Today's project is/was to get the extremely rare #Acorn A680 working. Given its rarity and how I seem to be the only one with a working install of #RISCiX (which is a #BSD from the late 80s), I used the #RiscPC with #NetBSD to make a copy of the disk beforehand.

NetBSD dumpfs recognises it as a FFS variant, but rump_ffs won't mount it.

As for the A680, smoke came from the PSU when I powered it on and it didn't work

Alt...

The internals of a very old computer with thick multicoloured power cables

@pfr As you wish

#crontab #FreeBSD #NetBSD

Alt...

Output of crontab -l on the two machines (first FreeBSD, second: NetBSD): drag0n@drag0n-laptop:~ $ crontab -l 0 3 * * * /home/drag0n/.bin/get_exchange_rate.sh */10 * * * * /home/drag0n/.config/conky/get_weather.sh drag0n@drag0n-laptop:~ $ ssh drag0n@drag0n-server.lair.internal Enter passphrase for key '/home/drag0n/.ssh/id_ed25519': Last login: Fri Dec 5 13:14:37 2025 from 192.168.1.3 NetBSD 10.1 (GENERIC) #0: Mon Dec 16 13:08:11 UTC 2024 NetBSD 10.1/amd64 (202412171413Z) Welcome to NetBSD! drag0n-server$ crontab -l 0-59/1 * * * * /home/drag0n/bin/smarthome.sh

@justine TIL about Radicale. Thanks, now I have one more good program to install on my #NetBSD box

@m0xEE @mia Same thing, but with newer Thinkpad (X220), lol

Kinda strange conclusions (I think this is bait, mb? But I'm drunk rn, lol ) — after installing completely different OS expect the GNU utils inside, which is used in GNU/Linux, and use ports instead of simpler package system from the start (which is really simpler, if you don't need some special compile-time options).

"Old school" installer in NetBSD? It works and it is enough to install the system. Especially, the system which able to run even on the Palm — the GUI installer doesn't have such portability.

> system with 0 usable accounts

useradd -m USERNAME

#FreeBSD #NetBSD

Happy Friday to all the #BSD folks! 😎

#freebsd #openbsd #netbsd #bsd

Taking #NetBSD for a little test drive...

https://netbsd.btxx.org/

@libremelon

Thanks!

It's a great little OS! Only complaint is that it's a little slow to resume from S3 suspend (about 8 seconds), but it does so reliably.

Some intensive processes like opening bloated web pages incur a bit of a hiccup/delay, and I'm not sure why. I know the kernel scheduler is tunable, but I haven't found out how to go about doing that yet.

They're trying to target laptops more, so there's still some work to be done.

Of course, heavy Linux games don't run (haven't been able to get #KerbalSpaceProgram to work on #FreeBSD yet), but simpler linux executables can run (even GUI ones), and the pkg repos are quite exhaustive, about as many binary packages as Debian (around 150k), from my estimation.

No flatpak, no Steam, so binary sources are limited, but there's tons of FOSS software that just runs without trouble.

The handbook (installable as a package or available on the web, both as html and pdf) is quite good, and fairly exhaustive, and to me, the biggest feature of the #BSDs is that they just make sense as an operating system, and aren't a haphazard and ever-changing collection of FOSS parts, like Linux distros are.

FreeBSD does take some manual configuration to get a GUI going, but it's honestly pretty easy, and the handbook tells you exactly what to do. They will have a GUI install screen in the installer soon, so that will become automatic.

I've got it running with #Wayland and the #Sway compositor, almost no issues. For some reason, neither i3status nor waybar have the ability to show Wifi link name and quality, so I developed my own little front-end script for i3status to restore that (I had to do the same thing for #OpenBSD for RAM usage).

I've had to come up with my own way to make sense of memory usage (a script that mimics Linux' free utility) and wifi link quality, but those were fun problems to solve.

After a week or two of hacking around with it and getting all my own scripts and little utilities working with it, it has now become almost completely transparent and gloriously "boring." Basically the same as running Linux for most everything I do. XD

It has fewer pain points than #OpenBSD (which I honestly love as well, don't misinterpret me): a rock solid filesystem (ZFS), and full emoji support (lol priorities, amirite?).

It also has very good full-disk-encryption baked right in, which I'm missing from #NetBSD (but plan on playing with that OS later on as well, because I want to try ALL THE #BSDs! XD )

As you can see the build process is smooth, the execution is blazingly fast. What more could I ask for?

#programming #technology #BSD #netBSD #metaOS #microVM #networking #qemu #host #bmake #curl #sshd #Linux

So, I found this netbook and decided to fix it.

First step was easy: I tested NetBSD on it. (because it's a netbook, you see? 😜)

But the unit is in a sorry state. A USB port is so rusty that it doesn't work. I left the battery in a recycling point of my city because it was not safe to handle. Lots of keys from the keyboard doesn't work at all, etc, etc.

Let's see if I can find good parts for it. If you know where I can purchase parts for a Toshiba NB105 (NB100 series) in Spain or the EU, please let me know.

#NetBSD #netbook #toshiba #ToshibaNB100 #ToshibaNB105

Alt...

A screenshot of a computer, with a terminal emulator window. A fetch program was ran displaying NetBSD.

Alt...

A close-up photo of a USB port. The USB port seems to be very rusty.

Alt...

A small netbook with a keyboard and a mouse attached.

Today I learned #netbsd has openpam and I don't quite know what to do with it...

https://man.netbsd.org/NetBSD-10.x-BRANCH/openpam.3

Ever messed up an update? We got you covered! Simply restore your Snapshot!

You can now also manage (create, delete, restore) a snapshot of your Box! If you ever messed up your application, OS update or anything else - simply go back to your last snapshot and try again! This way, you can test and learn #BSD even better and easier!

cc: @gyptazy

#education #opensource #FreeBSD #OpenBSD #NetBSD #RUNBSD #learning #ipv6 #freevm #freevps #community #fosdem #hosting #selfhosting #snapshot

Alt...

BoxyBSD allows you to manage snapshots of your Boxes, now!

This is not hate, I tried to like #NetBSD. But here’s my thoughts as an #OpenBSD user.

NetBSD is great for if you just want a usable modern unix on some random cpu architecture. But- for reliable use on amd64/i386 theres so many pain points:
- pkg-messages show when packages are installed, not as a summary after a full pkgin transaction so you end up missing important information about packages in your scrollback if you don’t use `script` or something. Even though NetBSD’s packages support pkg-readme files, most package maintainers prefer pkg-message for some reason. All your documentation for packages is easily missed simply by design. FreeBSD’s pkgng puts the messages at the summary. OpenBSD primarily uses pkg-readme files, but when it uses pkg-message its shown at the end of the transaction.
- the system is just incredibly unstable on even marginally modern hardware from say, 2016. Lots of random kernel panics if you run NetBSD on slightly modern hardware.
- drivers are wildly out of date. People have this misconception in their heads that NetBSD’s good cpu architecture support means that drivers are well supported, but frankly this is where NetBSD lags behind the most on the *BSDs
- a lot of the stuff you likely want ootb on NetBSD is easily missed in the installer’s final screen’s configuration menu.
- bootstrapping pkgin is a pain if you forgot to bootstrap it in the config menu in the installer, which you likely did as said in the last point.
- using pkgsrc and pkgin together is a horrible experience. They don’t coexist well like you’d expect on OpenBSD/FreeBSD’s ports/binary packages. No idea why, might be by design.
- updating pkgsrc packages is a pain, especially when you have a lot of them. The FreeBSD ports tree and OpenBSD ports tree make this easy. FreeBSD has poudriere, and OpenBSD has dpb.

@netbsd #NetBSD

#BoxyBSD chat is now also available in #irc!

People asked for old school possibilities to take part on the BoxyBSD chat and here we go! Finally, you can also simply join #BoxyBSD on Libera (next to your #FreeBSD channels)! This bridge was written by @gyptazy to support additional chat communications.

Important: This IRC channel is bridged between #Discord and #Matrix to have a unified communications flow without splitting the community. If you don't like Discord, please don't join this channel!

Infos about how to connect by IRC to Libera IRC:
- https://libera.chat/guides/connect

#FreeBSD #OpenBSD #NetBSD #DragonflyBSD #MidnightBSD #OpenSolaris #Debian #FreeVPS #VPS #FreeVM #VirtualMachines #OpenSource #BSD #RUNBSD

Alt...

BoxyBSD now also on Libera IRC

The Call for Papers for #bsdcan is open, see https://www.bsdcan.org/2026/papers.html and https://nxdomain.no/~peter/what_is_bsd_come_to_a_conference_to_find_out.html for some background (f you want to explain to less BSD-savvy friends) #bsdcan #bsd #freebsd #netbsd #openbsd #freesoftware #libresoftware #development #sysadmin #devops #conference

Latest 𝗩𝗮𝗹𝘂𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝗡𝗲𝘄𝘀 - 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟱/𝟭𝟮/𝟬𝟭 (Valuable News - 2025/12/01) available.

https://vermaden.wordpress.com/2025/12/01/valuable-news-2025-12-01/

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

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

Latest 𝗩𝗮𝗹𝘂𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝗡𝗲𝘄𝘀 - 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟱/𝟭𝟮/𝟬𝟭 (Valuable News - 2025/12/01) available.

https://vermaden.wordpress.com/2025/12/01/valuable-news-2025-12-01/

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

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

#netbsd soon to be

Alt...

#netbsd

Getting the sources for NetBSD #netbsd

On fait un script shell d'init dans #virtualisation avec #NetBSD et #NVMM, tout de suite sur https://twitch.tv/ahp_nils ! #sysadmin #devops #twitchfr #twitchstreamer #TwitchStreamers #BSD #qemu

#netbsd #beta #11

Alt...

#netbsd #beta #11

#NetBSD #BSD #RUNBSD #UNIX #FOSS

@csgraves

I mean, I didn't become a #BSD user overnight. It was an itch in the back of my mind for several years. When I had spare hardware that I wasn't using for anything else, I slapped #OpenBSD on it, and it mostly just worked. Then I had the pleasure of learning a brand new-to-me system, and adapting my various scripts to it.

A couple years later, when I had an opportunity to spend a little less than $200 on another laptop, I asked for a recommendation for one that worked best with #NetBSD, and was recommended the Thinkpad X260, which I'm typing on now.

If it's something you're curious about trying, don't make it an all-or-nothing zero-sum thing. It's a slow burn into increasing nerdiness. 😅

I must say, however, that my exploration of BSD was spurred on by the fusillade of non-sequiturs and logical fallacies I received whenever I questioned the wisdom of trends like #systemd-everything in the Linux space.

Feedback from the real user Andrea, usually doing Desktop Linux with little knowledge of the under-the-hood stuff, on trying #FreeBSD, #OpenBSD, #NetBSD (at least, she says "all of the BSDes") and being discouraged by the fact that it's command line only.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iLpIzfZ_2zI&t=5576s

I have my opinion on this, but still, Year Of The #BSDdesktop may not happen until normies can do most things they do on Debian/Mint/Ubuntu/Fedora the way they already do. Only then can they start understand how/why they are actually doing it.

Every #UsrMerge discussion I read makes me grateful for the BSDs.

#freebsd #openbsd #netbsd

FYI, S3 suspend/wakeup works flawlessly with #FreeBSD and #OpenBSD on this laptop without any hack.

#BSD #RunBSD #Unix #FOSS

The folks at @netbsd shared this link about full disk encryption on #NetBSD https://wiki.netbsd.org/security/cgdroot/

NetBSD archeology - where would one archive these CD(image)s other than in my dusty basement?

#netbsd #archeology #archive

NetBSD 10.1 works quite well on the ThinkPad T460p. I did a quick test drive and almost everything works out of the box, yes even the WiFi and some Fn Keys. The only thing I'm missing is the battery widget of the xfce panel, right now it only shows if the laptop is charging or working on batteries. I have to say the results are impressive.

I'm not going to keep it on the laptop because it doesn't have full disk encryption but for a desktop I think it could be nice.

#NetBSD #ThinkPad #T460p

Friday night project: Install and set up #NetBSD on a #Thinkpad T460p

I have been using #NetBSD lately and I don't really think I get how or what pkgsrc is.
Is it like a CVS repo that has a bunch of packages source code that you can just bmake? it has a lot of categories like www, graphics, games... For example www/firefox I assume it has the source code for Firefox and if you run bmake in that dir it compiles it? that's it right? It's just that I have seen guides where it seemed like #pkgsrc was used as a command instead of a repo.

@cienmilojos

"Get in, loser, we're installing #NetBSD!" 😆

@cienmilojos

I know that the #Thinkpad X260 runs #NetBSD well, and is pretty cheap.
It was the model recommended to me by the official NetBSD account on #fedi.

@cienmilojos

I'm not saying I'd stick with it, because I like i3wm/sway too much, but I gotta say that the stock #NetBSD GUI/X11 setup is the coolest/cleanest/slickest of the #BSD OSes I've tried so far. :D

#OpenBSD's is fine, but a little too colorful. #FreeBSD of course, doesn't have a stock/default GUI... yet!

Haven't tried #DragonflyBSD yet.

Forget the chaotic Black Friday sales! 🤯 NetBSD 🚩 offers the BEST deal: it's 100% FREE! Always has been, always will be. Perfect for self-hosters and anyone seeking pure, open-source goodness without spending a dime. No catches, just solid OS. #NetBSD #BlackFriday #FreeSoftware #SelfHost #RetroComputing #OpenSource #Linux #RunBSD