OpenBSD is NetBSD Lite On Tue, Apr 30, 2024, 5:57 PM Riccardo Mottola <riccardo.mott...@libero.it> wrote:
> Ciao Liam! > > Liam Proven wrote: > > I really wish there were more technology sharing between the BSDs. > > There is actually, but it is never easy. I have seen good transfer > between NetBSD and OpenBSD in the years, including drivers and such. > > > > > Dragonfly has the best installer, IMHO, but of course it has many > > fewer options to cover. > > I only use the "canonical" three. I must say as a user I like NetBSD and > OpenBSD best. > Of course the less platforms the easier it is. Things like partitioning, > bootloader complicate things. > > I think NetBSD has a quite good installer in many aspects. Quick to > setup, has a very convenient utility, network setup. > Essentially the worst part is partitioning, but it is a tricky matter. > On classic BIOS PC setup it works quite well though... quick and fast. > Try to partition MacPPC and you get crazy. > > > FreeBSD is the worst inasmuch as it does the least complete job. > I agree... however it has some interesting points. > I think Debian has a good, but complicated, heavy installer. NetBSD > could learn something from it, but not too much. > Debian has a decent partitioning tool > > > > > Some OpenBSD folks are angry with me because I criticise its disk > > partitioner. When I tell them the config I work with and they recoil > > and go "OMG that is _impossible!_" > > OpenBSD are complicated people.. but they do good stuff. Also the prompt > based installer is quite good! Upgrading is excellent! But certain > things are a bit extreme..... like no dhcp setup (must test latest > though, maybe they changed it again). > > > The point being: cross-platform installers that work on multiple very > > different distros with different packaging tools are 100% a thing. > I'm not expert there, but they should have peraps more per > > > I am sure it would be possible to write a program which, when run, > > tests the console or terminal to determine if it can use colour and > > cursor controls, and if it can, which presents a > > cursor-key-driven-menu based UI with CUA-style controls -- but if the > > terminal does not, then falls back gracefully to simple numeric or > > letter-choice menus. > > Terminal type does that for you... and NetBSD install works well even > ona 9600 baud serial vt100, which is really legacy technology. > > > > > > > Long-term users often tell me that they do not notice the issues > > because they simply upgrade from one version to the next and never see > > the installer. Well, in that case, offer that opportunity to visitors > > as well: it would be to the benefit of all of the BSD family if the > > projects supplied pre-installed and pre-configured VM images for > > direct download, so that the curious could simply download an OVA > > file, import it into the hypervisor of their choice, and try the OS > > out without installing it at all. > > Yes, upgrading sometimes does not well test the bare install. However > both are important applications. > I tend to too to upgrade... In the case of NetBSD however you still test > a big part of the install - except partitioning. You do all steps! > > I just did an upgrade on SPARC64 and it worked wonderfully. > > > > Cheers, > > Riccardo >
