Submitted by The fifth release candidate for NetBSD 4.0 has been released. “We hope that this release candidate to be the last one before the final release of NetBSD 4.0. Please help us to test it as much as possible to make NetBSD 4.0 a solid release.”
The fifth release candidate for NetBSD 4.0 has been released. “We hope that this release candidate to be the last one before the final release of NetBSD 4.0. Please help us to test it as much as possible to make NetBSD 4.0 a solid release.”
I used NetBSD 3.0 for awhile a year ago and it was a pleasure. From what I have read there have been some significant changes for the better in this release path and while I won’t be able to run NetBSD in the near future, I am sure it will be an excellent release.
What hardware do you use? (If I may ask)
I WAS using an old IBM all-in-one machine, few years old. I forget what they were called. They looked sort of like en evil iMac.
It was a good machine, I ended up dishing it off to a friend who needed a computer.
I ran NetBSD and PC-BSD on it. I actually preferred NetBSD, but I had a heck of a time trying to get VPN to work, so I used PC-BSD for work, NetBSD to play. I found NetBSD to be more responsive, but that was pre-1.0 PC-BSD.
Now I am using an intel mac mini, modified a little, 2.33 core 2 duo, 160 gb disk, 2 gb ram… running leopard. Fun stuff!
I have to say that Leopard has made a difference in regards to networking and CPU-intensive programs (over Tiger). Networking seems snappier and more consistent/resilient (especially VPN – which worked poorly, dropping connections frequently, taking 3 or 4 tries to connect – I get in first try and the speed of the connection is obviously (tho’ not numerically proven) better w/ Leopard).
I’ve been using NetBSD -current for a few weeks now. I’m coming from Linux. I must say I’m impressed. The only thing that takes some getting used to is that you really should use pkgsrc to install packages. A lot of apps don’t natively support BSD, so you need to use pkgsrc, so the proper patches are applied.
Otherwise, I like NetBSD a lot. It’s very clean, minimal, and fast.
How about flash and java support?
If it had these things id use it instead of linux..
Apparently, you can use flash by installing firefox-bin-flash and nspluginwrapper. I’ve not been able to get it to work (I think there are some issues with Flash v9), though I’ve not tried too hard because I don’t really need it that badly. It _is_ possible to run it, though.
Quickly searching, I found this: http://mail-index.netbsd.org/pkgsrc-users/2007/02/05/0010.html
Gives a nice step-by-step to get flash working. I’ll have to try it…
As for Java, I think it does work on NetBSD.
Hi,
as for Flash ->
works both for linux firefox/mozilla/seamonkey/opera and for native firefox/mozilla/seamonkey through nsplugginwrapper. For Konqueror ufortunately not (gnash also “works” for native firefox/seamonkey)
as for Java ->
or you use linux firefox/mozilla/seamonkey/opera with linux Java or you use native firefox/mozilla/seamonkey/konqueror with native Java (firstly compile Java).
Does FlashPlayer 9 only work through the linux compatibility layer? If so, I’m not interested. But otherwise, I drop Linux the same day for NetBSD.
Does FlashPlayer 9 only work through the linux compatibility layer? If so, I’m not interested.
Why not? What’s so terrible about that?
It causes lots of problems. At least on FreeBSD: Crashes some browsers randomly, sound not always works, sometimes it doesn’t work in certain browsers, sometimes the browser also has to be the Linux version, and last time I checked, the only version that worked decently was Flash Player 7, while most web sites that have Flash animations use Flash 9.
Congrats NetBSD folks, and BSD community
I have been using NetBSD since 2.1, and has been fast, stable and consistent. I plan to continue using it indefinitely. I particularly like pkgsrc.
For you who do use NetBSD, be aware that the NetBSD people are soliciting donations (see NetBSD.org). Please give what you can.
Yes. NetBSD has a special feeling.
NetBSD has a wonderful community, for what I’ve seen. Congratulations to all that have put effort to make this release happen.
P.S. I can’t wait 4.0 to be released so that we start talking for the upcoming 5.0 with proper SMP support
I’m waiting for my IBM Thinkpad to show up in the mail, maybe it will be here around the time that NetBSD 4.0 is released and would be able to install it.
Let hope that the jmcneill-pm branch is included. It was just now merged into -current though, which makes me believe it won’t be in the 4.0 release.
Hi all,
with reference to the Flash9, it works as it was said before. Yes, there are some issues (youtube sound delay), for linux firefox it browser sometimes freezes (hopefully not for native seamonkey).
For me personaly, I never had browser crash due to Flash (linux and native) but maybe this is due to fact, I’m not browsing Flash based pages- but this is possible.
Moreover, I see linux emulation as good solution- why not to use when it works out of the box (mostly 90%).
And, to show that native Java with native browser is rather stable, at least for me some small applet I’m using often ->
[url=http://img509.imageshack.us/my.php?image=javaly1.png]
Rgrds,
Piotr
Edited 2007-12-09 18:06
While I’m a regular (and mostly) FreeBSD user, other BSDs always made me feel familiar with the system because commands and procedures had many similarities. The consistency of the system organisation, the good online manuals (man) and the friendly community are important points if you’re going to choose NetBSD as a main OS. If you’re familiar with basic UNIX operations, NetBSD won’t be any hard to use.
More than one year ago, NetBSD started to be interesting to me with the ability to play aound with the system without needing to install it. This was the NetBSD Live! 2007 CD, which has been announced on OSNwes, too:
http://www.osnews.com/story.php/16449/NetBSD-Live!-2007-Released/
This system was so impressing to me that I started to read some more about NetBSD again (after some years). I’ve followed the Changelogs and development announcements of NetBSD for some time and I think it’s a really great OS which deserves a fully featured box to be installed and run on. 🙂
This is where you can still get the ISO from – more than one year ago, which is something almost spectacular within the Internet today, but hey, it’s FTP, not WWW. 🙂
ftp://mirror.planetunix.net/pub/NetBSD/iso/livecd/netbsd-live-2007…
And don’t mind it is one year old – you can still do lots of stuff with this CD.
That’s why it would be great to have an actualized live system CD for maintenance and demonstration based on the upcoming release. It would be used to test hardware compatibility and some performance tests without needing to change something on the system to be tested – just the same way you can use FreeSBIE live system CDs for FreeBSD tests and demonstrations.
I’m looking forward to the 4.0-RELEASE and I surely will introduce a permanent NetBSD system into my collection of UNIX OSes in use.
Well done, NetBSD guys! Keep on your high quality work!