4 ms·

NetBSD for the Advanced Minimalist

28 points by jaypatelani 3y ago

znpy 3y ago
Awful "slides" ?
- zvmaz 3y ago
  "Slides for the advanced minimalist." P.S. I was about to watch it, but the slides...
  - jaypatelani 3y ago
    https://drive.google.com/file/d/164GMnw7P8NNYzBujqko-9WW0_pDY-12j/view https://drive.google.com/file/d/164GMnw7P8NNYzBujqko-9WW0_pD...
- jaypatelani 3y ago
  https://drive.google.com/file/d/164GMnw7P8NNYzBujqko-9WW0_pDY-12j/view https://drive.google.com/file/d/164GMnw7P8NNYzBujqko-9WW0_pD...
hiAndrewQuinn 3y ago
I was telling my wife about the big 3 BSDs yesterday. I said the NetBSD guys come off like the ones who are having the most fun, since it mostly seems to I, an outsider, like they just want to port NetBSD to as many platforms as possible. OpenBSD is what I have landed on ultimately to start learning, but man, I can't even get it running in Virtualbox correctly. Gonna try QEMU today. EDIT: I got it working in VB after all! For anyone who stumbles across this and is on a Dell XPS, try switching the chipset in Settings > System to ICH9. Now time to write up a little checklist of little projects to try on it.
- hnlmorg 3y ago
  I think Dragonfly doesn’t get as much love as it deserves either. Some of the concepts they build are pretty darn innovative.
- mmphosis 3y ago
  After many years, I've got OpenBSD working. I think that the trick was booting from Legacy BIOS. I do like the minimalism.
  - geraldhh 3y ago
    comment made my day, thx!
- dbtc 3y ago
  Another option: check out vultr's $5/month openbsd VPS.
  - n0n 3y ago
    OpenBSD also runs perfectly fine on Hetzner Cloud VMs.
    - hiAndrewQuinn 3y ago
      Both great options, but I'm a local first kind of guy. If I can't get it running on a VM to experiment/create/destroy ad nauseum, I definitely am not gonna spin it up on a cloud versus a platform where I actually kind of know what I'm doing.
txutxu 3y ago
I want to like the NetBSD project... but I see it as something for hobbies. I can't see myself using it for serious production stuff. Maybe it's not fair, maybe if I had spent as much time on it as I've spent on Linux, FreeBSD, OpenBSD... I could be a little bit more confident about it. For example, I'm not confident about security work. I know, the less mainstream, the less botnets targeting it... but I'm not worried about botnets mainly. Even for a minimal system, as the title say, I'm more confident building it in one of the operative systems that I'm more familiar with. Still, I think that (Free|Net|Open)BSD, are something every systems engineer, should use and learn, at least for one year, at least once in life (if it's more, much better). It's like learning programming language B, even if everyday you use programming language A... It's like traveling... It is enriching and opens your mind.
- mrweasel 3y ago
  My day job is solely Debian, so even acknowledging that I like OpenBSD and find NetBSD really interesting, I always find myself reverting back to: I'll just use Debian for this, it will be quicker. Maybe there's something to be said for using an operating systems that is somewhat different for your home use and side project. Maybe it gives you a clearer separation of work and personal life? If all you do everyday is code Python, Java, Go or whatever it might be, it's helpful to expose yourself to new and different languages like LISP, Haskell or Rust. It helps you see problems and solutions from different angles. Maybe the same is true for operating systems, I should try it out.
  - txutxu 3y ago
    It's an experience, some things give more issues, but other things are better and other just different. Documentation consistency, source code availability in the base install (recompile/optimize the OS gentoo style with a few commands), packet filter, following the whole FAQ, discovering the community blogs and IRC channels, etc Many years ago, on my own house, I started as: ISP modem -> all things in one VLAN (1 switch segment) Then I added: ISP modem -> Linux router -> Separated VLANs (home servers, LAN, WiFi, TV, games, etc) Finally I did: ISP modem -> OpenBSD -> Linux firewall -> Home VLANs (LAN, WiFi, TV, games, etc) -> Home servers One more hop, but I did think "If someone wants to enter from the outside, will need to exploit 3 layers of TCP/kernel implementations, and switching VLANs, instead of one layer". Really it was more an excuse to do things and learn... anyone can be attacked if targeted, even with 10 firewalls in front. Just by clicking a link, rendering a font, a PDF, etc... Nowadays I've moved to much, living rented and I only have a personal laptop (and one for job when provided).
SunlitCat 3y ago
NetBSD is pretty cool, can still remember someone porting it to the Dreamcast game console [1] way back. Still in awe for such a feat! [1] http://www.netbsd.org/ports/dreamcast/ http://www.netbsd.org/ports/dreamcast/
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
rahen 3y ago
That's one conservative software selection; almost the entire article could have been written in 2000. Configuring cdparanoia brings back memories!

28 points by jaypatelani 3y ago

znpy 3y ago

Awful "slides" ?

zvmaz 3y ago
"Slides for the advanced minimalist." P.S. I was about to watch it, but the slides...
- jaypatelani 3y ago
  https://drive.google.com/file/d/164GMnw7P8NNYzBujqko-9WW0_pDY-12j/view https://drive.google.com/file/d/164GMnw7P8NNYzBujqko-9WW0_pD...
jaypatelani 3y ago
https://drive.google.com/file/d/164GMnw7P8NNYzBujqko-9WW0_pDY-12j/view https://drive.google.com/file/d/164GMnw7P8NNYzBujqko-9WW0_pD...

hiAndrewQuinn 3y ago

I was telling my wife about the big 3 BSDs yesterday. I said the NetBSD guys come off like the ones who are having the most fun, since it mostly seems to I, an outsider, like they just want to port NetBSD to as many platforms as possible. OpenBSD is what I have landed on ultimately to start learning, but man, I can't even get it running in Virtualbox correctly. Gonna try QEMU today. EDIT: I got it working in VB after all! For anyone who stumbles across this and is on a Dell XPS, try switching the chipset in Settings > System to ICH9. Now time to write up a little checklist of little projects to try on it.

hnlmorg 3y ago
I think Dragonfly doesn’t get as much love as it deserves either. Some of the concepts they build are pretty darn innovative.
mmphosis 3y ago
After many years, I've got OpenBSD working. I think that the trick was booting from Legacy BIOS. I do like the minimalism.
- geraldhh 3y ago
  comment made my day, thx!
dbtc 3y ago
Another option: check out vultr's $5/month openbsd VPS.
- n0n 3y ago
  OpenBSD also runs perfectly fine on Hetzner Cloud VMs.
  - hiAndrewQuinn 3y ago
    Both great options, but I'm a local first kind of guy. If I can't get it running on a VM to experiment/create/destroy ad nauseum, I definitely am not gonna spin it up on a cloud versus a platform where I actually kind of know what I'm doing.

txutxu 3y ago

I want to like the NetBSD project... but I see it as something for hobbies. I can't see myself using it for serious production stuff. Maybe it's not fair, maybe if I had spent as much time on it as I've spent on Linux, FreeBSD, OpenBSD... I could be a little bit more confident about it. For example, I'm not confident about security work. I know, the less mainstream, the less botnets targeting it... but I'm not worried about botnets mainly. Even for a minimal system, as the title say, I'm more confident building it in one of the operative systems that I'm more familiar with. Still, I think that (Free|Net|Open)BSD, are something every systems engineer, should use and learn, at least for one year, at least once in life (if it's more, much better). It's like learning programming language B, even if everyday you use programming language A... It's like traveling... It is enriching and opens your mind.

mrweasel 3y ago
My day job is solely Debian, so even acknowledging that I like OpenBSD and find NetBSD really interesting, I always find myself reverting back to: I'll just use Debian for this, it will be quicker. Maybe there's something to be said for using an operating systems that is somewhat different for your home use and side project. Maybe it gives you a clearer separation of work and personal life? If all you do everyday is code Python, Java, Go or whatever it might be, it's helpful to expose yourself to new and different languages like LISP, Haskell or Rust. It helps you see problems and solutions from different angles. Maybe the same is true for operating systems, I should try it out.
- txutxu 3y ago
  It's an experience, some things give more issues, but other things are better and other just different. Documentation consistency, source code availability in the base install (recompile/optimize the OS gentoo style with a few commands), packet filter, following the whole FAQ, discovering the community blogs and IRC channels, etc Many years ago, on my own house, I started as: ISP modem -> all things in one VLAN (1 switch segment) Then I added: ISP modem -> Linux router -> Separated VLANs (home servers, LAN, WiFi, TV, games, etc) Finally I did: ISP modem -> OpenBSD -> Linux firewall -> Home VLANs (LAN, WiFi, TV, games, etc) -> Home servers One more hop, but I did think "If someone wants to enter from the outside, will need to exploit 3 layers of TCP/kernel implementations, and switching VLANs, instead of one layer". Really it was more an excuse to do things and learn... anyone can be attacked if targeted, even with 10 firewalls in front. Just by clicking a link, rendering a font, a PDF, etc... Nowadays I've moved to much, living rented and I only have a personal laptop (and one for job when provided).

SunlitCat 3y ago

NetBSD is pretty cool, can still remember someone porting it to the Dreamcast game console [1] way back. Still in awe for such a feat! [1] http://www.netbsd.org/ports/dreamcast/ http://www.netbsd.org/ports/dreamcast/

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]

rahen 3y ago

That's one conservative software selection; almost the entire article could have been written in 2000. Configuring cdparanoia brings back memories!