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NetBSD v3.0 Released

FullMetalAlchemist writes "After six release candidates, the NetBSD project has finally released a gold version of a major mile stone; v3.0. I'm looking forward to this release a good deal. If I wanted to, I could build our entire office infrastructure on it thanks to Xen. Major Changes can be found on the NetBSD website, and there are several ways to get the release. Get downloading!"

132 comments

  1. The VAX port stopped working a long time ago by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Hrrmph. As a loyal VAX owner, I need to note that it seems that although NetBSD claims to support some gawd-awful high number of architectures...many are left behind to basically fend for themselves.
    Just because NetBSD v3 is out, doesn't mean it runs on anything except a few of the common Intel/PPC chips.

    It would be nice to be able to complete a full VAX build without some bizarre GCC error forcing me to go look for a workaround.

    VAX 4-ever!

    1. Re:The VAX port stopped working a long time ago by SillyNickName4me · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Heh, the last version that actually builds and works correctly on my VAX is 1.4

    2. Re:The VAX port stopped working a long time ago by dgatwood · · Score: 2, Funny
      Yes, but 3.0 will boot on my electric toothbrush. That's all that matters.

      :-D

      --

      Check out my sci-fi/humor trilogy at PatriotsBooks.

    3. Re:The VAX port stopped working a long time ago by Coneasfast · · Score: 1

      i guess they are limited to volunteer efforts, if you have a VAX, have the time, and are skilled enough, you could maintain the port, but unfortunately they dont have the resources to test and confirm all architectures for all releases.

      --
      Marge, get me your address book, 4 beers, and my conversation hat.
    4. Re:The VAX port stopped working a long time ago by xquark · · Score: 1

      Why does VAX need to be supported?
      please feel free to enlighten me.

      --
      Arash Partow's Philosophy: Be a person who knows what they don't know, and not a person who doesn't know.
    5. Re:The VAX port stopped working a long time ago by mnemonic_ · · Score: 1, Interesting

      ...doesn't mean it runs on anything except a few of the common Intel/PPC chip

      In other words, it runs on 90% of their users' computers, and the developer time on those architectures was well-spent. Sorry, but pandering to hobbyist users of obscure hardware (yes, today it is) is a waste. In a world of finite resources, tasks must be prioritized. By releasing first for x86, the NetBSD devs demonstrate their sanity by working on the software that would benefit the most users. Today, VAX doesn't matter, so why should they support it at all?

    6. Re:The VAX port stopped working a long time ago by possible · · Score: 5, Interesting
      Why does VAX need to be supported?

      Because porting to non x86 architectures forces you to fix bugs. If the code is faulty, it may work for 99% of the x86 users, but crash for the remaining 1% of x86 users. But since none of the developers can reproduce the problem, it's a case of "I dunno, works on my machine, I'm not going to spend time looking for it". Whereas on other architectures, incorrect code may fail 100% of the time due to aligment, different exception handling, etc.

      NetBSD doesn't just suck on VAX. It sucks on ppc (aka, Macs) too. And up til recently it sucked badly on amd64. Most of NetBSD's "supported architectures" haven't worked for years, because they often cross-build instead of doing native builds.

    7. Re:The VAX port stopped working a long time ago by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Then maybe they shouldn't advertise that they actually support architectures that they don't event bother to test? Not too much to ask, really...

    8. Re:The VAX port stopped working a long time ago by Homology · · Score: 2, Informative
      In other words, it runs on 90% of their users' computers, and the developer time on those architectures was well-spent. Sorry, but pandering to hobbyist users of obscure hardware (yes, today it is) is a waste. In a world of finite resources, tasks must be prioritized.

      How kind of you tell the developers what to develop and prioritize on something they do for free.

      By releasing first for x86, the NetBSD devs demonstrate their sanity by working on the software that would benefit the most users. Today, VAX doesn't matter, so why should they support it at all?

      I got news for you: Developers work on certain architectures because they want to.

    9. Re:The VAX port stopped working a long time ago by darkjedi521 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      They claim the VAX is a supported platform. Therefore, NetBSD/vax should work for the most part (barring any inherent limitations in the VAX architecture.

    10. Re:The VAX port stopped working a long time ago by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Then why do they advertise it as stable?

    11. Re:The VAX port stopped working a long time ago by Nimrangul · · Score: 2, Insightful

      It's funny, on OpenBSD stories people ask for cross compiling and on NetBSD stories people talk smack about it. Not that you're wrong, cause you're not. I just find that funny that the OpenBSD people are always saying why cross compiling isn't an answer when NetBSD fans talk about it on OpenBSD stories and here it is spilling in the opposite direction.

      --
      I'm sick of following my dreams - I'm just going to ask them where they're going and hook up with them later.
    12. Re:The VAX port stopped working a long time ago by darkjedi521 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      There is a happy medium between the two. A cross build can save time, but the code should be tested on the real hardware. Especially if one is claiming to support some of the more interesting CPUs out there. I've heard stories of DEC redoing parts of VMS/Ultrix/Tru64 to work around CPU bugs. Just cause something works on paper or builds fine on i386 doesn't mean the binary will run on VAX, Alpha, PA-RISC, PDP-11, MIPS, etc, etc, etc.

    13. Re:The VAX port stopped working a long time ago by zaft · · Score: 4, Informative

      I agree that it's frustrating to not be able to natively compile the VAX port, that's not really the same thing as saying (as in the subject line) that the VAX port "stopped working". It works just fine.

    14. Re:The VAX port stopped working a long time ago by SillyNickName4me · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Hmm... just wondering, if I post what version each of the obscure pieces of hardware I have lying around manages to run, will all of those posts get a +5 interesting moderation?

      Anyway, its a vaxstation 3100 m20 with 16mb ram and monochrome graphics with a local (scsi) disk for swap and temp storage, it is netbooted. When trying to run 1.5 or 1.6 and build a world, the machine just hangs after some 2 days of work. 1.4 finishes building a world but it takes forever to do so (actually, something like 7 or 8 days). I never tried 2.x and current however, maybe I should when I can be bothered to connect it again and setup mopd on some machine here.

    15. Re:The VAX port stopped working a long time ago by Mancat · · Score: 1

      True. I recently dug out my VLC and decided to put in a bigger disk and move up from 1.5.... Nothing works. The MOP bootloader does not work, had to use the one from 1.5. Once I got it booted and ran the installer, the HD boot blocks to not work, even after running 'installboot' as advertised (another showstopper bug). Not even the 1.5 bootblocks will work now. So I have this system installed, but I can't even boot to it.

      I'd love to contribute to fixing it, but I'm not a programmer by any means. I think that to use some of the more obscure NetBSD ports, you really need to be one.

      --
      hello dear sirs my name is jamesh i are india (bihar) can u guide me install red had linux 9?
    16. Re:The VAX port stopped working a long time ago by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Interesting

      because they're engaged in fraud. it isn't just the vax port that is broken.

    17. Re:The VAX port stopped working a long time ago by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If it can't even self-build, I wouldn't even dare of claiming that "it works".

      If it boots far enough to get a login prompt, but crashes or wedges shortly after logging in, does that mean "it works" too?

    18. Re:The VAX port stopped working a long time ago by geckofiend · · Score: 1

      So then why are people bitching about hardware X not being supported?

    19. Re:The VAX port stopped working a long time ago by AhBeeDoi · · Score: 1

      What, with all these newfangled GUI's, my toothbrush requires a memory upgrade.

    20. Re:The VAX port stopped working a long time ago by houseofzeus · · Score: 1

      Because the NetBSD folks claim it is, but it doesn't work as 'advertised'.

    21. Re:The VAX port stopped working a long time ago by c9a9t · · Score: 2, Interesting

      I just downloaded macppccd-3.0.iso hoping it would be an improvement over 2.1 but the 3.0 cd doesn't even boot on my b&w G3.

      Perhaps they should consider timely complete release notes for each architecture? I don't think 2.1 macppc release notes and errata have yet appeared...

      Meanwhile, much as I love BSD (preferably FreeBSD) on i386 I haven't found it terribly useful on powerpc. If it weren't for Debian my macs would have to run mac os.

    22. Re:The VAX port stopped working a long time ago by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

      OpenBSD has very decent macppc support, I ran it on a B&W g3 until I gave it away.

    23. Re:The VAX port stopped working a long time ago by wtarreau · · Score: 1

      I tried 1.5 and 1.6 a long time ago on my VLC4000, but it was not stable. It would hang around once a month, so I tried to install an old VMS but I'm too ignorant of this OS to build a server out of it. Finally, it ended up on OpenBSD. 3.1 was fine and *relatively*
      stable on it. Now it runs 3.7 very smoothly. The only time it reboots is when I accidentely
      walk on the power plug.

      I like the idea of building front-end servers/proxies out of rare combinations of OSes
      and platforms. It reduces the risk of getting a bug exploited. I've used an easily
      exploitable version of openssh for 2 years without a break-in ;-)

      Willy

    24. Re:The VAX port stopped working a long time ago by Alioth · · Score: 1

      Use OpenBSD then. The latest version of OpenBSD runs well on a VAX. When I got my VAX, I was intending to put NetBSD on it but then I discovered the documentation for netbooting the VAX to install was poor and inconsistent, to say the least (with many of the web pages being 404 - Not Found). By contrast, the OpenBSD instructions were contained in the actual installation documentation, just where you'd expect, along with the other methods of installation. The OpenBSD documentation was clear and concise, and very shortly I was MOP booting the OpenBSD installer.

    25. Re:The VAX port stopped working a long time ago by Alioth · · Score: 1

      Because there are still people around who like to run a VAX. It is also the platform that saw BSD come of age (BSD was started on the VAX's "genetic predecessor", the PDP-11)

    26. Re:The VAX port stopped working a long time ago by Alioth · · Score: 1

      NetBSD claims to be extremely portable - portability is the main stated goal.
      If it only runs well on x86, NetBSD becomes basically irrelevant - FreeBSD is far better on x86, and OpenBSD (whose goal is security and implenetation and correctness) is more portable (OpenBSD runs fine on VAX). Essentially, if NetBSD doesn't actually talk the talk they have about portability, all they are is an inadequate OpenBSD that is less secure and less portable - and it has no advantages.

    27. Re:The VAX port stopped working a long time ago by Alioth · · Score: 1

      OpenBSD has a _much_ better VAX port than NetBSD it seems - OpenBSD 3.8 MOP boots and runs just fine on my 3100-80. There are a few caveats (probably due to the compiler - O2 doesn't always make correct code so when you build programs use -O or -O1)

    28. Re:The VAX port stopped working a long time ago by LizardKing · · Score: 2, Informative

      Bullshit, the VAX port works fine. What doesn't work is building it natively using the default settings. This is because of a problem building groff - it triggers some undiagnosed compiler bug. You can work around this by building groff without optimisation, or cross compiling on another architecture (which if you do it on a modern PC is much faster than building on any VAX). The releases and snapshots of NetBSD are cross compiled, which is why the longstanding groff compilation bug still exists.

    29. Re:The VAX port stopped working a long time ago by LizardKing · · Score: 3, Informative

      NetBSD claims to be extremely portable - portability is the main stated goal.

      Well, one of the goals, third down on the official list.

      f it only runs well on x86, NetBSD becomes basically irrelevant - FreeBSD is far better on x86, and OpenBSD (whose goal is security and implenetation and correctness) is more portable (OpenBSD runs fine on VAX). Essentially, if NetBSD doesn't actually talk the talk they have about portability, all they are is an inadequate OpenBSD that is less secure and less portable - and it has no advantages.

      Since FreeBSD 5 and NetBSD 2, performance on x86 has been very close and often better on NetBSD. Check out the benchmarks and studies posted on the advocacy mailing lists. FreeBSD is suffering portability issues thanks to the original focus on x86 alone. OpenBSD only works on a reasonable number of platforms because it absorbs a lot of work from NetBSD, the VAX port is a good example, where NetBSD supports more models of the VAX. NetBSD is arguably as secure as OpenBSD, but has far more features and performs much, much better.

      One of the more proactive NetBSD/VAX users complained recently about the native build problems and a personal fear of "featureitis". It looks like some Slashdot cretin has picked up on that and decided to try and piss on the NetBSD 3.0 announcement with what is largely a non-issue.

    30. Re:The VAX port stopped working a long time ago by LizardKing · · Score: 2, Informative

      I installed NetBSD 2.1 on my VaxStation 3100 m30, and it works fine. My DEC monitor broke, so I don't know if the monochrome framebuffer driver still works, but there has been considerable work on the VAX framebuffers recently so I would expect so. I've never needed to bootstrap an install with mopd, because the bootable CD's work fine with an old Sun CD-ROM drive - you can pick them up dirt cheap on Ebay.

      I can't comment on the uptime with the 3100, as it only gets switched on for a few hours at a time. However, my 4000VLC has been running continously for several months acting as a minimalistic intranet server.

    31. Re:The VAX port stopped working a long time ago by Alioth · · Score: 2, Informative

      Well, I'd disagree that NetBSD performs better on a VAX - it's currently uninstallable and un-runnable on most VAXen due to the problems already stated in this thread (starting with inadequate netbooting documentation, and a MOP booting procedure that doesn't even work). Essentially they say they support the platform, but haven't really supported it since 1.4.

    32. Re:The VAX port stopped working a long time ago by LizardKing · · Score: 2, Informative

      Care to try out version 3.0? The netbooting issue was solved, perhaps as long ago as versions 2.0.1. Version 1.6 shipped with a broken boot.mop, but worked find if you booted the install from a CD or used the boot.mop from 1.5. As for NetBSD/VAX being "unrunnable" once installed, that's just bullshit, or else I must be imagining the VS4000 VLC and VS3100 m30 humming away next to me.

      NetBSD supports more models of VAX than OpenBSD - try comparing the lists on http://www.netbsd.org/Ports/vax/ and http://www.openbsd.org/vax.html. NetBSD also supports more devices, such as framebuffers and SCSI controllers.

    33. Re:The VAX port stopped working a long time ago by SillyNickName4me · · Score: 1

      I installed NetBSD 2.1 on my VaxStation 3100 m30, and it works fine. My DEC monitor broke, so I don't know if the monochrome framebuffer driver still works, but there has been considerable work on the VAX framebuffers recently so I would expect so. I've never needed to bootstrap an install with mopd, because the bootable CD's work fine with an old Sun CD-ROM drive - you can pick them up dirt cheap on Ebay.

      Hmm, and there was a typo (more then one, actually) in my last pist, it is a 3100 m30 also. I still have the monochrome display somewhere, but it is in storage and not really accessable for now. Also have a bunch of vt220s around so that should not be much of a problem. While it is nice to have the internal console, my experience is that it is slow as hell (not just with NetBSD but also with OpenVMS) so well, its not too big a loss if it doesn't work I think.

      Anyway, will take a peek at 2.1 or maybe 3.0 when I get the time to connect that machine again. Don't have a sun cd-rom drive around, but have a 4 speed toshiba drive that sun, sgi and ancient hp machines boot from without a problem, may connect that and try a cd boot, thanks for the info.

      As for uptimes, with 1.4, this machine has been running for over a year before I shut it down when moving to a new apartment. Not an extremely impressive uptime for a vax, but its stable enough it seems.

    34. Re:The VAX port stopped working a long time ago by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

      Somehow reminds me of some of the people I work with. Something breaks, I jump in and try to fix it (and have a good reputation, and now everyone calls me when they have really bizzare problems, because I'll figure them out). Then there's most (not all) of the other people, something breaks, "oh it doesn't work, someone should look at this, really sucks, its useless, yadda yadda." God forbid when I find out, I should ask "did you actually do something like, dig into it yourself? Send an email asking for help?" -- Dead Silence.

      Ok, so Vax doesn't self-build because of a *known* issue (although for myself, I'd rather cross-build on my Dual-Xeon 2ghz box, rather than wait 8 days, I agree it *should* be fixed). Other than that, perhaps you would enlighten us on all the other issues you have with the Vax port?

      Heh, and classic, my word-image deal for submitting this is "critics".

    35. Re:The VAX port stopped working a long time ago by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

      Just cause something works on paper or builds fine on i386 doesn't mean the binary will run on VAX, Alpha, PA-RISC, PDP-11, MIPS, etc, etc, etc.

      Quite true. And I personally think NetBSD does a fairly good job of picking up on things, but there are just some things a basic regression test is never going to find, and for that you rely on user testing and user feedback. And if the userbase is small... (I have a VS4000/60 here I've been meaning to load NetBSD up on since probably 1.6.2 days, but I've just been way to busy with "life" and actually trying to get *rid* of some of my older stuff, that I'm not sure when I'll get to it).

      I've seen a lot of comments here about bugs in 1.5 and 1.6, and people just "not using it after that", and its sad, I think NetBSD could do a better job of testing, but I also think that to some extent bugs are to be expected. Hey, I ran an old Interdata mini back in the day, where one release of "OS/32" changed the disk structure slightly, "run fastchek on your disks after booting the new OS". Wasn't me, mind you (I'm overly cautious sometimes), but somone installed it and corrupted every disk on the system (bug in the code to fix the disk structure). 2 weeks later the big red piece of paper came out from the vendor "warning, don't install this", there's QA for you.

      Of course, if people want to compare, I seem to recall Windows95 having an issue crashing after like 45 days. Hmm, and then 98.. so 3 years to fix that? And trust me, I use Linux (mostly RedHat) at work, and if I just tossed up my hands and said "this sucks, I'm never using it again" (while I would like to, I have no great love of linux and its hacked-together virtual memory "design" that keeps changing).. well, I wouldn't have a job and be able to pay my bills. Yes, for home, I like to just set something up and have it "just work", and truthfully I've had far better luck on that with NetBSD on "obscure" platforms than w/ Linux.
      One look at the "status" page for the Linux/VAX project:

      "30 November 2005 -- Toolchain
      A cross-compiled GCC-4.2 (checked out from SVN, plus some patches), running on a VAX, properly compiled a "Hello World!" program."


      In June of 2001 "Kernel boots to shell prompt and forks properly", and don't get me wrong, I think they've made *good* progress with it, having seen how non-portable some of the Linux kernel code was (they started w/ 2.2 I believe), and they just manged to get a *cross-compiled* (cough cough, nudge nudge, to the guy who started this thread complaining about NetBSD cross-compiling while the local-compile fails) GCC built and running, and able to compile "Hello World" (woohoo!).

      As someone who's written device drivers, played with porting GCC to other architectures (note that the GCC people themselves have dropped support for most of the architectures they supported back in the 2.x days, and its been left completely to "volunteers"...), and misc kernel work, it annoys me when people think a major change is going to go in (for instance, the change when NetBSD went to UVM) and the next release is just going to "work fine". People try, but people are human, things sometimes get missed, thats why my general rule is to always beware of a ".0" release (ie, 1.5.0, 1.6.0, 2.0, 3.0 - note that with the change in version numbering, 1.5->1.6 was some pretty major changes, whereas now they've gone to 2.0->3.0 being major changes, and 2.0->2.1 being fairly minor in terms of changes).

      What NetBSD *needs* is more people taking the time to do real-world testing of new releases, and providing feedback, rather than saying "I tried 1.5 and 1.6, and had issues, so I'm sticking with 1.4, and I'm never going to bother even trying 2.0,2.1,3.0".

    36. Re:The VAX port stopped working a long time ago by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If it can't even self-build, I wouldn't even dare of claiming that "it works".

      Guess Linux/Vax doesn't "work" either:

      30 November 2005 -
      A cross-compiled GCC-4.2 (checked out from SVN, plus some patches), running on a VAX, properly compiled a "Hello World!" program.


      So all the Linux people who want to compare # of 'architectures' need to cross that off both the Linux & NetBSD lists then, if thats the definition of "working".

      (not to start a flame war, note that it doesn't change the number's either way you want to argue that debate... one off each list, net zero change - although I could argue that the Linux "VAX port" was being bantered about as being on the linux list of "supported architectures" back in the day when the status said "booted to a shell prompt and it forked a process", when NetBSD was running full multiuser just fine, even according to all these posts (1.3/1.4 days) - but thats past history, they seem to have made good progress on the Vax Linux).

    37. Re:The VAX port stopped working a long time ago by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So stop whining, contribute and get it working on your architecture.

    38. Re:The VAX port stopped working a long time ago by Alioth · · Score: 2, Insightful

      It was actually only recently I tried NetBSD - approximately 4 weeks ago. What I found - the documentation for MOP booting a VAX with NetBSD is 404 - Not found. Googling brings up at least three or four different documents, none of which matched the files that were actually on ftp.netbsd.org. I spent quite a bit of time looking for documentation that actually matched what seemed to exist on the ftp site.

      I eventually gave up and found that not only did OpenBSD have the documentation for MOP booting right where it should be (in the same document as all the other installation notes, rather than on a different website altogether), OpenBSD _does_ support SCSI controllers.

      I notice the website is now fixed and documentation now exists, so I may give it another go, however, I'm less inclined to do so since OpenBSD is running on the machine very satisfactorily.

    39. Re:The VAX port stopped working a long time ago by Shanep · · Score: 1

      I like the idea of building front-end servers/proxies out of rare combinations of OSes and platforms. It reduces the risk of getting a bug exploited. I've used an easily exploitable version of openssh for 2 years without a break-in ;-)

      Careful wtarreau. Thems' fightin' words. Get ready to be verbally attacked by all the dorks who spew "security through obscurity" as if it applies when avoiding the #1 targetted arch. I agree with you, I like using obscure hardware (slightly: sparc64, macppc) and software (lucky my favourite OS (OpenBSD) is also a little obscure), because it allows me to avoid a lot of assuming (x86) scripts and kiddies.

      I have been attacked so many times for promoting a reliance on "security through obscurity", when the truth is that I never have. I, like you, am just playing better odds (in addition to the regular maintenance which everyone else does).

      The "security through obscurity" line seems to get applied way too often. Lots of people seem to have come to the belief that obscurity cannot provide anything positive at all. Oddly they also don't seem to realise that strong passwords are obscure passwords.

      Yes, relying on obscurity as a major focus of your security strategy is very wrong. That is "security through obscurity". Avoiding x86 (or even sparc64 and macppc if you want to go further), is not "security through obscurity". It's just a free bonus in the never ending fight for network security.

      --
      War crimes, torture, lies, illegal spying... Would someone give Bush a blowjob, already, so he can be impeached?
    40. Re:The VAX port stopped working a long time ago by Shanep · · Score: 1

      There is a happy medium between the two. A cross build can save time, but the code should be tested on the real hardware.

      The theory is that building release on the intended arch is a good test of that arch. You could cross compile on x86 to VAX, then test the VAX binaries on the VAX and not find anything wrong. Whereas building release for the VAX on the VAX may turn up problems that you otherwise might not find.

      I agree though, that there should be a happy medium. Cross compiling for dev work and then final testing with making release on each arch natively would be good. You would have faster dev thanks to faster compiling and then the better testing of native builds once you think you are done.

      --
      War crimes, torture, lies, illegal spying... Would someone give Bush a blowjob, already, so he can be impeached?
    41. Re:The VAX port stopped working a long time ago by Halfbaked+Plan · · Score: 1

      It cross-compiles and the binaries run on the VAX architecture. It is tested on VAX.

      It cross-compiles and runs on my Macintosh SE/30. That doesn't mean that I want to build a full userland, or a full set of the packages I want to run, on the Macintosh SE/30 itself. That would be insanity. I built GNU Emacs once on the SE/30. It took a LONG time.

      NetBSD supports the VAX architecture. Binaries are built and distributed, and run on VAX systems. Historically, Microsoft built the MS-DOS binaries on PDP-10 systems. It would have been INSANE for someone to complain that they weren't fully supporting the 8088 processor because it was more realistic to use a PDP-10 minicomputer to build the MS-DOS binaries. Similarly, NetBSD will run on some of the otherwise WinCE-bound Pocket PCs. Do people claim because the kernel isn't natively compiled on a Pocket PC that it isn't a supported architecture?

      'Compile the kernel' is a worthy pursuit some of the time. Other times it's a bellygazing exercise.

      --
      resigned
    42. Re:The VAX port stopped working a long time ago by Halfbaked+Plan · · Score: 1

      Lots of people seem to have come to the belief that obscurity cannot provide anything positive at all.

      Your comment points out another good aspect of the cross-platformness of NetBSD. You can run the same codebase on an obscure arch or on i386. It's the same codebase so the 'many eyes' aspect argued for by the 'security through obscurity baaaaad' jihad applies, but you can run that same code on an obscure arch, which renders your binaries a further layer impenetrable, even while running on the same codebase.

      --
      resigned
    43. Re:The VAX port stopped working a long time ago by Halfbaked+Plan · · Score: 1

      On older VAX systems (and on my Mac SE/30) cross-compiling is essential. It's likely that a full kernel and userland build, plus a reasonable set of the packages, on an SE/30 would take long enough that the build wouldn't be done before the next release. The SE/30 is Processor-clock, IO, and Memory bound to be a small system in today's world. My MicroVAX 3100 is even smaller and slower in some regards.

      --
      resigned
    44. Re:The VAX port stopped working a long time ago by Halfbaked+Plan · · Score: 1

      There are people using NetBSD on the listed architectures. The fact that you aren't or can't is not anybody elses' problem.

      For some reason I feel this is either a troll or a pissing match I am responding to.

      --
      resigned
    45. Re:The VAX port stopped working a long time ago by Billly+Gates · · Score: 1

      There is always openVMS. I assume a Vax port still exists??

      Alot of opensource software has been ported and a recent defcom showed Apache running on VMS on an alpha proved to be the most secure platform. Perl, X, and many other programs run on it.

  2. Only the good die young... by NotFamous · · Score: 3, Funny

    Two, we hardly knew thee.

    --
    Some settling may occur during posting.
    1. Re:Only the good die young... by shish · · Score: 1
      Three, we hardly will know you. No offence.

      (I've never seen netbsd in the wild... Hell, it doesn't even appear in tech news other than it being born and pronounced dead)

      --
      I mod down anyone who says "I will be modded down for this", regardless of the rest of their comment
    2. Re:Only the good die young... by mikiN · · Score: 1

      I've never seen netbsd in the wild...

      Then you really should get out more. No offence.
      Chances are you might run into (not literally, I hope) a laser printer, a robot, or a webcam running NetBSD.

      If only hardware vendors like BroadCom would realize there are more kinds of animals in the world than just penguins, I'd love to get NetBSD running on my Asus wireless router someday...

      --
      The Hacker's Guide To The Kernel: Don't panic()!
  3. So, does this mean by ch-chuck · · Score: 1, Interesting

    I can install NetBSD on my, oh, (picks obscure platform) VAX, and have xen run multiple virtual vaxes?

    --
    try { do() || do_not(); } catch (JediException err) { yoda(err); }
    1. Re:So, does this mean by ch-chuck · · Score: 0

      mods are drinking scotch too. Ask a simple question... Actually someone LATER answered it, vax is barely supported. Which makes sense actually.

      --
      try { do() || do_not(); } catch (JediException err) { yoda(err); }
    2. Re:So, does this mean by darkjedi521 · · Score: 1

      Judging by the earlier threads, I don't think the VAX is all that obscure. Might want to try using a a DECStation (see also: pmax).

    3. Re:So, does this mean by ngg · · Score: 1

      No, Xen only runs on x86 CPUs. That isn't a limitation specific to NetBSD/Xen, it's a limitation of Xen.

    4. Re:So, does this mean by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Xen runs in varying degrees of completeness on x86, x86_64, itanic, and PPC.

      Being x86 only is, in fact, a limitation specific to NetBSD/Xen (well, specific to !linux, really).

  4. Re:Is NetBSD still relevant? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    maybe you shouldnt?

    and you can go back to using your poorly ported system or trolling other forums...

    idiot.

  5. Why the FUCK WERE you moderratee as .. by IAAP · · Score: 0, Troll
    Two, we hardly knew thee.

    Due: rxplain, plese?

  6. NetBSD v3.0 Released.... by rune2 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Netcraft surrenders...

  7. I'm underwhelmed. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    No WPA support, very little support for 802.11g devices, and a lot of missing things as compared with other modern OSes (a current, working DRI implementation and support for ACPI suspend/resume would both be very nice)... this is a pretty disappointing release.

    I've always liked NetBSD for being very cleanly implemented, but the way things have been going lately, I might wind up having to switch to FreeBSD or *shudder* Linux for some upcoming projects.

    1. Re:I'm underwhelmed. by DogDude · · Score: 0

      No WPA support, very little support for 802.11g devices, and a lot of missing things as compared with other modern OSes (a current, working DRI implementation and support for ACPI suspend/resume would both be very nice)..

      That's because NetBSD is meant to be a server OS, not a workstation OS.

      --
      I don't respond to AC's.
    2. Re:I'm underwhelmed. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Interesting

      A server os that works on dreamcast. Duh.

    3. Re:I'm underwhelmed. by Diocleciano+Palma · · Score: 0

      Shudder? Howcome? Linux isn't hardcore enough? :P

    4. Re:I'm underwhelmed. by xwin · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Exactly. It is just about the only thing that runs on my Qube. The OS is actually pretty good, easy to use and secure. Very good server OS to run on mips hardware.

    5. Re:I'm underwhelmed. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That's because NetBSD is meant to be a server OS, not a workstation OS.

      And yet, Mac OS X, Linux, and Windows servers support all these and more. Is it actually desireable to not have these, or is it simply "they haven't gotten around to it yet"?

      The line between "server" and "workstation" is blurry at best. I think it tends to be a marketing distinction, not a technical one. 10 years ago, running a web server would be considered "server" territory; now you can run one on any Mac by clicking a checkbox. The internet is fundamentally a peer-to-peer network, and "server" seems to be the PR department's way of saying "we haven't figured out how to make this easy enough to run from a workstation yet". Remember, back when we had mainframes and dumb terminals, even things like hard disks were considered "server" items.

      To rephrase the original poster's question: If a "workstation" OS can do everything a "server" OS can do, and more, then why wouldn't you simply run the "workstation" OS on your server?

    6. Re:I'm underwhelmed. by setagllib · · Score: 1

      Because these features can require compromises.

      NetBSD's code paths would be severely extended if it was to add in hooks for DRI, etc.
      Sure, it wouldn't be all bad, in fact most wouldn't notice. I do believe it's a "we don't care enough about it" issue, not even a "we can't do it" issue (they've done much more remarkable things).

      But why would you even need DRI on a 'workstation'? NetBSD runs all of the bleeding-edge workstation software like aterm and vim. If you're really daring you can even use one of those graphically intensive CAD applications like TGif.

      My point: Unix people are used to having under-impressive 'workstations'. It's about getting things done. If taking a year to implement DRI for every major card and resulting in a slightly reduced latency for MPlayer is your idea of a good pursuit for a functionality-oriented OS, good for you.

      --
      Sam ty sig.
  8. Congrats! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Congratulations for a new release of a great OS!

  9. Obligatory by m50d · · Score: 3, Funny

    I'm compiling it on my toaster right now!

    --
    I am trolling
    1. Re:Obligatory by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You should have no problem burning CDs!

  10. Re:Release notes (MOD THIS DOWN) by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    This is an obvious troll, not the real release notes, the author was so sloppy he/she even referred to OpenBSD instead of NetBSD...

  11. BSD is dead. Long live VMS!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    okay, that was a joke.

  12. Screenshots of graphical installer by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

    Anyone got any?

    1. Re:Screenshots of graphical installer by aliquis · · Score: 0, Offtopic

      Sure thing: Graphical installer

    2. Re:Screenshots of graphical installer by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      Sure thing: Graphical installer


      Oh man.. that was like a goatse pic! You bastard!
    3. Re:Screenshots of graphical installer by aliquis · · Score: 1

      I answered like this because I haven't seen a graphical installer for NetBSD and I installed 3.0 but didn't saw one then either, so I thought there still wasn't one. But now I googled it and it seems they have been discussing one.

  13. Re:Release notes (MOD THIS DOWN) by bartash · · Score: 0

    posting comment to remove moderation of grandparent

    --
    Read Epic the first RPG novel.
  14. Hmmm, the other BSD by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I've run OpenBSD and FreeBSD but what compelling reason would there be for me to run this variant? Riddle me this, is it worth my time installing this on a test box?

    1. Re:Hmmm, the other BSD by KangKong · · Score: 1

      Try it and see if you feel more at home, if you don't you havn't lost anything.

    2. Re:Hmmm, the other BSD by Nimrangul · · Score: 4, Informative

      It's supposed to be comparable to the FreeBSD 5 series for speeds, I've seen no benchmarks against the newer 6 series, but can assume they're still within a pretty reasonable range of eachother, not too much else unless you want to run on a platform other than i386.

      As far as OpenBSD comparisons go; performs better overall, less secure, pf is not integrated into the system as tighly, and it's support of it's various platforms aren't always as good as those of OpenBSD's, since they do their support through cross compiling instead of native work.

      You may prefer NetBSD's speed over OpenBSD or NetBSD's support for alternative platforms, it's all in what you're trying to do.

      --
      I'm sick of following my dreams - I'm just going to ask them where they're going and hook up with them later.
    3. Re:Hmmm, the other BSD by ArbitraryConstant · · Score: 1

      This isn't a compreshensive list, but its performance is apparently better than FreeBSD on single-processor systems, and it's deffinitely better than OpenBSD. Pkgsrc has more software than OpenBSD's ports, NetBSD is a bit more up to date (eg OpenBSD lacks the sendfile system call), some people don't like the way OpenBSD is set up, etc.

      I use OpenBSD because I want a firewall and I don't mind the way it's set up, but I can see reasons to use NetBSD.

      --
      I rarely criticize things I don't care about.
    4. Re:Hmmm, the other BSD by spleentor · · Score: 1

      it cant hurt to try it out. i mean unless you're still on a dial-up connection bandwidth is cheap and so is recordable media. i'm no zealot when it comes to the *nixes, (read i use bsd and linux) i tried the last release of netbsd but it wasnt for me so i went back to freebsd.

    5. Re:Hmmm, the other BSD by yukonbob · · Score: 1

      Pkgsrc has more software than OpenBSD's ports

      But that doesn't preclude running pkgsrc on OpenBSD, which I do -- OpenBSD3.8 running in qemu, on NetBSD3.0 ;)

      -yb

    6. Re:Hmmm, the other BSD by gd · · Score: 1

      I used to use FreeBSD and OpenBSD exclusively but what got me started with NetBSD was once I wasn't able to get FreeBSD or OpenBSD installed on one of our boxes, only NetBSD managed to get itself installed. Then I began to discover NetBSD of its well thoughtoutness in various aspects, and most of my servers are NetBSD now ...

      Just give it a try and you'll see what I mean.

      --
      gd
    7. Re:Hmmm, the other BSD by mqx · · Score: 1

      OpenBSD, FreeBSD and NetBSD serve different markets. FreeBSD is the larger enterprise class BSD, suitable for both desktop and server. NetBSD and OpenBSD can fit these roles but are far better on embedded systems. If you want SMP (typically not important for embedded systems), FreeBSD is further ahead. I've built a couple of commercial embedded systems, all proprietary, but my home network runs Linux, NetBSD and FreeBSD (and did run OpenBSD in the past). I'm familiar with the issues in embedded systems development, and if I had to choose an OS, I'd be tempted to Linux because of the commercial support available, and the ability to leverage off all sort of existing code and drivers, but I'd much prefer NetBSD because of licensing issues, and that it's far more compact, coherent and inherently easier to derisk.

    8. Re:Hmmm, the other BSD by LizardKing · · Score: 2, Informative

      It's worth emphasising that pkgsrc is not just for NetBSD. It works on OpenBSD, DragonflyBSD, Solaris, Irix, Darwin and others. It even works on various flavours of Linux, including Debian.

    9. Re:Hmmm, the other BSD by ci4 · · Score: 2, Interesting

      I was about to say the same. It started with my laptop - OpenBSD not supporting the modem part of a Xircom combo cardbus adapter, FreeBSD completely failing even to begin installation - and that's the whole sequence of them between 4.4 and 5.3 (haven't tried since). NetBSD (1.6 at the time) ran first time and the Xircom got me connected to the ISP first time. Since then I have it running permanently on some five machines in the office doing various In(ter|tra)net serving and desktop duties; only one box is running FreeBSD (6.0 currently) because NetBSD's INSTALL kernel (at least) did not find the RAID part of a HighPoint card; FreeBSD did - I wanted it mirrored and setting up RaidFrame on a boot disk was a bit over what I wanted to do quickly... Anyway, I carried on adding additional software on that box via source ports; this has been mostly succesful, but nowhere as smooth as is normally with pkgsrc. I do run two or three OpenBSD firewalls (including several at customer sites), but generally performance issues have stopped me from other deployment.

      NetBSD performance has been excelent recently; BTW I run -current on all but one system (that one follows the latest release, therefore will get 3.0 this Wednesday).

      I also maintain some five Solaris(mostly 10/11) systems - the latest Express with the ZFS id awesome!

      Haven't touched the L*x thing for some three years now - don't start me on it...

    10. Re:Hmmm, the other BSD by dow · · Score: 1

      Yeah, I'm running a webserver here on NetBSD, but have just bought a compaq proliant 6000, got some extra xeons off a friend, and now it has 2.6gig ecc memory too. I hear that Linux scales better on multi processor hardware, so have Slackware installed, and pkgsrc from NetBSD. Anyone know if 3.0 is better than 2.x on multicpu architectures?

      NetBSD is a lovely OS to work with though, I intend to keep DNS and mail running on it. I'd keep my quad xeon raid monster on it, but seen a study comparing Solaris, Linux, FreeBSD and NetBSD. On single processors, they all did pretty similar, but increase the number of processors, and Linux and Solaris edged into the lead, NetBSD fell backwards. Oh if this story was today and not three days ago, this would create a flamewar to kingdom come, but anyway.

    11. Re:Hmmm, the other BSD by Halfbaked+Plan · · Score: 1

      For me, a part of the reason I find it valuable is that I am into all sorts of old classic UNIX hardware, and want a modern OS to run on all of it. I have the following systems and can/have run NetBSD on:

      Intel Boxes (regular PIII boxes, a Quad Pentium Pro Server, 486 laptops, Pentium Laptops...)

      My Macintosh SE/30 and my Quadra 650

      My Beige G3 Macintosh.

      My Sun Sparcstation IPC, IPX, Classic, 5, 10, 20.

      My Sun UltraSparc 1, 2, and 5 systems.

      My SGI 02 systems.

      My IBM RS/6000 (prep architecture)

      My PPC Mac clone (prep architecture)

      My Microvax 3100

      I can run NetBSD, built from the same source tree on ALL these systems. That isn't at all the same as saying that I can run odd distros of Linux on some of them. I have a fairly uptodate mirroring of the pkgsrc collection so I can locally build uptodate packages on all archs too.

      The key is that it's all version controlled together in one CVS tree.

      And no, I do not run all these archs 24/7 or regularly. The value of NetBSD is that I can use NetBSD as a common platform and use it to feel out and test a wide selection of hardware. It's often more appropriate to run the native Unix on many classic workstations. I can't, for example, get glorious dual 24-bit graphics in Xinerama mode running anything but Solaris on my SparcStation 10sx.

      I have dithered and experimented with other kinda-acceptable freenix solutions for my main desktop system. I've tested recent releases of Slackware and OpenBSD on my Pentium III desktop system, and they just don't give me the power and flexibility that I have with NetBSD. So I've come back and just this past week brough up 3.0 (previously was running 2.1) and am typing this in Mozilla that I built from source on this box about a half a week ago.

      --
      resigned
    12. Re:Hmmm, the other BSD by setagllib · · Score: 1

      That was a single-process multi-thread setup, which NetBSD doesn't seem to handle very well (or it wasn't set up properly for that bench, which is also a popular claim).

      See how NetBSD 3.0 and DragonFly BSD 1.4 do compared to FreeBSD 6 and post some good benches. That'll be interesting.

      --
      Sam ty sig.
  15. Re:Good bye. by winphreak · · Score: 0

    It's ok. You'll be remembered in the way of bash.org quotation.

    --
    "I'm a well-wisher, in that I don't wish you any specific harm."
  16. Re:VAX stopped working a long time ago - ? - NT by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I use one based off the VMS engine that drives yours, & after 10++ years of development & patch releases from its VMS underpinnings in design?

    It rocks... & we ALL know what it is & have used it most likely: A form of Windows, based off its NT 3.x-3.5x-4.x-2000/XP heritage ->

    Windows Server 2003 SP #1 fully hotfix patched as of the date of this post is the best of the lot & most current.

    That's what I've truly got to say for it.

    Well, also that it's what windows should always have been imo, & I've used it since Windows 3.0 & coded from 3.11 onwards to today as well.

    This version just runs stable for months on end uptime (not counting reboots for drivers/various installs etc.) & runs on tons of different hardware & with it, so, I can do what I am doing as I post this - watch T.V. via Win32 USB, listen to tunes (via a software I wrote that does MP3), & post to you all on the internet.

    So, that type of ability, to do that? I used to see it in movies in the Win16 days & say "Hmmm, must be UNIX"...

    This is what makes it so great, besides being reliable, secure (the way I do it @ least), & run so many softwares + hardwares:

    This final product release (lately) of Windows NT-based OS!

    And, Years of mistakes, time in redo/rethink + rebuild, & rinse, wash, + repeat a few times in multiples of 3 imo on Microsoft's part no doubt @ the expense of many people's time - imo, the one thing mnney can't buy you more of, & thus, the most valuable.

    Plus, the tools for software development for Win32? Heh... huge amounts & varied. Delphi being my fav, but, using VB.NET, VB6, SQL extensively in SQLServer on the job.

    RAD Tools all, they're fantastic imo, & I come out of the drop-thru single function instance code days of the 1980's - trust me, lol, today's tools are a wicked bigtime improvement, as well as what comes out of them by comparison to those days of the dinosaurs...

    APK

    P.S.=> VAX port dead? Heh, man, not really... NT = VAX @ the OS core design level (via Mr. Dave Cutler). Same OS designer built this one, only better: FAR MORE POWERFUL DUE TO FLEXIBILITY IN TODAY'S COMPUTING ENVIRONS FROM THE HOME DESKTOP/LAPTOP, TO THE OFFICE, TO THE SERVERS & THE REST OF THE WORLD with VAX underpinnings & a Win32 Shell we code on - Windows Server 2003 is a look @ the future & the future IS now, because it does exactly whatever needs doing on a computer, more & thus better vs. all the other OS out there! It used to be Multi-CPU family capable, but not what it was if it even still is... I only use it on X86 everywhere I go... apk

  17. Heh, at least it's not made by Microsoft by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Microsoft fucking sux0r!

  18. Yebbut... by coofercat · · Score: 0, Troll

    Does it run Linux?

    (sorry, it's Christmas so the posting volume is low, and I had to get it in because I've got 'owt else better to do!)

    1. Re:Yebbut... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

      Indeed it does -- under Xen at least.

    2. Re:Yebbut... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

      Binary emulation too. Has had it for ages!

  19. Time to go find my Dreamcast... by WoTG · · Score: 1

    What exactly does one do w/a Dreamcast running BSD anyways?

    1. Re:Time to go find my Dreamcast... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If they ever get a hard drive rollin on the dreamcast that would be sweet. Along with a BBA, you'd be all good.

    2. Re:Time to go find my Dreamcast... by Mancat · · Score: 2, Funny

      Cry when you go to sleep at night.

      --
      hello dear sirs my name is jamesh i are india (bihar) can u guide me install red had linux 9?
    3. Re:Time to go find my Dreamcast... by SpinJaunt · · Score: 2, Informative

      Well if you've got a BBA --I dont sadly-- and you've cross compiled the apps you want to use on another *faster* machine, then pretty much anything.

      Also a VGA cable would be good too, trying to read NetBSD's console on TV at 47Hz really Hz the eyes.

      --
      /. is good for you.
    4. Re:Time to go find my Dreamcast... by beast6228 · · Score: 1

      Well....if you were cool you could install NetBSD on your Dreamcast and SSH into your Xbox, then from there you could SSH to your....oh nevermind.....

      --
      ~Later~
    5. Re:Time to go find my Dreamcast... by Mr+Smidge · · Score: 2, Funny

      Run a Sega Saturn emulator :-).

    6. Re:Time to go find my Dreamcast... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The dreamcast has some cool sound hardware that any audio developer could have fun putting to use.

  20. A *BSD Carol by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Troll
    "Spirit," said Scrooge, with an interest he had never felt before, "tell me if *BSD will live."

    "I see a vacant seat," replied the Ghost, "in the poor chimney-corner, and a crutch without an owner, carefully preserved. If these shadows remain unaltered by the Future, *BSD will die."

    "No, no," said Scrooge. "Oh, no, kind Spirit! say it will be spared."

    "If these shadows remain unaltered by the Future, none other of my race," returned the Ghost, "will find him here. What then? If it be like to die, it had better do it, and decrease the surplus operating system population."

    Scrooge hung his head to hear his own words quoted by the Spirit, and was overcome with penitence and grief. It was sad to see any operating system die, even one so obviously flawed and useless as *BSD.

    God bless us, every one.

  21. Handheld BSD by TheUncleD · · Score: 1

    One great thing about netbsd is the possibility of handheld netbsd. Find out more Here. Some people have tried using it on flash cards with great success, a good choice if that is the case is 256mb's to get the full effect. Handheld BSD is great though, give it a try.

    1. Re:Handheld BSD by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      99% of that list contains something the FTC thought they won the battle against. great gag, dude!

  22. But wait... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Didn't we all concede right on this very site that BSD is dead? *ducks*

  23. does it fulfill portability promises? by drwho · · Score: 3, Interesting

    "Of course it runs NetBSD" - the old saw, it seems. But I think that NetBSD is falling down in this regard. Many ports don't work properly, or haven't been updated in ages. Mailing lists lie dormant, waiting for attention, such as SBMips (BroadCom Sybyte MIPS) - in spite of Wasabi Systems (which is basically the commercial arm of NetBSD) having a press release about Broadcom support back in 2002, not much is being done in extending NetBSD to the CPUs used in consumer-grade equipment like Linksys routers. It's not even available for a fee: Wasabi doesn't have it in their development products and doesn't plan to. Linux is clearly quite far out in front in this regard.

    And it's not only MIPS: VAX ports are stale as well, from what I see here. This is sad. I like the idea of portability, and I like NetBSD - but I don't find that it lives up to its repuation in portability. Yes, someday I'll shut up and work on ports to the platforms I care, but in the meantime I am using Linux on the Broadcom CPUs and finding I enjoy it..almost too much to bother with NetBSD.

    1. Re:does it fulfill portability promises? by mqx · · Score: 0

      That's a lot of FUD - your comments reveal a lot of bias - simply because a port becomes stale doesn't mean that there's anything less valid about "of court it runs NetBSD" -- it's the fact that the software has been ported to so many platforms that puts it in such good shape for being ported to new platforms. A quiet mailing list says nothing about a port either - perhaps it means that the port is in such good shape that no one needs to talk about it? Also, there's not much relevance about it not being ported to say Linksys routers - at the end of the day, it's about anyone who wants to take up the challenge - people have take up the challenge for netbsd playstation and netbsd dreamcast. Linux has a far larger proportion of home-brew hackers who happily port it to any new platform around - NetBSD doesn't the same community volume -- and quantity doesn't mean quality! Any software engineer looking at the kernels of either Linux or NetBSD will find NetBSD far better structured, more coherent and integrated, and easier to port - have you seen NetBSD's cross building tool chain that can build from any platform to any other -- does Linux have anything like this? I'm waiting to see how many manufacturers start to consider BSD platforms a viable alternative now that they've had a couple of years (in)experience with GPL violations and so on.

    2. Re:does it fulfill portability promises? by LizardKing · · Score: 1

      Many of the mailing lists fall silent because for older systems there are harldy any peripherals left to add support for. There's also a limited number of people running NetBSD on some of those architectures, it may only be the maintainers whi turn those boxes on regularily! However, SGI MIPS is quite active with ongoing work to support the R10000 processor and improve processor cache support for older models. VAX is far from stale, with support for colour framebuffers recently added and improved - despite the fact that for years people thought supporting them was going to be nigh on impossible thanks to a lack of documentation from DEC (RIP). Patches still get posted for VAX, although I wish someone would give Johnny Bilquist and Blaz Antonic CVS commit privileges.

  24. Re:Is NetBSD still relevant? by grasshoppa · · Score: 1

    Damn shame mods didn't think this an insightful question.

    I'd sure like to see some bsd folks take a stab at answering it.

    --
    Mod me down with all of your hatred and your journey towards the dark side will be complete!
  25. Re:Is NetBSD still relevant? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    Linux is a kernel. NetBSD is an operating system.

    When Linux runs on a platform, most of the time it means an incredibly stripped-down variant that has almost no features runs on the platform. In addition, no support is thrown in to port the rest of the operating system (e.g. userland, applications, etc.).

    When NetBSD runs on a platform, most of the time it means the default NetBSD userland, kernel, and everything else in the source repository will run on the platform. In addition, NetBSD tends to be careful about incorporating new features (Linux had support for hot-swappable CPUs at one point...).

  26. I thought bsd was dying? by chroot_james · · Score: 1

    Isn't it??

    --
    Reality is nothing but a collective hunch.
  27. nice early present by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    thanks for the great christmas present. however, like when mum bought me a C64 game for my speccy back
    in the day, I'm sure this present will also have a nasty habit of not working on my Sparc5 , my Amiga
    and my Acorn. Older NetBSD did fulfill its promise of being VERY multiplatform..but now it has a distinct rotten odour of a x86 platform admirer

  28. Cannonical Reason by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You'd install NetBSD on all the hardware that [Open|Free]BSD doesn't support.

    Then you go back and install NetBSD on the rest to standardize, where there isn't a compelling reason to use the others. For instance, you might want to keep OpenBSD on the external firewall(s).

  29. Reasons To Run NetBSD by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

    I have a special place in my heart for NetBSD. I once was living poor, and was given a small, mips based computer. The only modern OS I could run was NetBSD, and it ran great! Never crashed and was well documented enough for me to figure out whatever I wanted to do.

    Here are some reasons you might want to try it out:

    1. Geeky history lesson. In my mind there was a golden age of geekiness going on during the 70s and early 80s centered around the creation of BSD. Reading the many stories in the Jargon File gives you an idea of the times. NetBSD is a decendent of that OS and those times. Using it gave me a taste of times I would love to visit if I ever had a time machine. Geeky!

    2. It is simple. Install a basic machine and look at the process list. On my 1.6 machine there would be maybe 5 lines. Interesting to see how little an OS needs to be useful.

    3. It is something new to learn. I love tinkering and learning new things. Instead of a train set, I have a network of old and/or unusual computers. Not an x86 in the bunch. NetBSD and linux power most of it.

    4. You can me more of an elitest ;) In this day and age, with distros like Ubuntu and Linspire, even my mom can run linux, let alonse a lowly Windows Admin. Being able to setup and run NetBSD restores my geeky feeling of supiority!

  30. *BSD is dead by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    It is now official. Netcraft confirms: *BSD is dying

    One more crippling bombshell hit the already beleaguered *BSD community when IDC confirmed that *BSD market share has dropped yet again, now down to less than a fraction of 1 percent of all servers. Coming on the heels of a recent Netcraft survey which plainly states that *BSD has lost more market share, this news serves to reinforce what we've known all along. *BSD is collapsing in complete disarray, as fittingly exemplified by failing dead last in the recent Sys Admin comprehensive networking test.

    You don't need to be the Amazing Kreskin to predict *BSD's future. The hand writing is on the wall: *BSD faces a bleak future. In fact there won't be any future at all for *BSD because *BSD is dying. Things are looking very bad for *BSD. As many of us are already aware, *BSD continues to lose market share. Red ink flows like a river of blood.

    FreeBSD is the most endangered of them all, having lost 93% of its core developers. The sudden and unpleasant departures of long time FreeBSD developers Jordan Hubbard and Mike Smith only serve to underscore the point more clearly. There can no longer be any doubt: FreeBSD is dying.

    Let's keep to the facts and look at the numbers.

    OpenBSD leader Theo states that there are 7000 users of OpenBSD. How many users of NetBSD are there? Let's see. The number of OpenBSD versus NetBSD posts on Usenet is roughly in ratio of 5 to 1. Therefore there are about 7000/5 = 1400 NetBSD users. BSD/OS posts on Usenet are about half of the volume of NetBSD posts. Therefore there are about 700 users of BSD/OS. A recent article put FreeBSD at about 80 percent of the *BSD market. Therefore there are (7000+1400+700)*4 = 36400 FreeBSD users. This is consistent with the number of FreeBSD Usenet posts.

    Due to the troubles of Walnut Creek, abysmal sales and so on, FreeBSD went out of business and was taken over by BSDI who sell another troubled OS. Now BSDI is also dead, its corpse turned over to yet another charnel house.

    All major surveys show that *BSD has steadily declined in market share. *BSD is very sick and its long term survival prospects are very dim. If *BSD is to survive at all it will be among OS dilettante dabblers. *BSD continues to decay. Nothing short of a miracle could save *BSD at this point in time. For all practical purposes, *BSD is dead.

    Fact: *BSD is dying

  31. Buy me a BBA and I'll try it by tepples · · Score: 1

    if you were cool you could install NetBSD on your Dreamcast and SSH into your Xbox

    A Sega Dreamcast console out of the box supports only dial-up. An Ethernet card for the Dreamcast costs more than the Dreamcast itself.