From the NetBSD Blog: "The fourth (failing further faults, final) release candidate of NetBSD 5.1 is now available for download. Those of you who prefer to build from source can continue to follow the netbsd-5 branch, but the netbsd-5-1-RC4 tag is available as well. See src/doc/CHANGES-5.1 for the list of changes from RC3 to RC4."
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Member since:2010-03-02
That's always debatable, really, visit their website or try using the system.
Their last count is 57 ports, 16 processor types: http://www.netbsd.org/ports/
As for distinguishing features, every OS has their own, even if not immediately obvious.
Member since:2009-09-14
Their last count is 57 ports, 16 processor types: http://www.netbsd.org/ports/
As for distinguishing features, every OS has their own, even if not immediately obvious.
It's downloaderising as we speak. I might even have a play around at getting it to run on my old Franken-Amiga if I get time.
Member since:2005-07-18
Last time I recall this conversation coming up, it was agreed that Linux runs on a somewhat wider hardware range, BUT NetBSD is the only operating system that runs on so many architectures from a single unified codebase (including both kernel and userspace). Linux is much more fractured in that regard.
Member since:2006-05-09
That's kinda what I always thought about it but I could have sworn I saw some quote not so long ago that Linux now had it beaten for portability. "
Being the most-ported OS [Linux] does not mean that it is designed thinking on portability [NetBSD]; as far as I know, Linux has been ported to more architectures and platforms than NetBSD (given its huge marketshare in comparison to the latter one), but if you would want to port an OS to a new architecture, NetBSD will be far easier to port than, say, Linux or FreeBSD, given its primary design goal.
Other interesting feature on NetBSD is that it can be used as a Xen dom0 paravirtual machine.
Edited 2010-09-29 19:52 UTC
Member since:2009-03-17
Honestly, linux seems to have no issue whatsoever being ported to newer stuff. However, most people I know who use NetBSD do so for (as I pointed out in my earlier post) the broad support current every new release of teh OS has for "legacy" systems.
In many cases NetBSB really is the only option for a relatively modern, current, and actively developed OS for lots and lots of old systems. Linux tends to support the newer stuff, and many old architecture/system have been dropped from the kernel tree altogether.
Member since:
2009-09-14
That's kinda what I always thought about it but I could have sworn I saw some quote not so long ago that Linux now had it beaten for portability.