This morning I was thinking about something: one of the reasons why every enthusiast should consider going to a BSDCon is simple.

I eat a lot and I still come back slimmer 😄

2024 - EuroBSDCon: ate twice as much as usual, came back from Dublin 1 kg lighter.
2025 - BSDCan: breakfasts that could cover a whole day’s calories, huge delicious meals... came back from Ottawa 0.5 kg lighter.
2025 - EuroBSDCon: double breakfast (sweet + savory), massive lunches, delicious dinners (including a huge pizza, as @outofcreativity, @angie and @mwl can confirm) and still came back 0.5 kg lighter.

Positive emotions burn calories.

So come to BSDCons: you’ll come back happy and slimmer!

#RunBSD #FreeBSD #NetBSD #OpenBSD #DragonFlyBSD #BSDCon #AsiaBSDCon #BSDCan #EuroBSDCon

Schrodinger still isn't sure if his toaster runs #NetBSD.

Latest 𝗩𝗮𝗹𝘂𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝗡𝗲𝘄𝘀 - 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟲/𝟬𝟭/𝟮𝟲 (Valuable News - 2026/01/26) available.

https://vermaden.wordpress.com/2026/01/26/valuable-news-2026-01-26/

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#verblog #vernews #news #bsd #freebsd #openbsd #netbsd #linux #unix #zfs #opnsense #ghostbsd #solaris #vermadenday

Latest 𝗩𝗮𝗹𝘂𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝗡𝗲𝘄𝘀 - 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟲/𝟬𝟭/𝟮𝟲 (Valuable News - 2026/01/26) available.

https://vermaden.wordpress.com/2026/01/26/valuable-news-2026-01-26/

Past releases: https://vermaden.wordpress.com/news/

#verblog #vernews #news #bsd #freebsd #openbsd #netbsd #linux #unix #zfs #opnsense #ghostbsd #solaris #vermadenday

Testing a Chimera package update to virt-manager. Figured it was a good time to try a more modern NetBSD install. :-)

#NetBSD

Alt...

Screenshot of NetBSD with glxgears, xclock, xconsole, xeyes, xload, and xterm running.

@jas

My first suspect for a #login not supporting -- would be something with a 1980s history pre-dating standard #getopt, such as Solaris, which is ironic given that #inetutils has its only -- present in conditionally compiled code targetting Solaris.

#FreeBSD, #NetBSD, and #OpenBSD login all use getopt(), pervasive in these worlds for decades, as do the util-linux login (used by Debian et al.), and the #Illumos and #BusyBox logins.

#suckless login supports -- via ARGBEGIN.

@ska @cazabon

Hot off the press, bob v0.6.0 is out.

Loads of changes and improvements over the past 12 days:

https://github.com/jperkin/bob/blob/main/CHANGES.md

There are some breaking changes to config.lua, and updates to the build scripts. I would recommend performing a fresh:

$ bob init /path/to/config/dir

and migrating any changes over manually. I will try and keep breaking changes to a minimum in the run up to version 1.0 when all will be set in stone.

Thanks for all your feedback so far, keep it coming!

#pkgsrc #bob #netbsd

@wezm It was one of the flat panel Sun ones, I think 19"? I'm front left in this screen grab from our opscam around that time. The Sony Vaio on my right was my #NetBSD laptop.

I used to be able to read tiny fonts. Time has caught up with me... ;-)

Alt...

BBC Internet Services "OpsCam", 15th October 2001.

@wezm I love old screenshots. Nearly 25 years ago I was building NetBSD 1.5Y from my Solaris 8 desktop at the BBC. Fun times.

#solaris #netbsd #evilwm

Alt...

Screenshot of a Solaris 8 desktop running various terminals, chat programs, a very early Firefox, and compiling NetBSD.

this weekend i enabled gfortran in base netbsd for all our platforms. it had been missing since the g77 -> gfortran switch a long time ago.
#netbsd #fortran

Oh and here's a photo from 2001 showing a NetBSD crash. The first UNIX-like OS I ran on my own hardware was NetBSD in 2001 on a cobbled together PC with a Cyrix 6x86 CPU and some memory from who knows where. It would crash under heavy load, here extracting the pkgsrc tarball, due to bad RAM or the CPU getting too hot, I can't remember.

#NetBSD

Alt...

A photo of a rounded CRT screen showing a uvm_fault in green text. kernel: page fault trap, code=0 Stopped in tar at vn_stat+0x51: addb %cl,0x568ba045(%ebx)

As I continue to trawl through old backups please enjoy this screenshot of a NetBSD system dated Feb 2005. Not sure what I was up to, or what the system running it was.

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cobalt_Qube

#NetBSD #twm

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A twm desktop with several xterms, xload, and xclock.

@scribblesonnapkins It has an A2-class micro SD card, which has a write cache. I didn’t even know about that until I read @jmcwhatever@mastodon.sdf.org’s post about a good card for #NetBSD on the Nintendo Wii U. The speedy card really does make it feel like it has an SSD.

It didn’t go very far in to swap, since I had hardly anything else running on it while compiling.

@scribblesonnapkins This machine is a first generation Raspberry Pi Zero, not the Zero 2 (or is it 2 Zero?)

Its purpose is to compile #NetBSD #pkgsrc binaries for earmv4. Because there are earmv4 instructions that aren’t in earmv7 and aarch64, I need a real earmv6 CPU, which rules out running on anything newer / faster.

A chroot on a fast aarch64 system would be nice, but nobody has written instruction trap handlers for those missing earmv4 instructions.

Since it’s a single core, the temps never get anywhere close to hot. The hottest it’s ever gotten is 51.92º. I mean just look at that cool copper heat sink :)

Alt...

This is an animated GIF from Rick and Morty of the robot that Rick created that has as its only purpose to pass the butter. Here it's asking what its purpose is.

It took six days and eight hours for a #NetBSD Raspberry Pi Zero W to compile gcc 14.3.0 for earmv4.

Now I’m curious how long each version of gcc would take compared to each other…

Please don’t go down that rabbit hole, I keep telling myself.

Alt...

This is a picture of a Raspberry Pi Zero W in a jar with a battery backup and a USB-ethernet adapter.

@Em0nM4stodon It’s a PineBook - not Pro, but the original - but the one with the high res 1920x1080 screen. It’s small, runs forever on batteries, can stay charged from any USB port, and it runs #NetBSD awesomely.

I'm copying my pinned post from Twitter which reminds me of fun times with lovely people. I'd just left an AsiaBSDCon dinner with everyone in Tokyo:

#FreeBSD, #NetBSD, #OpenBSD? :'D

Only a few days to go - apply by Feb 1st, 2026!

Do you want to go to EuroBSDCon https://2026.eurobsdcon.org/ but need support to do so?

Or do you know someone in that situation? Apply for the Paul Schenkeveld Travel Grant before February 1st, 2026!

https://eurobsdconfoundation.org/travel-grant.html

#eurobsdcon #netbsd #openbsd #freebsd #conference #travelgrant

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https://vermaden.wordpress.com/2026/01/19/valuable-news-2026-01-19/

Past releases: https://vermaden.wordpress.com/news/

#verblog #vernews #news #bsd #freebsd #openbsd #netbsd #linux #unix #zfs #opnsense #ghostbsd #solaris #vermadenday

Latest 𝗩𝗮𝗹𝘂𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝗡𝗲𝘄𝘀 - 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟲/𝟬𝟭/𝟭𝟵 (Valuable News - 2026/01/19) available.

https://vermaden.wordpress.com/2026/01/19/valuable-news-2026-01-19/

Past releases: https://vermaden.wordpress.com/news/

#verblog #vernews #news #bsd #freebsd #openbsd #netbsd #linux #unix #zfs #opnsense #ghostbsd #solaris #vermadenday

Also amazing that this thing did not OOM-kill processes all over the place; even before I started compiling I did a pkgin upgrade on the poor box, which took .. a few hours. I'm all outta swap, real low on RAM, and yet it somehow got through this .. #NetBSD for the win, I guess.

Says top:

Memory: 56M Act, 27M Inact, 11M Wired, 15M Exec, 820K File, 2076K Free
Swap: 128M Total, 128M Used, 4K Free / Pools: 23M Used / Network: 23K In, 34K Out

I have it on good authority that there are a number of new names on the @bsdcan CFP list. Here is the link if you would like to join the list in these remaining hours:

https://www.bsdcan.org/2026/papers.html#main

#runbsd #netbsd #freebsd #openbsd #dragonflybsd #sysadmin

Also, surprisingly, the best browser on #NetBSD today is ... Chromium! Works really well if you can get it to build.

Finally installed XFCE on my gaming PC running #NetBSD. (Well, it dual-boots, so it's either gaming or NetBSD.)

Damn, XFCE looks beautiful in HiDPI.

Only one day left to submit for BSDCan 2026!

Deadline January 17, 2026, see https://www.bsdcan.org/2026/papers.html

About the BSD conferences: https://nxdomain.no/~peter/what_is_bsd_come_to_a_conference_to_find_out.html

#bsdcan #OpenBSD #NetBSD #FreeBSD #conference #development #networking #security @bsdcan

2 more days!

BSDCan 2026 is now accepting submissions for the June 2026 conference, see https://www.
bsdcan.org/2026/papers.html and links therein for instructions.

Submissions deadline is January 17, 2026, the conference runs tutorials June 17-18, talks June 19-20.

#bsdcan #conference #freebsd #netbsd #openbsd #bsd #development #networking #freesoftware #libresoftware

Belated Introductory Post:
I'm a Bay Area SRE, with specializations in Security, Unix Internals and Virtualization/Containerization.

I've been running Linux for 25 years, and have been playing with #NetBSD more in the last few years as it's resparking what I have always loved about computers.

I will mostly stick to computer nerdery here, but I may post race pictures at some point.

I don't have mastodon on my phone, so I may take multiple days to see your toot. I like the slower pace though.

3 days left to get your talk added to North America's biggest *BSD conference @bsdcan ! Join your friends in Canada to discuss the state of the *BSDs. Previous talks have included utilities you can't live without, new ways using familiar tools, and *BSD-powered refrigerators!

https://www.bsdcan.org/2026/papers.html#main

#runbsd #netbsd #freebsd #openbsd #dragonflybsd #sysadmin

A system with PC3 or PC4 memory can perform just fine for most tasks (especially if you have 16GB of more).

Use your own hardware. Run Linux or BSD. Take action to remain free. Use encryption.

#linux #bsd #netbsd #hardware #memory #cypherpunk

RT: https://lain.com/objects/5743cd8b-fe9b-419c-aa05-161c52e3d4fa

@neil Back in the (good old) days when schools were very likely to (Exchange or a #NetBSD solution as we provided), a very popular educational ISP blocked port 25 even on their leased lines. Seemingly purely so they could still you a metered SMTP service. AFAIK they still do, it's just less of an impact now

3 more days!

BSDCan 2026 is now accepting submissions for the June 2026 conference, see https://www.bsdcan.org/2026/papers.html and links therein for instructions.

Submissions deadline is January 17, 2026, the conference runs tutorials June 17-18, talks June 19-20.

#bsdcan #conference #freebsd #netbsd #openbsd #bsd #development #networking #freesoftware #libresoftware