Submitted by The NetBSD Foundation announced that Force10 Networks, the pioneer in building and securing high performance networks, has leveraged NetBSD as the foundation for the Force10 Operating System (FTOS). Based on the open source UNIX-like system, FTOS provides the software scalability and resiliency that powers the Force10 TeraScale E-Series family of switch/routers.
FORCE10 Uses NetBSD to Build Software Scalability Into OS
About The Author
Eugenia Loli
Ex-programmer, ex-editor in chief at OSNews.com, now a visual artist/filmmaker.
Follow me on Twitter @EugeniaLoli
Just for grins, why did FORCE10 choose NetBSD when FreeBSD has over 80% of the BSD marketshare?
Use the right tool for the job. I wouldn’t choose Windows XP to run an important server just because it has the most marketshare in the world. Granted, I don’t know the differences between the *BSDs, but there must have been some small presiding factor there.
I think I figured it out:
“Force10 TeraScale E-Series family of switch/routers”
Exotic hardware.
FreeBSD isnt so great on hardware that doesn’t fall into these catagories:
alpha, amd64, i386, ia64, pc98, powerpc, sparc64.
But I thought it was cool to learn that FBSD 6.2 now supports Macs and the Xbox 1.
FreeBSD doesn’t work well on Alphas, support is depreciated, PPC and Sparc64 support are also lacking. FreeBSD is the i386, and to a lesser extent amd64 BSD, they only care about the “major” hardware platform. An Xbox is just an i386 box, like any other.
NetBSD and to a lesser extend OpenBSD are the more unusual hardware supporters.
PC98 support is good and PPC support is better now. Sparc64 is a Tier 1 platform but lagging a little.
Bottom line is FreeBSD works on the majority of systems on the market:
All the systems in my house are i386, for example.
Compared to other BSD solutions, FreeBSD has clear advantages on the systems it does support:
FreeBSD has the more ported software, drivers, far better 3D graphics support, Wine, and commercial support (Win4BSD, SoftMaker Office, etc).
Lagging any more and the sparc64 port would be tier 2 right along side Alpha. The majority is i386, but not in any embedded market it’s not, the Xscale/ARM stuff is king there.
I’d disagree with you on the more drivers bit there, I’d say different is a better word. Considering OpenBSD does support more of my machines better than FreeBSD does, and admittedly, all I have are i386 machines at home, though I have my eye on this one arm pda I’ve seen for sale. Perhaps I just use too much wireless stuff.
I also bring up the point of the terrible quality of the FreeBSD ports system, by supporting three seperate version of FreeBSD instead of just the release that it’s on, FreeBSD significantly decreases the rate at which a port works on any of them. It also has so many unmaintained packages that it becomes problematic.
Yes, FreeBSD does have very, very limited 3d support, it’s mostly through running Linux binaries – something that I dare say OpenBSD finds offensive from a security front and would never support, even if a company made native binaries.
I agree, FreeBSD has greater commercial support, an even lighter lip service than that which is given to Linux, but it is there. Unfortunately, many commercial programmes are old and made for the 4.x series of FreeBSD, not 7.
Regardless, the existances of ports, 3d suport, wine, commerical binaries, none of those matter for an embedded operating system, platforms supported most definately does, and there NetBSD wins.
Edited 2007-02-23 21:16
As someone who actually runs FreeBSD on both sparc64 and alpha, I can assure you that sparc64 is in a *much* better state than alpha, which has been removed from -CURRENT (sadly). The sparc64 port is not in as good shape as the i386 port, of course, it’s true, but this is true for pretty much all operating systems other than Solaris. In addition, FreeBSD 7 now contains a port to ARM.
FreeBSD’s ports system actually works quite well, and on a variety of releases. I’ve never had any major problem with it, and maintain 30 FreeBSD machines on five architectures running releases 4.6 through 7-CURRENT.
This reliability is largely due to the build system of the software itself — it probably is coded to support all releases of FreeBSD, as well as linux, Solaris, and what have you. It’s fairly rare that anything in particular needs to be done by the packager to support a different OS release. This, in fact, is one of the port system’s greatest strengths — you can get current software on any release you like on any architecture without waiting for someone to build packages for your specific system.
FreeBSD’s 3D support is not related at all to the linuxolator, either. It uses the standard X.org DRI drivers on supported hardware, and an nVidia driver supplied by nVidia on their hardware. This is one of 3 X11 drivers they provide — for Linux, Solaris, and FreeBSD — and is hardly related to Linux binary compatibility.
As for commercial software, some is made for FreeBSD 4.x, but I would remind you that as recently as a year and a half ago, 4.11 was still the official stable release. 7 is something that exists today only as a CVS tag, and 5 and 6 are essentially the same from a software vendor’s point of view. I would remind you that a lot of commercial Linux software is listed as requiring some ancient release of Red Hat.
NetBSD, FreeBSD, and Linux all have their uses and places, but you should certainly be less misleading and deliberately inflamatory.
Edited 2007-02-24 05:00
Speaking of deliberately inflamatory: “The FreeBSD SMP implementation (SMPng) is younger because it was rewritten not to be terrible.”
Perhaps you see strengths where I see obvious weaknesses, I am seeing things from a different angle, from the vantage point of someone who tried and didn’t like FreeBSD.
The ports tree’s multi-release support leads to a great deal of instability, flaws are introduced regularly to ports because they are not tested on multiple releases and instead there must be the constant drive to fix flaws that should not have been introduced. Instead of having a stable tree, there is one in constant flux, a terrible thing for me, but you seem to be jizzing on it for the very reason I dislike it. Perhaps I got hit with it’s problems too many times, and you consider it worth the pain to get more recent software on older releases. Hell, if I want recent software, I run a recent operating system.
If something only exists for an ungodly old release of Red Hat, then it’s not really support for the system is it? If the commercial stuff only exists for a release from multiple years ago, it’s no longer supported in my mind at least. I mean, I don’t consider something released for Windows 2000 only to be supporting Windows, cause Windows is on the Vista release now.
NetBSD runs on several different and very “exotic” hardware architectures; FreeBSD runs in the most common architectures.
Also the FreeBSD SMP implementation is younger than the NetBSD impl; if you can several critical SMP servers, I think you should choose NetBSD over FreeBSD.
The FreeBSD SMP implementation (SMPng) is younger because it was rewritten not to be terrible. NetBSD’s only runs the kernel on one CPU, for instance, preventing concurrency in kernel tasks. FreeBSD’s current SMP implementation is much, much more scalable than anything in any other BSD, and anyone who wants to run a performance-critical SMP server and wants to use BSD would be mad not to use it.
Maybe he should think on using DragonFly!!!!
Just for grins, why did FORCE10 choose NetBSD when FreeBSD has over 80% of the BSD marketshare?
Further, I guess they didn’t choose Linux because they wanted to make it proprietary.
Edited 2007-02-23 01:22
Sadly, you’re completely right.
“Further, I guess they didn’t choose Linux because they wanted to make it proprietary. ”
Because we all know that as soon as someone picks anything over Linux it’s because they want to make it proprietary and nothing else.
Hogwash.
It’s probably true, though. I don’t think proprietary is an evil word, though. Take the core which is open (hopefully fix the bugs and improve on it) and build your own stuff on top of it.
There was some facetiousness intended there…
Vendors are choosing Linux these days simply because it’s very marketable. When a vendor chooses a BSD, it’s almost always because of a real technical advantage (such as the outstanding pf packet filter) or the more permissive license. Nonetheless, if their business model was to sell network gear that uses proprietary kernel extensions, then Linux is a non-starter right off the bat.
“Nonetheless, if their business model was to sell network gear that uses proprietary kernel extensions, then Linux is a non-starter right off the bat.”
Not really. ImageStream (http://www.imagestream.com/) is using Linux with their own proprietary (IIRC) drivers.
I checked their site and confirmed that they use GPL kernel drivers.
Actually my first thought, since it’s related to switches/routers was that they didn’t choose Linux due to iptables sucking.
It’s certainly no pf, you got that right! Hey, I’m a Linux guy, but I admit where we’re soundly beaten.
Amen. – free as in freedom (the so-called freedom according to RMS and his fellowers) – take it, in real freedom (not a parody of it) every can have a different opinion too and only time will tell which one was the “best”.
Tell some news about other *free* choices et voila some Linux/GPL zealots will pop up and poison the atmosphere. Please god, we don’t want some free software communism, just real freedom and open-source.
Don’t open that can of worms.. It will only result in a flamewar
Edited 2007-02-23 18:58
I’m glad netbsd is finally getting attention it deserves.
it is a great os, and it’s able to run on over 50 different platforms as a whole os, something that many more popular OS can not do, and it’s very,very portable.
Edited 2007-02-23 04:02
“it is a great os, and it’s able to run on over 50 different platforms as a whole os, something that many more popular OS can not do, and it’s very,very portable. “
And it runs on my toaster, too. 🙂
You may want to check out the NetBSD Live 2007 live system CD to have a look at it. It features an SMP kernel as well. And KDE. The german internationalisation is quite good because it’s not limited to KDE.
I remember some network throughput records being set during the last years with NetBSD being involved. I simply guess, they have a really good network subsystem.
Oh and NetBSD-CURRENT has a new SMP implementation underway, so we yet have to wait for some major improvements to come.
Atleast NetBSD has a decent logo.
What ? The orange flag just suck.
I much prefer puffy and beasty.
The reason I’m saying this is, I don’t understand how people find an icon of the devil amusing. However I do understand it’s wildly popular in many corners of the internet. This is probably the reason why governments such as the USA simply hires actors, to interface with the crowds, while the real decisions goes on behind the scenes. They see a country where, having the devil as a logo in a software, by people intelligent enough to program such a thing, find this acceptable. Ofcourse, one learns, and finds a solution.
Edited 2007-02-23 21:56
…
If you’re ever interested in writing for BeDoper, I’d say you’re eminently qualified.
No.
Aw, please? That “BSD and the devil” rant was great. If you can write something equally insane – say, every a week or so – then you’ve got a real future as an internet humourist.
No Be, No Dope. No Tikalovers either.
And here I thought North American hipsters were tiresome.
Tika-crowd, drop off the face of the earth. (Tika == Iblis)
You might want to get some aluminum foil head ware to go with those delusions.
Are you trying to win “the most pathetic man I have ever seen” award or something. Btw, for your information, that award doesn’t exist.
Reply to this, and prove you are really suffering some pathological disease.
Are you trying to win “the most pathetic man I have ever seen” award or something.
Of course – and that’s certainly a sensible conclusion to come to, I might add.
While I do enjoy amusing myself at the expense of self-serious clowns who are hyper-sensitive about their particular belief systems, I assure you that’s not what I’m doing here. Really, honestly.
Btw, for your information, that award doesn’t exist.
Captain Non-Sequitur to the rescue!
Reply to this, and prove you are really suffering some pathological disease.
Awww, isn’t that cute – you’ve discovered “Trolling 101.”
To paraphrase Groucho Marx, “I thought my razor was dull, but it’s got nothin’ on your wit.”
Lol, you have to be some twisted figaro from #beos, or some derivative.
Where half the people are in love with Tika, channel (ant)queen, and it wouldn’t surprise me, if she was the cause of BlueeyedOS.
What a tripping embarrasment. None of these people can stand the light of day. (Except maybe a select few, I remember some people with spiritual inclinations.)
How long since the channel died? And they still keep harassing me on IRC and forums. That really says something about how twisted they can get. Keep lying to yourself Stephen.
This is the truth, probably more than you can bear.
Resume 50yrs old.
1) Run some internet blog about dope and a company that went bankrupt, without being much noticed.
2) Wrote OS, that mimicks the unpopular OS, by the bankrupt company. (probably aiming to monkey the bankrupcy down to the smallest detail aswell) for some slut who virtually got in on with most of the people in an IRC channel.
3) The slut wrote some stuff in another blog, which I believed and was deluded. Maybe it was the dope.
4) Harassed some dude on IRC, because of the delusion.
H E Y, aren’t YOU the exalted one.
Lol, you have to be some twisted figaro from #beos, or some derivative.
Where half the people are in love with Tika, channel (ant)queen, and it wouldn’t surprise me, if she was the cause of BlueeyedOS.
What a tripping embarrasment. None of these … [several more lines of nonsensical inanity]
And now, for those of us who don’t speak… whatever language that is supposed to be, maybe you could translate that incoherent jumble into English?
1) Run some internet blog about dope and a company that went bankrupt, without being much noticed.
Congratulations, you’ve managed to top the humourless idiocy of your “the BSD logo is satanic!” rant. Here is a little bit of free education, my dictionary-impaired chum:
“dope, noun. […] 6. Slang. information, data, or news.”
By the way, if you actually think I’m offended by comments about BeDoper, then you’re even more clueless than you’ve already demonstrated. The owner of the site regularly mocks it (and he does a much better job of it than your tepid little attempt at a flame, I might add).
[…] some slut […] The slut […]
You’re offended by the BSD daemon, but you have no problem using the word “slut?” Not a big fan of the concept of intellectual consistency, are you?
4) Harassed some dude on IRC, because of the delusion.
You may want to get a refill for that anti-paranoia prescription, I have no idea what you’re talking about – and neither do you, clearly.
This man is just going to continue outputting garbage isn’t he. /Ignore was invented for the purpose of screening such people. And this is what I’m going to do.
Another case of high moral vs low moral.
Atleast I have the personal satisfaction, that my HOME is CLEAR of such people, and that we have a legal system, should it be necessary to take those steps.
This man is just going to continue outputting garbage isn’t he. /Ignore was invented for the purpose of screening such people. And this is what I’m going to do.
You could have just said “I’m running away” and saved yourself a lot of typing.
Atleast I have the personal satisfaction, that my HOME is CLEAR of such people, and that we have a legal system, should it be necessary to take those steps.
Yes, yes, you’re a legend in your own, we known.
You’ve conveniently decided to ignore those parts of Islam that prohibit excessive pride/hubris and self-congratulation, I see.
I don’t understand how people find an icon of the devil amusing
Perhaps because everyone doesn’t take religions seriously or is not a fundamentalist …
To make an interesting analogy, what is the difference between the puppet President, actor, or other, and a ghetto thug who wants to make money, by placing his whores in a video, and playing on popular characters because he knows that is popular among ignorant people? Furher, even if a maker of a product hates your guts, he can still put some fine women in the ad. Do you know what I mean? It would even be intelligent of him to do so.
What are they selling?
Letsee the US tries to sell me, axis of evil. On MTV they seem to be very fond of selling me whores and pimps. And some totally offensive gay blimp, who appears ever now and then, and on the videonames.
Not to talk about all the britneys, who claims religious belief aswell!
OK, lets take a look at the other side.
What is “the axis of evil” trying to sell me?
They are apparently muslims. Like me.
There is no ganstarap from the axis of evil. No madl33t scam. No britneys either. It is simply not accepted. Now, after the US has been bombing and generally brainwashing people through media, maybe this structure has been hurt. However, take a look at the religion, it encourages the highest of morals.
Lets have a view from a higher ground.
All this noise, all these beautiful britneys, all these proud presidents, all these gangstathugs, who is behind them. WHAT do they obscure?
Do they talk about the truth? Do they say, “seek the truth?”. Do they even say “read the Quran, and see, it is the axis of evil”?. No. They claim. They don’t encourage you to find out for yourself.
THIS is what I do.
Edited 2007-02-24 17:38
I can write some more about this:
What if you were to believe the president, it is an issue of national security, we must attack “the axis of evil”. What if the purpose of this attack is simply an attempt to obscure the truth?
What if you were to enjoy yourself with the whores of the pimp, maybe you end up doing this for the rest of your life. You would never know the truth.
What if you were to worship Britney for the rest of your life? You would never know the truth.
And by these means, an oppressive system is upheld. And who is behind it? It is no other than Iblis, and false religion. And these people may be conscious of it, or not.
How to fix it. Like I said, maybe these “axis of evil” people have something important to say. Hear them out, take them into court, if so be.
Maybe you would start seeing the same thing I am seeing.
And become believers. And would not that make you the enemy of the devil? Would it not do anything to try and prevent this?
And so you have your britneys, your idols, and your devil icons.
Note, about OS. Not that I am not critical of Microsoft aswell, they show extreme ignorance with Halo, where the storyline is to kill prophets, and the one doing this, has a halo. Like Jesus. However Jesus was a prophet. Do you see the extremely flawed thinking here? Who came up with this
Yeah the new FreeBSD logo is hot.
Though I like this NetBSD one:
http://www.netbsd.org/images/NetBSD-old.jpg
Its almost reminicent of 9/11.