update of revised
estimate for the release date of NetBSD 3.0, the next major release which
will bring a number of new features. Please consider making a tax-deductible (in the US)
donation to support NetBSD."
NetBSD 3.0 is also coming in a few weeks (end of November).
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NetBSD Toaster
I read
MMU-less CPUs and/or itanium (this one has been started i think), s390, FR-V, nec v-850, 64-bit MIPS, super-h, all of them supported by Linux. Of course netbsd also supports lots of architectures that linux doesn't but that doesn't means netbsd supports "everything". Linux also has pretty good support for everything that IBM uses.
I actually have a VAX and no tape drive (nor any machine that could load NetBSD onto a tape drive). Without some way to get NetBSD onto it, it's pretty much a paperweight. I have a Linux box and a SCSI card, so I could install that way, except that doesn't seem to be an option.
I find a hard time keeping track of all the *BSDs.
There are THREE (not counting DragonFly BSD)
OpenBSD = Secure
FreeBSD = Feature-Rich
NetBSD = Portable (54 Architectures?!)
Contrast that to the seventeen-jillion Linux distros out there; I hardly think folks can complain about being confused by the overwhelming multitude (NOT!) of BSD derivatives.
Seriously, though. I like to tell people BSD stands for "Better Stripped Down" 'cuz if you need a small server, running on commodity (read: "used") hardware, BSD will serve you very well.
You don't want your firewall running OOo, or come standard with seven different mail readers. Lean and mean, that's BSD's selling point.
who loves BSD! I still do!
me too! but seriously, i run 2.0.2/current at home on a couple of boxes (along with slackware and *gasp* w2k) and its great. small, stable, elegant, has a wide selection of packages (with stellar management, i might add) and a whole array of nice toys to play with. its strongest point, imho, is the separation of the base system from the extra software, which also goes for the other younger bsds out there.in other news pkgsrc on SFU updated, the new pf from obsd/3.8 is getting ported, there is also a kernel emulator for fbsd/5+ and a smbus implementation. matlab works too and some people might be interested in a list of translations for the `of course it runs netbsd' motto.
what else can be said, its great that *the* bsd is still alive
Stop Computers/Cars Analogies on S
Guess you missed the install document detailing how to netboot a VAX.
X -netboot-HOWTO.html
http://vaxarchive.pimpworks.org/swdist/bsd/bdc/VA
Only the State obtains its revenue by coercion. - Murray Rothbard
The advantage is simply the philosophy difference between the BSD world and the GNU world. For some things, BSDs are faster and more secure. Linux tends to have more hardware support for low end hardware and therefore is good for the 300 dollar dells that people buy. The cheaper your hardware the better. Another oddity with linux is that it runs on really expensive IBM mainframes. Anything in the middle and you're better off with another OS.
NetBSD's goal is to run on everything but they tend to not include drivers sometimes. Its the fastest OS i've ever used on sparc hardware. I've used linux, netbsd, and often run freebsd. I can tell you that BSDs are administered a bit differently and the ports (pkgsrc i think in netbsd) collection is a god send. Its like gentoo's portage and gentoo is heavily influenced by BSD based oses. If you like gentoo, you'd love to step up to the real thing. Now if you're a redhat GUI i want it to do everything kind of guy stick to fedora, ubuntu, mandrake or the like. They are for the masses. DesktopBSD or several other bsd for the masses projects may someday yield a similar bsd offering.
In open source land, there's now a selection. Linux (distro list here), FreeBSD, NetBSD, OpenBSD, OpenDarwin/Darwin, DragonFlyBSD, DesktopBSD (although just freebsd with a gui not a real fork), Solaris/OpenSolaris. Pick based on your needs: hardware support, ease of use, features and how you think. Some people just get system v unix and others prefer bsd. I think most linux distros lean toward system v minus gentoo and solaris is in that camp obviously. Everything else listed is a bsd style os with darwin being the freak mach (richard stallman wishes) version. In case you haven't noticed its a holy war. To summorize, its like asking why linux is better than windows to me. (linux is obviously better) But, there are select few things that windows excels at like running your local game store's games.
Oh not to confuse you, richard stallman is the guy that made this all possible. His vision is to give everyone NEXTSTEP by duplicating software from 1988 that steve jobs had and rebranding it GNU/Mach GNU/Hurd and using the GNUSTEP and windowmaker software to accomplish his task. Someday we'll have free NEXTSTEP. For now he settles for the Linux kernel which he can't control. If he didn't, he'd have no kernel for his lovely GNU userland.
So you see the linux system is flawed in one sense.. the kernel is not tied to the userland (software that you run). The advantage is portability and the down side is speed and integration. Its the tossup between linux and every other OS i've listed. Strictly speaking linux is just a kernel and the GNU supplies the rest. There's an effort among the BSD zealots to replace every GNU program with a BSD licensed replacement. Its a big pissing match. You can love linux and not like the GNU and i think most people fall into this category that give kudos to linux. If this weren't true, everyone would be working on GNU/Hurd right now.
If you have more questions, look at www.gnu.org, www.netbsd.org and www.freebsd.org for more information.
I have six computers in my home and 4 run bsd derived operating systems. I couldn't be happier with them.
I don't switch exactly, but each bsd seems to have a niche on certain hardware. NetBSD is the fastest os i've ever used on sparc hardware and openbsd runs great on g3 macs. I tend to run FreeBSD on ia32 hardware.
MidnightBSD: The BSD for Everyone
Hrm, I sort of agree, but I wouldn't say linux is slower, because it depends very much on what you do. The extra hardware support might also matter, if you have something unusual.
However, a big advantage of BSD is the base distribution where you get libraries and base tools together with the kernel. There's no risk of a system call existing in the libraries but not in the kernel, and there's no risk of the basic tools being out of sync. Some linux dists are sort of like this too, but it's usually more cumbersome to keep it that way.
NetBSD is the absolutely cleanest OS source base I've found, which is good for stability. Linux (and even FreeBSD to some extent) tends to be very hackish and bloated (one patch upon another). This is probably due to the review process every patch has to go through, which of course on the other hand leads to a slower development process.
And finally, it should be mentioned that the licences are different, though it mostly affects distribution and not usage.