Interestingly, #FreeBSD comes with #nvi2 in base, while #OpenBSD and #NetBSD seem to be running #nvi 1:

FreeBSD 14.3-RELEASE-p12
~
~
~
Version 2.2.2 (2025-10-08) The CSRG, University of California, Berkeley.

OpenBSD 7.3
(7.9 is still running the same version)
~
~
~
Version 1.79 (10/23/96) The CSRG, University of California, Berkeley.

NetBSD 10.1
~
~
~
Version (1.81.6-2013-11-20nb4) The CSRG, University of California, Berkeley.

They all seem to have nvi2 available as packages, though, which #Debian, oddly, does not.

rld@Intrepid:~$ uname -sr
FreeBSD 14.3-RELEASE-p12
rld@Intrepid:~$ pkg search nvi |grep '^nvi2'
nvi2-2.2.2                     Updated implementation of the ex/vi text editor
rld@Intrepid:~$ 

#(searching openbsd online)
rld@Intrepid:~$ searchall -o nvi |grep ^nvi
nvi-2.2.2                (list)   with wide         and files limited by
nvi-2.2.2-iconv          (list)   with wide         and files limited by

rldane@rosa.tilde.pink$ uname -sr
NetBSD 10.1
rldane@rosa.tilde.pink$ pkgin search nvi |grep ^nvi |grep -v nvidia
nvi-1.81.6nb13       Berkeley nvi with additional features
nvi-m17n-1.79.20040608nb11  Clone of vi/ex, with multilingual patch
nvi2-2.2.0           Multibyte fork of the nvi editor for BSD
rldane@rosa.tilde.pink$ 

~ $ head -1 /etc/os-release 
PRETTY_NAME="Raspbian GNU/Linux 13 (trixie)"
~ $ apt-cache search nvi |grep -E '^nvi2? '
nvi - 4.4BSD re-implementation of vi
~ $ 

@gumnos

You can resize horizontal splits with :res[+-]size
There doesn't seem to be a way to resize vsplits. XD

Oh...😅... any resize to the vi window itself causes all of the splits to go into the background. That's fun.

Confirmed that there's no :vs in OpenBSD vi. It does have :res+n.

The #NetBSD vi does have vsplits, though, and it even draw a pretty pipe character so you can see it more clearly ;)
It also accepts the :res command.

Edit: tpyo

It's a bit of a shame that this fella went to all of that trouble digging through Illumos.

https://youtube.com/v/tUqHsv6JarY?lc=UgwAiVOVkz-sP_j-H7J4AaABAg

#Illumos is one of the few platforms that does not have the <sys/ttydefaults.h> header from 4BSD. It was ironically quite the wrong place to look. The GNU and musl C libraries have the header, as do all of #FreeBSD, #OpenBSD, and #NetBSD.

The problem is that although <sys/ttydefaults.h> has been around since 1983 (1993 in its current form), almost no-one, apart from people like me who write terminal emulators and whatnot and cannot just use cfmakesane(), knows that it is there. It isn't in any manual.

Which leads to things like stty in GNU coreutils going all around the houses to do something simple, too.

#ttydefaults #termios #stty

Is http://bxr.su dead?

#OpenBSD #BSD #FreeBSD #NetBSD

Installing OpenBSD on the NanoPi R2S plus

Once I figured out which files to write to the SD card for the NanoPi R2S plus and in what order for #netbsd, installing #openbsd was a breeze.

The second 1G network card is working—the very one that #FreeBSD doesn't recognize ;)

Alt...

Installing OpenBSD on the NanoPi R2S plus

»Talking about the project image, this is devastating! No really, we use macOS while pretending to develop #FreeBSD? Is this a joke or what?

I must say I find #NetBSD and #OpenBSD better engineered, they work in a stable manner on the hardware they support. I was scratching my head about why (after all they are BSDs too and they, more or less, take some code from Linux, especially in the DRM department). Now I understand why!«

https://www.phoronix.com/forums/forum/phoronix/latest-phoronix-articles/1635575-freebsd-foundation-executive-director-tries-daily-driving-freebsd-on-laptop?p=1635612#post1635612

#Dogfooding

@FiLiS @thomholwerda Who made that decision? That’s very strange, and I think someone would’ve had to have been deliberate to do that.

#NetBSD isn’t broken in that regard:

Mozilla/5.0 (X11; NetBSD x86_64; rv:150.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/150.0

Both 1G network interfaces are working. The temperature ADC is functioning, and the processor frequency is adjusting—which is absolutely essential because this thing gets extremely hot. Even the all-metal case with direct contact to the chip doesn’t help.
#netbsd

Alt...

May 26 07:23:05 dual-router rabbit: /etc/powerd/scripts//sensor_temperature: (rktsadc0) critical limit exceeded [CPU] May 26 07:23:35 dual-router rabbit: /etc/powerd/scripts//sensor_temperature: (rktsadc0) normal state entered [CPU]

Alt...

Nanopi r2s plus

Pardon the French, but fuck I love #NetBSD.

Had a long train ride home, so SSH’d into my Shonen Jump box at home, then into my old Solaris box, then my Pentium 1. It all still works, and it’s wonderful. Wanted to try something, built a little chroot, done. It’s all so predictable and consistent and wonderful.

And… increasingly rare.

—
* My old Sun box. Which at some point ran Solaris/SunOS. You know what I mean.

Latest 𝗩𝗮𝗹𝘂𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝗡𝗲𝘄𝘀 - 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟲/𝟬𝟱/𝟮𝟱 (Valuable News - 2026/05/25) available.

https://vermaden.wordpress.com/2026/05/25/valuable-news-2026-05-25/

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

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

Nah hear me out, there is no way cats are real.
#NetBSD

Alt...

Photograph of an old Acer Aspire One netbook displaying the Wikipedia article about cats. It's running NetBSD on ctwm. The xeyes applet is open, and there is a window in the third workspace that just says "GAY SEX"

I've been thinking about code and quality of, for quite some time. Compilers should not be a crutch for bad coders but a tool for good ones. I fear we are treating the symptom not the disease.

I have applauded the efforts of OpenBSD in the past, still all of us can and must do better.

#Code #BSD #OpenBSD #FreeBSD #NetBSD #DragonFlyBSD

This took a really long time :)
The instructions at https://wiki.netbsd.org/ports/evbarm/rockchip/ don't work—they don't mention uboot.img and trust.bin—so I got them from FreeBSD, though they're probably available in #NetBSD somewhere too :)

Alt...

Netbsd boot on Nanopi R2S Plus

Happy #BrothersDay from the sibling who runs on absolutely everything (yes, even the family toaster)! 🚩🍞

Taking a moment to send some love to my Unix-like family today:

To FreeBSD 😈: Thanks for always bringing the heavy-lifting and server muscle. Nobody I’d rather share a kernel subsystem or network stack with! 💪

To OpenBSD 🐡: My brilliantly paranoid sibling. Don't worry, I double-checked the locks, audited the code, and closed the blinds before posting this. Stay secure! 🔒

And a special shoutout to our loud, monolithic cousin, Linux 🐧! You might be everywhere these days, but we still love having you at the FOSS family barbecue. Just leave some market share for the rest of us, okay? 🍔

Here’s to the entire open-source community. No matter what kernel you're running, we're all pushing the ecosystem forward together! 🧡

#NetBSD #FreeBSD #OpenBSD #Linux #FOSS #OpenSource #Unix #BrothersDay #RunBSD

The requirements are pretty low:

• NO IPv4
• min. IPv6 /48 subnet routed
• Network (ARIN/RIPE/…) should be personalized (netname, abuse,..)
• Optionally: BYOIP
• ARPA delegation for the net to my nameservers
• min. 2x 500G disk space (SATA SSD or better)
• min. 48G memory per node
• bandwidth doesn’t really matter (100Mbit is fine)
• Remote MGMT to systems

#bsd #freebsd #netbsd #openbsd #openindiana #education #learning #opensource

Mike Karel memorial travel fund for BSDCan

https://blog.bsdcan.org/2026/05/20/announcing-the-mike-karels-memorial-travel-fund/

#BSD #BSDCan #FreeBSD #NetBSD #OpenBSD #DragonflyBSD

@bpl you will generally see your email at https://mail-index.netbsd.org/tech-install/index.html if not do reach out to team on IRC #netbsd-code @netbsd

Happy International Day for Biological Diversity! 🌱

A diverse ecosystem is a strong ecosystem. In the tech world, NetBSD brings vital diversity by proving that clean, portable, and secure code can run on virtually any architecture. This adaptability keeps computing open and accessible to everyone.

Let's keep the digital ecosystem diverse. Consider supporting the NetBSD Foundation today by contributing code, writing documentation, or making a donation! 💻🚩
#NetBSD #BiodiversityDay #OpenSource #TechDiversity #FOSS #RetroComputing #Sustainability #Linux #RunBSD #FreeBSD #OpenBSD

@justine

I think it's great that you pursue the problem consistently until a solution is found.
#OpenBSD is enjoyable, even the installer is well thought out.
However, it's not my first choice personally.
At the moment I mainly use #FreeBSD, less #Linux, and I keep an eye on OpenBSD. I would like to test #NetBSD and NixOS more thoroughly when I have time, for now I'm very satisfied with FreeBSD.

@rqm

It certainly looks like it, doesn't it? Especially as that looks like the output of the dot.profile from the miniroot/ramdisc.

See the INSTALL notes. Installation over a serial console assumes 9600 BPS, and there's an explicit stty that forces that just after echoing that line.

#NetBSD

If anyone else wants to be participate, I will be starting this June 1st. Each week there will be a “challenge”. The rules are simple.

• Have fun trying out an alternative OS and learning something new
• Use a BSD distribution for the month of June as your primary computer device
• Complete the Weekly Challenge posts
• Post about your experience using the hashtag #30DayBSDChallenge

#runbsd #freebsd #netbsd #openbsd

The BSD community here on the Fediverse has been inspiring to me and learning more about Unix has made me feel that computers and software can be exciting and enjoyable to use again. I want to learn more about alternative operating systems, I want to see discussions and fun projects on the Fediverse and instead of just lurking or scrolling endless to find those things, why not just make it myself?

#30DayBSDChallenge #runbsd #freebsd #netbsd #openbsd

Inspired by the YouTube channel LTT’s latest “30 day” switch to Linux challenge, for the month of June, I am doing a 30 day challenge to switch to FreeBSD. I currently dual boot Debian and Windows but I have been “daily driving” Linux for over 10 years now. I want to learn more about how operating systems work, and FreeBSD with its Linux binary compatibility and support for wine means it could possibly become the only OS on my desktop.

#30DayBSDChallenge #runbsd #freebsd #netbsd #openbsd

@bpl https://mastodon.sdf.org/@netbsd/116537862178252362

#NetBSD is clear on policy noAI will be accepted in source. That's why we need to fund the foundation

@joel

OK, the toasters will have to wait for #netbsd 11.

And then, we dial all the toasters to 11!

EDIT: some things have changed since I wrote this post. Now they're more accurate.

AI models don’t really 'get' the BSDs. As a result, they often provide incomplete, imprecise, or flat-out wrong answers by defaulting to Linux paradigms. When it comes to illumos-based systems, they just completely lose the plot.

This is becoming a serious issue for the BSDs and illumos ecosystems. We are seeing entire websites flooded with AI-generated tutorials and guides that are totally incorrect. Most people don't realize this; they follow the instructions, fail, and then assume that the BSDs doesn't work well or are 'unstable' because they have supposedly changed since the guide was written.

Luckily, some people eventually find my blog, reach out, and finally understand what's actually going on. Others, unfortunately, end up on major social sites or comments, claiming that these systems are broken.

In 2026, one of our greatest challenges will be teaching people how to vet their sources and filter information.
And I see this as a very, very uphill battle.

#IT #SysAdmin #FreeBSD #NetBSD #OpenBSD #illumos #News #UnderstandingText #Disinformation

Had to finish my #NetBSD 11.0 RC3 test write-up after upgrading some machines to RC4 this week, so this post has straddle marks.

https://jspath55.blogspot.com/2026/05/netbsd-11-rc3-heat-rc4-and-more.html

@joel

ESPECIALLY the toasters!!!

Wait... We are talking about #OpenBSD here, not #NetBSD!! 🤓