Annotation of wikisrc/users/jruoho/doc.mdwn, revision 1.9
1.8 jruoho 1: # A Test.
1.4 jruoho 2:
3: Problems:
4:
5: * All documents must be HTML ready (the eternal <, >, &, etc.).
1.8 jruoho 6: The ability to inline HTML can cause additional problems.
1.6 jruoho 7: * There seems to be no easy way to define custom macros (cf. &os;, etc.).
1.8 jruoho 8: * When using [toc], only the H1-headers are enumerated in the table of
9: contents. Also: headers are not enumerated in the body text.
1.2 jruoho 10:
1.6 jruoho 11: Benefits:
12:
13: * Much, much clearer syntax compared to XML. The *Markdown* almost resembles
14: plain text. This should be a big benefit in lowering the barriers of entry
15: to documentation.
16:
1.9 ! jruoho 17: ## About NetBSD
1.2 jruoho 18:
1.9 ! jruoho 19: [[!toc]]
1.5 jruoho 20:
1.9 ! jruoho 21: ### What is NetBSD?
1.4 jruoho 22:
23: NetBSD is a free, fast, secure, and highly portable Unix-like Open Source
24: operating system. It is available for many platforms, from 64-bit x86 servers
25: and PC desktop systems to embedded ARM and MIPS based devices. Its clean design
26: and advanced features make it excellent in both production and research
27: environments, and it is user-supported with complete source. Many applications
28: are easily available through pkgsrc, the NetBSD Packages Collection.
1.2 jruoho 29:
1.9 ! jruoho 30: ### The story of NetBSD
1.4 jruoho 31:
32: The first version of NetBSD (0.8) dates back to 1993 and springs from the
33: 4.3BSD Lite operating system, a version of Unix developed at the University
34: of California, Berkeley (BSD = Berkeley Software Distribution), and from the
35: 386BSD system, the first BSD port to the Intel 386 CPU. In the following
36: years, modifications from the 4.4BSD Lite release (the last release from the
37: Berkeley group) were integrated into the system. The BSD branch of Unix has
38: had a great importance and influence on the history of Unix-like operating
39: systems, to which it has contributed many tools, ideas and improvements
40: which are now standard: the vi editor, the C shell, job control, the
41: Berkeley fast file system, reliable signals, support for virtual memory and
42: TCP/IP, just to name a few. This tradition of research and development
43: survives today in the BSD systems and, in particular, in NetBSD.
44:
1.9 ! jruoho 45: ### NetBSD features
1.4 jruoho 46:
47: NetBSD operates on a vast range of hardware platforms and is very portable.
48: The full source to the NetBSD kernel and userland is available for all the
49: supported platforms; please see the details on the official site of the
1.7 jruoho 50: [NetBSD Project](http://www.NetBSD.org/ "NetBSD")
51: .
1.4 jruoho 52:
1.6 jruoho 53: * Code quality and correctness
54: * Portability to a wide range of hardware
55: * Secure defaults
56: * Adherence to industry standards
57: * Research and innovation
58:
59: These characteristics bring also indirect advantages. For example, if you work
60: on just one platform you could think that you're not interested in portability.
61: But portability is tied to code quality; without a well written and well
62: organized code base it would be impossible to support a large number of
63: platforms. And code quality is the base of any good and solid software system,
64: though surprisingly few people seem to understand it.
65:
66: One of the key characteristics of NetBSD is that its developers are not
67: satisfied with partial implementations. Some systems seem to have the
68: philosophy of *if it works, it's right*. In that light NetBSD's philosophy
69: could be described as *it doesn't work unless it's right*. Think about how
70: many overgrown programs are collapsing under their own weight and "features"
71: and you'll understand why NetBSD tries to avoid this situation at all costs.
1.5 jruoho 72:
1.9 ! jruoho 73: ### Supported platforms
1.5 jruoho 74:
1.6 jruoho 75: NetBSD supports many platforms, including the popular PC platform (i386 and
76: amd64), SPARC and UltraSPARC, Alpha, Amiga, Atari, and m68k and PowerPC
77: based Apple Macintosh machines. Technical details for all of them can be
1.7 jruoho 78: found on
79: [the NetBSD site](http://www.NetBSD.org/ports "NetBSD Ports")
80: .
1.5 jruoho 81:
1.9 ! jruoho 82: ### NetBSD's target users
1.6 jruoho 83:
84: The NetBSD site states that: *the NetBSD Project provides a freely available
85: and redistributable system that professionals, hobbyists, and researchers
86: can use in whatever manner they wish*. It is also an ideal system if you
87: want to learn Unix, mainly because of its adherence to standards (one of the
88: project goals) and because it works equally well on the latest PC hardware
89: as well as on hardware which is considered obsolete by many other operating
90: systems. To learn and use Unix you don't need to buy expensive hardware; you
91: can use that old PC or Mac in your attic. It is important to note that
92: although NetBSD runs on old hardware, modern hardware is well supported and
93: care has been taken to ensure that supporting old machines does not inhibit
94: performance on modern hardware. In addition, if you need a Unix system
95: which runs consistently on a variety of platforms, NetBSD is probably your
96: best choice.
97:
1.9 ! jruoho 98: ### Applications for NetBSD
1.6 jruoho 99:
100: Aside from the standard Unix productivity tools, editors, formatters, C/C++
101: compilers and debuggers and so on that are included with the base system,
102: there is a huge collection of packages (currently over 8,000) that can be
103: installed both from source and in pre-compiled form. All the packages that
104: you expect to find on a well configured system are available for NetBSD for
105: free. The framework that makes this possible, pkgsrc, also includes a
106: number of commercial applications. In addition, NetBSD provides binary
107: emulation for various other *nix operating systems, allowing you to run
108: non-native applications. Linux emulation is probably the most relevant
109: example. You can run the Linux versions of
110:
111: * Firefox
112: * the Adobe Flash player plugin
113: * Acrobat Reader
114: * many other programs
115:
1.9 ! jruoho 116: ### How to get NetBSD
1.6 jruoho 117:
118: NetBSD is an Open Source operating system, and as such it is freely
1.7 jruoho 119: available for download from
120: [ftp.NetBSD.org](ftp://ftp.NetBSD.org "ftp.NetBSD.org")
121: and its
122: [mirrors](http://www.NetBSD.org/mirrors/ "NetBSD mirrors")
123: .
1.6 jruoho 124:
125: There is no "official" supplier of NetBSD CD-ROMs but there are various
126: resellers. You can find the most up to date list on the relevant
1.7 jruoho 127: [page](http://www.NetBSD.org/sites/cdroms.html "CD-ROMs")
128: on the NetBSD site.
1.6 jruoho 129:
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