The NetBSD Project Conquering new platforms http://www.netbsd.org/ * What is the NetBSD Project? The NetBSD-Project gives you a complete Unix/Linux-like operating system, which is 100% up to the Open-Source standard, supporting Industry-Norm APIs, communication protocols and a huge number of hardware platforms. NetBSD qualifies for a wide area of application: from server-systems and workstations as well as PDAs and embedded systems. NetBSD is often choosen to control new developed hardware and similar things in the areas of network-computers, one-circuit-board computers and even webcams. Beyond this it is also used in network-development all over the world. ISPs use NetBSD because of the wide spectrum of network possibilities and enthusiasts choose NetBSD because of its excellent hardware support. NetBSD is mostly developed by volunteers. Almost 300 active developers have write access to the source and hundreds more contribute to further developments daily. The Project is controlled by the NetBSD core group and the NetBSD Foundation. * Why is NetBSD so special? Since NetBSD was founded in 1993 it can always be found at the top of Open Source Operation System development. In many cases NetBSD was the complete foundation or reference for other projects. Many advantages of NetBSD are not found in any other open source OS: - Support for 60 different hardware platforms, more will follow - Complete Standard USB support, including hot swapping - Automatic ISA Plug-and-Play configuration - Three ways to debug the operating system's core: locale, remote and post-morten - The complete source, including the history of the development, is available via anonymous CVS, rsync, SUP and CVSweb - Binary compatible for most Linux-, Solaris-, SCO-, FreeBSD-, - BSD/OS-, OSF/1- and Ultrix-programms (with same CPU) - Support for various network technologies like ATM, HIPPI, FDDI, HSSI, IEEE 802.11, Token-Ring, ARCnet and Ethernet - Many subsystems are descriped in detail by publications Certainly NetBSD contains all features which are regared natural in our days like X11, tools for firewalls, software RAID and tools for installation and maintenance of 3rd party software. With the help of these packages tools you are able to install more than 3.000 freely available software packages (e.g. KDE, GNOME, web servers, StarOffice, Netscape, Samba and so on) without much effort. * Ideal for hardware developers! One of the main goals tries to achieve is making the system run on many different hardware platforms. Due to the small effort making NetBSD run on a new hardware design, you are able to concentrate on the development of the hardware. Some of our developers are professional consultants, and in case you need help, you can sign them up at short notice or for bigger projects. A list of these consultants can be found at http://www.netbsd.org/gallery/consultants.html. Make the decision - like many Fortune 100 and Fortune 500 companies - to use NetBSD, the worlds most portable operating system, for your product. * Help is only one mail away! In case of trouble you can find fast and unbureaucratic help through out mailing lists and the bug tracking system. For more professional help there is a number of consultants available at our website. There is no service-phone but your questions will be certainly answered without wasting time by being put on hold. * Complete Open Source bounds in honour! There are no 'NDA' or 'binary only' at the NetBSD project. The entire sources can be downloaded from the internet, part of it under a Berkeley-like license, part of it under the GPL license. Every NetBSD copy you get from us contains the entire source. 'Open Source' is not only a empty buzz phrase at NetBSD! * Available in all sizes! NetBSD runs on a huge number of hardware platforms, beginning with the VAX 11/750 to the latest PCs and Windows CE palmtops. No matter if you want to clean your old dusty PC from the attic or bought the latest technology, NetBSD will be there for you! After removing some optional components NetBSD suitable for embedded systems. * Security for Paranoids NetBSD with integrated firewall tools, IPsec, Kerberos 5, SSH and SSL and encryption tools like PGP, which can be easily installed from our software archives, you have acces to modern security system. Of course our whole system was audited for security leaks. In the public forums related to 'Security' like the Bugtraq mailing list NetBSD always had fewer known security problems than the alternative solutions. One reason more why security consultants choose NetBSD! * Don't miss the connection NetBSD is growing since nearly ten years, longer than any other alternative solutions in the field of open source, and is stronger than ever. We won't disappear and leave you alone or stop supporting your platform. You can put your mind at rest that the further development of your OS is in the hands of capable experts. * How can I help? There are many ways in which you or your company is able to support NerBSD. - Mention NetBSD on your webside, while talking to your fellows or facing the hardware producers when you buy new systems - Develop a new driver or support for a special hardware platform, a protocol or a API which isn't supported yet - Get hardware or technical hardware related documents which we do not already own and send it to us for developing and testing - Politly ask, if necessary repeatedly, hardware producers which refuse to support us with documentation - Port your software to NetBSD - Acquire NetBSD or NetBSD devotionalia from us - Donate money for buying hardware and promotion for the project Please refer to board@netbsd.org if you want to donate (if possible write in englich please). * Coming soon Predicting the future is difficult but the following points will quite certainly soon come: - Support for even more devices and hardware platforms like FireWire and ACPI - SMP on PowerPC, UltraSPARC, Intel & AMP systems - Scheduler activations supported userland thread implementation activations - Further use of latest network technologies like RED, WFQ, CBQ and ECN - PXE-Support for booting more PCs via Network - Support for booting from more 'foreign' filesystems to make the change to NetBSD more easy. - Wide extension of offical CDs and devotionalia, even out of the USA or Europe * Where do I get NetBSD? WWW: http://www.netbsd.org/ FTP: ftp://ftp.netbsd.org/pub/NetBSD/ CVS: anoncvs@anoncvs.netbsd.org:/cvsroot SUP: sup.netbsd.org RSync: rsync.netbsd.org:/ CD-ROM: http://www.netbsd.org/Sites/cdroms.html -- $Id: was-ist-netbsd-2.txt,v 1.11 2000/03/18 16:25:10 feyrer Exp feyrer $ Original english version by Charles Hannum German translation by Hubert Feyrer Re-translated to English by Florian Forster