[geeks] A Real OS? (was: Re: my capitalization.. etc.)

[alex j avriette]

>>> And do you really think that having more vendors supply drivers
>>> for their hardware would be bad for *BSD?
>>
>> yes.
>
> So the fewer users for *BSD the better, then, is what
> you are saying.

that is what i am saying. for the third time.

>> i wouldnt know anything about solaris x86. well, actually, i ran it on
>> my vaio for a little while. i wrote a driver for my pcmcia ethernet
>> card. that sucked, and i decided openbsd would be better.
>
> So you prefer writing your own drivers for OpenBSD instead of
> Solaris x86.

i've never had to write a driver for openbsd. when i buy hardware, i 
literally go and check the openbsd HCL and make sure what im buying is 
on it. i think thats responsible usership. im glad they dont support 
everything because i know the stuff they do support is stable and works 
well.

> So you run OpenBSD because you can boast that not many do?

that is a part of its charm, and im not ashamed to admit it. but ive 
told you over and over why i use openbsd, so there doesnt seem to be 
much point in further explaining it.

>> until there are so many drivers and so many authors and the hcl is so
>> long the project becomes unmanageable and begins to lose overall
>> quality. much like linux around, say, 2.2.
>
> Only if you don't have a solid kernel with a well-documented
> and enforced set of standards for drivers.

i never had a solid well documented kernel when i was running linux. i 
ran it for a few years, but the mysterious reboots in the middle of the 
night, huge kernels (>6mb once!), poor support for my platform (mac 
ppc), inane user community (try #linux on dalnet some day when you need 
help), and being scorned by my unix using peers convinced me it was just 
not for me.

alex