The NetBSD project has released a live CD with automatic hardware detection and an option to boot into KDE. Called NetBSD Live! 2007, the CD image is available for the i386 platform: “This CD-ROM contains a specially constructed version of NetBSD 4.0_BETA sporting a modified kernel based on NetBSD-CURRENT. Booting is done using an adapted version of the GRUB boot loader. The CD contains the following software packages in addition to the base operating system files: XFree86, KDE 3.4.5 with multiple language sets; joe and kvim text editors; AbiWord word processor, Dia 0.9.4 flow-charting and diagramming application, Inkscape 0.4.2 vector graphic application; The GIMP 2.2; Firefox web browser, and more.” See the release notes for more information.
If you’re going to include Abiword, Dia, Inkscape, the Gimp and Firefox — all GTK applications — wouldn’t it make sense to use Gnome as the default DE?
I agree,
Although I like using PC-BSD which uses KDE, I would like to see a Gnome version.
well, i dunno about other apps they include, but if it’s indeed mostly GTK apps, it would make more sense to use XFCE or Gnome.
ok, i did check what apps they use, and they include lots of KDE apps like the PIM suite, graphics, games, admin and tools, so i think it’s still more efficient to use KDE. and as long as ppl use apps like firefox and openoffice (both not belonging to any desktop, and using their own stuff) they don’t seem to care about speed, efficiency and memory usage anyway…
… wouldn’t it make sense to use Gnome as the default DE?
Actually, I don’t totally understand the logic of going with suits. I use IceWM on Linux and XFCE on NetBSD and a mixture of apps from bith KDE and Gnome on both platforms. I suppose if you like the themie thingies and icons on your desktop then the suites may make a difference. But not to me.
I was secretly hoping this would be somewhat a NetBSD version of PC/Desktop-BSD, seeing it’s a live-cd with a desktop preconfigured.
I was secretly hoping this would be somewhat a NetBSD version of PC/Desktop-BSD, seeing it’s a live-cd with a desktop preconfigured.
I think that they preconfigured a DE mostly because having a CLI LiveCD isn’t that cool
Honestly, I never expected to see a NetBSD LiveCD but I guess it’s a smart move after all the “NetBSD is dead” show from sometime ago. Hopefully this will attract some new users and possibly devvers.
“I think that they preconfigured a DE mostly because having a CLI LiveCD isn’t that cool
“
The CLI tools include the editor joe which is very powerful and easy to use – if you’re familiar with the “Wordstar” like commands. Furthermore, it includes the Midnight Commander which is – let me say it – the best file managing tool I’ve ever used. So, the CLI functionalities are very good – if you know what you want and how to do it.
“Honestly, I never expected to see a NetBSD LiveCD but I guess it’s a smart move after all the “NetBSD is dead” show from sometime ago. Hopefully this will attract some new users and possibly devvers.”
At least me. I will consider giving NetBSD a try if I see advantages or interesting points in the live system CD that I don’t have in FreeBSD or Solaris.
A few words about the live system:
I wish they had used GNOME instead of KDE, but I think they did it this way because most users are more familiar with KDE than with GNOME.
The internationalisation is not very good when you want to use the system with german language. I prefer english as system language, it’s better than the bad errorful and newspeak german.
I like the concept of using the NetBSD live system CD as a means of data rescue, because it includes tools for Ext2, NTFS, MSDOS and HFS. Furthermore, defective HDs can securely be used in RO mode – no write action without notification / permission of the user. As the “release notes” page states, this concept also has the following feature:
The telnet server is activated by default on this distribution. […] Apart from the telnet server, a ftp server (only the user account is allowed, no anonymous access) is activated in /etc/inetd.conf. This makes it possible to boot from CD, mount hard-disks and transfer data from a remote machine. Anonymous-ftp is not configured; […].
So the security issues about telnet are handled well. As far as it is used in the local network where no untrusted machines are located, it may be used. Then, I like this one:
In order to export X11 applications from a remote machine to the NetBSD machine running from CD, one has to manually allow X access with the xhost + command in a X terminal emulator window. This isn’t handled automatically.
Finally, one question: On the “release notes” page, they say “The GNU Image Processor (Gimp) 2.2 ” is included. Is “Gimp” the acronym for “GNU Image Maniplulation Program” or for “GNU Image Processor”? I thought it was the first one…
Correction: Not the “release notes” page was used to quote from, it was the README file: ftp://iso.netbsd.org/pub/NetBSD/iso/livecd/netbsd-live-2007-README…
And, as I can see, the bad I18N is not the fault of the NetBSD developers, these are mostly KDE, the GNOME based programs or gettext() issues. No, the NetBSD guys even use the german standard othography and interpunctuation rather than one of the newspeak derivates! At least in the README file (change “en” to “de” in the URI and you’ll see). Wow, I like them.
The CLI tools include the editor joe which is very powerful and easy to use – if you’re familiar with the “Wordstar” like commands. Furthermore, it includes the Midnight Commander which is – let me say it – the best file managing tool I’ve ever used. So, the CLI functionalities are very good – if you know what you want and how to do it.
I totally agree with you, I use tons of cli tools in my everyday life (Linux user here). What I was trying to mean is that, usually, LiveCD are made to attract people’s attention, and showing a cli-only LiveCD isn’t particularly appealing, IMHO obviously.
I wish they had used GNOME instead of KDE, but I think they did it this way because most users are more familiar with KDE than with GNOME.
I wish that too, but you’re probably right in your assumption.
Merkroth contributed:
“Honestly, I never expected to see a NetBSD LiveCD”
NetBSD had a live CD before any of the various linux distros had one.
Joerg Braun created it with NetBSD 1.5.2 a few years ago.
pkgsrc since had a sysutil/makelivecd (I think) that allows you to roll your on.
Edited 2006-11-10 18:56
NetBSD prides themselves on their modules code design, so why doesn’t NetBSD use XOrg instead of XFree86? What benefit could they have from sticking to the old X? Just a question.
NetBSD doesn’t pride itself on it’s modules, it prides itself in it’s platform independent design, which allows for greater portability. That’s it’s modular design, the drivers are all in their own area, running through what is known as a hardware abstraction layer, so that they’re all portable, rather than each implementing common components repeatedly and in a manner which only operates on a single architecture.
They did not change over when the licence changed because it was deemed extra work with no benefit and now that X.org is different beast, work is being done on it. X.org is in pkgsrc, if you want it, feel free to use it.
The benefit in using XFree86 is that all the work is already done.
Edited 2006-11-10 19:04
I apologize, that was a typo, what I meant to say was ‘their modular code’
NetBSD will be exhibiting at the 5th Southern California Linux on February 10th and 11th, 2007 at the Westing LAX in Los Angeles, California. More information about the show can be found at http://www.socallinuxexpo.org.
All live CD’s should have an install option like Ubuntu, Mepis, etc. I wind up loving the environment, but wanting it on my hard drive as a real install. Oh well!
“All live CD’s should have an install option like Ubuntu, Mepis, etc. I wind up loving the environment, but wanting it on my hard drive as a real install. Oh well!”
You could simply dd the CD onto your ad0.
But I think you’ll get more comfortable with a “real” installation of NetBSD. Then you could copy several preconfigurational aspects from the CD.
How does the modified kernel perform… I am off to scan the release notes to see what makes 4.0 Beta worth trying.
Is NetBSD negociating something with Microsoft as well?
A “live CD” simply means you can boot into and run the operating system and its applications without installing anything to the hard drive. The “live-CD” term has been in use before “Windows Live”, by both the BSDs and Linux. (NetBSD and SuSE, as much as I hate to admit the latter, were among the first operating systems to offer live CDs.)
It’s from the german “freeX” computer magazine:
“NetBSD Live! is Copyright (c) 2003-2006 J"org Braun & C&L – Computer und Literaturverlag GmbH, Germany”