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From: rick@postmaster@hq.af.mil
Newsgroups: comp.os.386bsd.questions
Subject: difference between 386bsd and NetBSD ?
Message-ID: <22948@hq.hq.af.mil>
Date: 20 May 93 12:41:54 GMT
Sender: news@Pt.hq.af.mil
Reply-To: rick@hq.af.mil
Organization: 7TH Communications Group
Lines: 159
I saw several posts asking about the differences, what is, etc...
on NetBSD and 386BSD. So I thought I'd stick this out there.
Thought it might answer some of the FAQ's.
Hope Chris and company don't mind.
This is from the install doc from NetBSD. (edited for television :-))
BEGIN INCLUDED***********************
What is NetBSD:
---- -- ------
NetBSD is a new system, based heavily on 386BSD 0.1, with
many improvements over 386BSD 0.1, and with different goals
than those which are espoused by the principal developers
of 386BSD. NetBSD, as the name implies, is a creation of
the members of the network community and without the net,
it's likely that this release wouldn't have come about.
The source for NetBSD is derived from 386BSD 0.1, patched
with the 0.2.2 patch kit. In addition, many programs in
UCB's second BSD Networking Software Release which were
missing from 386BSD have been integrated into NetBSD, some
of the changes from the upcoming 0.2.3 patch kit have been
included, and many local additions and bug fixes have
been performed. NetBSD is currently 100% binary compatible
with 386BSD, so programs like XFree86 which are already
available for 386BSD will install and run on NetBSD as easily
as on 386BSD.
NetBSD would not be possible were it not for the work
of the UCB Computer Systems Research Group, which
released Net/2, or the work of William and Lynne Jolitz,
who brought 386BSD into the world, or the work of the
thousands of contributors to Net/2 and 386BSD. NetBSD
is the product of the efforts of a large group of people,
and we believe that that group should have a say in deciding
NetBSD's future.
Differences Between 386BSD and NetBSD:
----------- ------- ------ --- ------
NetBSD is currently 386BSD 0.1, with lots of patches applied.
As such, it is completely binary-compatible with 386BSD 0.1,
and is much more stable. It, like 386BSD, is intended to be
used for research.
Some could look at NetBSD as simply an interim release of
386BSD. We look it as more, and therefore have named it
differently. The new name and version number reflect two
of our goals for NetBSD: an escape from the political wars
surrounding what we consider a wonderful operating system,
and the rapid development of a stable release which we
would consider of "production quality."
The Future of NetBSD:
--- ------ -- ------
We have several plans for the future of NetBSD.
The first is to organize regular releases of patches to
the source tree. These will probably be done using "cron"
to automate the process and ensure that it actually
happens. We believe these are necessary in order to
minimize duplicated work. We also hope to have
regular releases of the full binary and source trees,
but as these are much more difficult to coordinate,
this can only happen if someone volunteers for
the job.
We intend to integrate free, positive changes from
whatever sources will provide them, providing
that they are well thought-out and increase the
usability of the system. This includes integrating
changes from 386BSD 0.2 when it appears, as well
as from 4.4BSD, and perhaps even going back to Net/2
in order to re-integrate support for other architectures,
such as the Hewlett-Packard 9000/300 family of workstations.
Above all, we hope to create a stable and accessible system,
and to be responsive to the needs and desires of NetBSD
users, because it is for and because of them that NetBSD exists.
Sources of NetBSD:
------- -- ------
Currently, the NetBSD system is available from the host
agate.berkeley.edu [128.32.155.1] in the directory
pub/NetBSD/NetBSD-0.8, by anonymous FTP.
The distribution as provided on agate.berkeley.edu does not
contain crypt(3), for password and data encryption, because
it is an implementation of DES and not exportable from the
United States. If you wish to obtain the files containing
the crypt(3) functionality and are in the United States,
you may obtain it from sun-lamp.cs.berkeley.edu [128.32.240.164]
in the directory "NetBSD/NetBSD-0.8".
Hopefully, other sources of the distribution will become
available in the near future, as agate.berkeley.edu can
accept a very limited number of anonymous FTP connections.
(If you wish to become a distribution site for NetBSD,
contact Chris Demetriou, cgd@sun-lamp.cs.berkeley.edu.)
System Requirements and Supported Devices:
------ ------------ --- --------- -------
NetBSD 0.8 runs on ISA (AT-Bus) and EISA systems, with
386 and 486 processors, with or without math coprocessors.
It does NOT support Micro-channel systems, such as some
IBM PS/2 systems. The minimal configuration includes
4Meg of RAM, and a 30Meg hard disk, but to install the entire
system you'll need much more disk space, and to run X
or compile the system more RAM is recommended. (4Meg
will actually allow you to run X and/or compile, but it's
extremely slow.)
Supported devices include:
Standard floppy controllers
Standard hard disk controllers:
MFM
ESDI
IDE
RLL
SCSI hard disk controllers:
Adaptec AHA-1542A, -1542B [ only on kc-aha floppy ]
Adaptec AHA-1742 (EISA) [ only on kc-ahb floppy ]
Bustec 742 (EISA) [ only on kc-ahb floppy ]
Ultrastor 14f
Display Adaptors:
MDA
CGA
VGA (and SVGA)
HGC
Serial communications ports
Ethernet controllers
SMC/WD 8003, 8013, and equivalents
(including the SMC "Elite" series)
Novell NE1000, NE2000
3COM 3c503
ISOLAN ISOLink
Tape drives:
QIC-02 format tape drives
most SCSI tape drives should work
_NO_ QIC-40 or QIC-80 tape drives will work
CD-ROM drives:
most SCSI CD-ROM drives should work
_NO_ non-SCSI CD-ROM drives will work
END INCLUDED*****************************
Hope this helps--
--
Rick Weldon I-NET Inc. (Pentagon, 7TH Com Group)
E-mail: rick@hq.af.mil
Phone: 703-695-5060