NetBSD, CTWM, and Spleen. An update about CTWM and Spleen on NetBSD -current.

Back in the fall of 2020, I was approached about adding Spleen to the NetBSD’s xsrc repository. Needless to say, I wasn’t difficult to convince, and imported Spleen 1.8.2 as font-spleen-misc. With this being done, nia@ added all the required glue to hook the fonts to the build, and then changed the default CTWM configuration to do automatic font scaling based on screen size, and make Spleen the default font...

https://www.cambus.net/netbsd-ctwm-and-spleen/

#ctwm #spleen

Creating NetBSD images for Google Compute Engine.

This repository holds tools to build a NetBSD image for use on Google Compute Engine (GCE). GCE is part of the Google Cloud Platform...

https://github.com/google/netbsd-gce

#cloud #system

#art (c)

GNU/Hurd Continues Effort To Use NetBSD's Drivers For Better Hardware Support.

Besides all of the Linux-focused talks at the annual FOSDEM conference, another favorite track of mine is that on micro-kernels and other operating systems. While there wasn't the GNU/Hurd status update in 2022 as there has been in some recent years, there was a talk over GNU/Hurd using NetBSD kernel drivers in order to expand its hardware coverage.

https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=GNU-Hurd-NetBSD-Drivers-2022

#drivers #hardware

A practical solution for GNU/Hurd's lack of drivers: NetBSD's rumpkernel framework.

https://fosdem.org/2022/schedule/event/dzammit/

#fosdem #video

Installing NetBSD 9.2 on a Pentium 100MHz.

#video #install

Making RockPro64 a NetBSD Server.

The time has come to upgrade my SunBlade 2500s to something more power friendly and faster. I'd already removed one CPU and thus half the ram from two of these systems to reduce their power consumption, but it's still much higher than it could be.

After much searching, I've decided on Pine64's RockPro64 4GiB ram model (technically, only 3.875GiB ram.) Pine64 make SBCs, laptops, phones, and various other mostly ARM gadgets, and the RockPro64 has the fastest CPU they ship (Rockchip RK3399), and can use a small "NAS Case", that is sufficient to house 2 HDDs and, at a stretch, upto 6 SSDs (cooling would become quite an issue at this point.)...

https://blog.netbsd.org/tnf/entry/making_rockpro64_a_netbsd_server

#rockpro64 #server

Full system backups with FFS snapshots, ZFS and dump(8)

I am positive not many know that NetBSD FFSv2 allows taking atomic filesystem copies of a mounted filesystem (or part it) through fss(4), the fileysytem snapshot device. These can be used to create backups or to give fsck_ffs a consistent view of a previous version of the filesystem to compare with (see fsck -x). Having a snapshot ready before editing critical configuration files under /etc or performing etcupdates, is also a good idea...

https://www.unitedbsd.com/d/705-full-system-backups-with-ffs-snapshots-zfs-and-dump8

#backup #snapshots #dump

build and install of latest CDE (2.4.0c) on NetBSD 9.2 for Intel (i386/amd64).

i managed to build and install CDE, although few things are missing from the linked howto. so here goes...

https://www.reddit.com/r/NetBSD/comments/thussq/build_and_install_of_latest_cde_240c_on_netbsd_92/

#cde #desktop

Writing a NetBSD kernel module.

In this post, we’ll look at implementing a simple character device driver as a kernel module in NetBSD. Once it is loaded, userspace processes will be able to write an arbitrary byte string to the device, and on every successive read expect a cryptographically-secure pseudorandom permutation of the original byte string...

https://saurvs.github.io/post/writing-netbsd-kern-mod/

#kernel #module

PlayStation remote kernel heap overflow.

The PlayStation has a kernel PPPoE driver, that originates from NetBSD. This driver has a kernel heap overflow vulnerability, that an attacker can remotely trigger over the LAN, with the ability to control both the contents that are overflown and their sizes.

https://hackerone.com/reports/1350653

#security #pppoe

Customizing NetBSD boot banners.

I recently discovered that it’s surprisingly easy to customize the NetBSD boot loader banner, simply by adding some directives in the boot.cfg configuration file...

https://www.cambus.net/customizing-netbsd-boot-banners/

#system #boot

The journey to ZFS raidz1 with different sized disks (On NetBSD) (Wheelbarrow optional).

The joy of having a redundant remote backup machine is that if it dies you do not immediately lose any data, just some redundancy. On the other hand, sufficient remoteness can make the process of rebuilding annoying enough to encourage a certain desire to not repeat it.

So... I find myself wanting to setup a NetBSD machine with a ZFS raidz1, but without sufficient equally sized large disks or enough drive bays to pack in many smaller disks. In the world of ZFS, that's a pretty big liability...

https://netbsd0.blogspot.com/2022/05/the-journey-to-zfs-raidz1-with.html

#zfs #backup

Compiling the NetBSD kernel as a benchmark.

For a while, I've been compiling my own NetBSD kernel. Just for a few options, mainly CARP, at first for my Raspberry Pis, and at the moment for paravirtualized Xen domUs. Compiling a custom NetBSD kernel is a very easy task, it's just a matter of 3 main steps...

https://blog.anotherhomepage.org/post/2022/05/25/Compiling-the-NetBSD-kernel-as-a-benchmark/

#kernel #system

SSD TRIM in NetBSD HEAD (-current).

Solid state drives are complicated. TRIM is an operation in the SATA command set that can be used to mark specific blocks of a SSD unused, which helps the SSD retain good performance when large amounts of data have been deleted. It requires operating system support. macOS actually didn't support TRIM for quite a long time, so there's at least some drives available in the wild that cope well with not being regularly TRIMed. NetBSD 7.0 added a fdiscard system call, which allows portions of a device or file to be TRIMed...

https://www.unitedbsd.com/d/859-ssd-trim-in-netbsd-head-current

#hdd #fdiscard #trim

NetBSD can also run a Minecraft server.

... The good news is, yes, you can run a Minecraft server on my other favourite OS too. This post explores how I went about it, though I’m sure there are other ways...

https://rubenerd.com/netbsd-can-also-run-a-minecraft-server/

#games #minecraft

NetBSD 9.3 released.

The NetBSD Project is pleased to announce NetBSD 9.3, the third release from the NetBSD 9 stable branch.

https://blog.netbsd.org/tnf/entry/netbsd_9_3_released

#release #system

Installing OpenBSD on Scaleway Elastic Metal.

The instructions below will roughly stay the same should you want to install NetBSD or FreeBSD instead of OpenBSD...

https://www.senzilla.io/blog/2022/08/10/installing-openbsd-scaleway-elastic-metal/

#install #system

Is the NetBSD operating system losing its competitive edge to Linux and FreeBSD?

I’m not entirely sure there was ever a “competitive edge” that NetBSD had over FreeBSD… and the differences between any of the BSDs and Linux are vast — some of them are important, others not so much...

https://www.quora.com/Is-the-NetBSD-operating-system-losing-its-competitive-edge-to-Linux-and-FreeBSD/answer/Stan-Hanks

#system #justread

EuroBSDCon 2022. NetBSD.

No videos are available yet to provide much-needed context to presentations, but we'll keep you posted...

https://blog.netbsd.org/tnf/entry/eurobsdcon_2022

#eurobsdcon