The next major release of FreeBSD, version 7, is one of the most significant so far, with amount of new technologies and improvement largest since introduction of 5.0. Since constantly searching the mailing lists for important changes can be a bit tedious, this page lists some of the more interesting new things in one place.
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Member since:2006-07-15
>FreeBSD needs to support more hardware if it wants to have more publicity.
If Linux is okay for you, stay with it. Never change a running system.
ULI & FreeBSD:
http://groups.google.com/group/mailing.freebsd.stable/browse_thread...
ULI & Linux:
http://linuxmafia.com/faq/Hardware/sata.html
So in the end, SATA is really new for both operating systems and ULI is somewhat exotic.
Ask the hardware industry first, to produce proper hardware, to offer proper documentation!
Member since:2006-10-19
Am I wrong thinking that if an Open Source operating system supports a chipset, where another Open Source operating system should support it too?
Both FreeBSD and Linux are open source systems. If one thing is implemented in one of them, it could be ported to another one with a different implementation.
Member since:2005-07-06
I recently upgraded my system to a better one ... [and] I can't use the FreeBSD 6.2 with my system.
I am amazed by how often people cite this well-worn stupidity. All OSS systems take some time for the latest and greatest new chipsets or Wifi or whatever fully to be supported. If you want to run FreeBSD, for example, check to see that the hardware you want to buy is supported. Most is, but of course there are exceptions.
OTOH, if you want to chose your hardware with very few software compatibility concerns, run XP. Or chose an Apple if their hardware suits your needs. But my g*d, if you spend money on hardware, at least make sure that you can run the software you want.
Sheesh.
Member since:2006-10-19
Member since:2005-07-20
Linux doesn't even support my ethernet card, while FreeBSD does out of the box. Linux doesn't work with my wireless easily, while with FreeBSD it works out of the box. I think Linux needs to support more hardware...
Don't take that as me being offensive though, every OS could support more hardware. I'm just pointing out that FreeBSD isn't horrible on hardware support, and Linux isn't perfect either.
Edited 2007-07-13 02:39
Member since:2005-07-24
"This is my NeXTstation Turbo Color booting the Mac System 7.1 Operating System using a hardware add-on called 'Daydream'. The Daydream has a Mac ROM and a few custom ICs in it and hooked up to the NeXTs DSP port. Turns your NeXT into a full fledged 68k powered Mac." So cool.
"The NetBSD Project is pleased to announce NetBSD 6.1, the first feature update of the NetBSD 6 release branch. It represents a selected subset of fixes deemed important for security or stability reasons, as well as new features and enhancements. Please note that all fixes in the prior security/bugfix updates (NetBSD 6.0.1 and 6.0.2) are also in 6.1."
"At the end of a week in which Electronic Arts confirmed it wasn't developing a thing for the Wii U, one of the software engineers in EA Sports' Canada studio, in a series of since-deleted tweets, disparaged the console as 'crap' and suggested Nintendo should give up on hardware altogether. 'The Wii U is crap. Less powerful than an Xbox 360. Poor online/store. Weird tablet', tweeted Bob Summerwill, listed as a senior software engineer at EA Canada, in a reply to a tweet posting a link about EA's no-Wii U news. 'Nintendo are walking dead at this point'." The Wii U is turning into the 21st century's Virtual Boy.
"In NixOS, the entire operating system - the kernel, applications, system packages, configuration files, and so on - is built by the Nix package manager from a description in a purely functional build language. The fact that it's purely functional essentially means that building a new configuration cannot overwrite previous configurations. Most of the other features follow from this." Interesting approach. A Linux distribution, sure, but with some very refreshing ideas about system configuration.
Appfour added, among other features, C/C++ support to its new version of AIDE. From Android-IDE, "Now you can write parts of your app or your whole app in C/C++ on your device. AIDE supports the Standard Android NDK toolchain (GCC 4.6 + Bionic, STL, ...). No changes are necessary if you want to build an app developed on a PC with Eclipse. C/C++ development is fully integrated: Build errors appear in the error list and files can easily be navigated to with Go to file. The editor supports C/C++ syntax highlighting."
Ars nails it: "The answer is that Google did announce what amounts to a fairly substantial Android update yesterday. They simply did it without adding to the update fragmentation problems that continue to plague the platform. By focusing on these changes and not the apparently-waiting-in-the-wings update to the core software, Google is showing us one of the ways in which it's trying to fix the update problem."
"It is good for programmers to understand what goes on inside a processor. The CPU is at the heart of our career. What goes on inside the CPU? How long does it take for one instruction to run? What does it mean when a new CPU has a 12-stage pipeline, or 18-stage pipeline, or even a 'deep' 31-stage pipeline? Programs generally treat the CPU as a black box. Instructions go into the box in order, instructions come out of the box in order, and some processing magic happens inside. As a programmer, it is useful to learn what happens inside the box. This is especially true if you will be working on tasks like program optimization. If you don't know what is going on inside the CPU, how can you optimize for it? This article is about what goes on inside the x86 processor's deep pipeline."
"It was the only moment I heard regret slip into Otellini's voice during the several hours of conversations I had with him. 'The lesson I took away from that was, while we like to speak with data around here, so many times in my career I've ended up making decisions with my gut, and I should have followed my gut,' he said. 'My gut told me to say yes.'" The world would've been a much different place - Apple would have been less dependant on Samsung for its chips, which probably would've meant less money for Samsung to develop its Galaxy business.Glass is getting some love at Google I/O as well. New applications have been released - Facebook, Twitter, Evernote, Elle, Tumblr, and CNN. Perhaps more interesting: the newly announced Google Glass Developer Kit will allow offline applications and direct hardware access - great for hacking and expanding Glass' potential. This kit will really allow hackers to put Glass through its paces."But Beck and Merrill decided that simply banning toxic players wasn't an acceptable solution for their game. Riot Games began experimenting with more constructive modes of player management through a formal player behavior initiative that actually conducts controlled experiments on its player base to see what helps reduce bad behavior. The results of that initiative have been shared at a lecture at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and on panels at the Penny Arcade Expo East and the Game Developers Conference." Absolutely fascinating stuff. I'm a League of Legends player, and to be honest, the community isn't nearly as bad as some make it out to be. I'm happy Riot games has the guts to employ science to address the issue.
Member since:
2006-10-19
I recently upgraded my system to a better one, and it has a ULI chipset for Sata subsystem. And guess what, I can't use the FreeBSD 6.2 with my system, where Linux runs like a charm.
FreeBSD needs to support more hardware if it wants to have more publicity.
Just my 2 cents.