NetBSD 11.0 RC1 (opens in new tab)

(netbsd.org)

53 pointsunleaded1mo ago7 comments

7 comments

> New MICROVM kernel for x86, supporting both i386 and amd64, NetBSD 11.0 introduces a dedicated MICROVM kernel designed for extremely fast virtual machines boot, leveraging PVH boot, VirtIO MMIO, and multiple kernel optimizations, it can boot in about 10 ms on 2020-era x86 CPUs.

Exciting

carefree-bob1mo ago

This sounds pretty cool. I have a couple of old DELL 630s that were automotive diagnostic computers, due to them being the last model with a real hardware serial port. Now I am thinking of reviving them with Linux, but just to host old windows VMs (all the auto diag software is windows only). Maybe I should give netbsd a try here.

LargoLasskhyfv1mo ago

Why would that be? Do you expect this to make your Windows VMs start up faster?

It won't. This applies only to NetBSD guest VMs.

liveoneggs1mo ago

great callout

iberator1mo ago

Fun fact: NetBSD supports VAX 70/380 system from 1978/79!

That's the oldest known architecture that can run modern Unix. 32 bit, MMU, multi cpu: ahead of it's time.

So if you travel back in time: that's a safe platform if you would like to do some system programming with modern knowledge.

bmacho1mo ago

The website is ideal on phones without JS: there is a small, CSS based hamburger button at the bottom. I've long suspected that this is the only structure that makes sense, but I don't think I've ever seen in it the wild before.

Pet_Ant1mo ago

> New port to the RISC-V processor architecture. NetBSD 11.0 is the first stable release to include support for 64-bit RISC-V

This is very exciting!

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse