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I used NetBSD for my senior project (I graduated from college last year). We were trying to port the XFS file system to it. We didn't come close to a usable pro

I used NetBSD for my senior project (I graduated from college last year). We were trying to port the XFS file system to it. We didn't come close to a usable product but I gained a good amount of appreciation for operating system work and NetBSD which I otherwise wouldn't have gotten. The docs are good, the system feels unified (much more so than Linux ever will), and NetBSD+ctwm runs great on my 2009 Thinkpad (and the built-in wifi even works). But if it weren't for a professor at my college who had been using it for 20 years, I'm not sure I ever would have touched it. The goal of "ultimate portability" was great in the 90s and early 2000s, but nowadays we only really use x86-64 and ARM64. What else is there that sets NetBSD apart?

nix23 4y ago
>we only really use x86-64 and ARM64. What else is there that sets NetBSD apart? Who is "we"? In Space/Air-Domain Spark and PowerPC's are big...and netbsd too ;) Mips and Loongson are also a thing.
rahen 4y ago
> What else is there that sets NetBSD apart? NetBSD is the continuation of 4.4BSD, or in other words the closest thing to the original Unix that you can run. Unlike FreeBSD, they still support the original architectures like VAX. Unlike OpenBSD, they haven't deprecated entire subsystems, you could still mount V7 filesystems while listening to music on your bluetooth headset, on the same system. If you want clean code and a small, performant, traditional Unix working on legacy, embedded and cutting edge hardware, this may be for you. Those who are after Docker, Ansible, BtrFS and K8S running on powerful AMD64 box will probably find Linux a more suitable option.