OpenBSD Sucks? Thoughts From One Of Their Developers

[nils_]

Why would anyone install OpenBSD on something that has nVidia video card? And even if somebody does, why would they need a specific driver? It's a server OS and GUI is about the last thing it needs.

What's the point of getting current server hardware though when all other CPUs are idling while the kernel is locked?

[nils_]

And what's with the pictures of German police beating the crap out of people?

[nilssab]

this is obviously inpired by the "linux sucks" talks by Bryan Lunduke, which are always followed by linux rocks, or something, by the same Bryan.
Neither of them seem to have any real negativity towards their OS of choice, but rather only use the controversial name to draw listeners.
I think it's a very imporant thing to point to any and all points that can be improved, so I say all power to them.

[TiberiusDuval]

Listen my simple prophecy: Moore's law would go on, at least for some time. CPUs will be more powerful, RAM will have larger space, costs will go down and so on. At some point cheap and small systems will be able to run usual Linux and there will be very little point to make system less powerful than that. Nearly everyone will make IoT stuff out of common Linux devices, thanks to relatively simple development, good networking stack, plenty of drivers, numerous SoCs supported and so on.

In fact this time starts here and now: cheap, low powered, small, coin sized, SD-card-sized computers already have CPUs capable of running Linux and more or less supported, even by mainline kernel. Yet they have decent networking, up to being able to work as full-fledged wi-fi access point. Yet, it costs about $10 or maybe $15 at most.

I think it is pretty clear what will make IoT possible and useful: it will be Linux. Sure, maybe 0.005% of market will need some uber-secure, super-crash-resistant devices. But these are inherently costly, have awful R&D costs, lack features everyone expects these days and you can't expect high demand on such devices. Just like you can't expect to sell armored car to Average Joe: even if it can withstand bazooka shot, Average Joe hardly needs this feature and not willing to pay for that. ...

Those small cpu's will most likely run embedded solutions. Your washing machine or your car's brake system do not need full fledged general purpose OS like Linux, or any BSD. What they need is some very secure little OS capable of running some specialised tailored software.

[SystemCrasher]

Those small cpu's will most likely run embedded solutions. Your washing machine or your car's brake system do not need full fledged general purpose OS like Linux, or any BSD. What they need is some very secure little OS capable of running some specialised tailored software.

I bet there're far more devices which could report some useful stuff (via network of course) or even demand some attention (in urgent cases). Not to mention most users will be happy to control all this stuff via smart phones, tablets, etc. Developing something like this far more simple under Linux. Basically, only masochists would code custom httpd under their own custom OS when one can just grab Linux and lightweight but fully featured httd. Real one, one of these keeping Internet running. And then do things more or less as usually, subject to some resources optimization.

Granted that Linux based device can cost about $10 and take size of SD card while being able to use networks in ways full fledged Linux can, without exceptions and omissions, most devices capable of Internet networking would likely run Linux. Because it can do Internet and can do it right. And on its own I can't remember when Linux kernel was hacked via Internet, so I would rather consider security of services sending and receiving data over net in first place. On side note I would like idea to receive notification about some job completion via e-mail or jabber. Linux can do that for sure. But I'm afraid to imagine how long it will take for you to code it in some custom OS where you can't use common software and libs.