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haarts | 2 years ago

You think BSDs are next-in-line? Why is that? I have the distinct impression BSDs will remain niche. Something radical (like MotorOS?) seems more likely.

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dylukes|2 years ago

What do you think is running on your favorite game consoles (that aren't Xbox)? I'll give you a hint, it isn't Linux.

Nintendo is using a custom OS but with a huge chunk of user space borrowed from FreeBSD. Sony on the other hand just went and forked FreeBSD outright.

You might also want to look into what OS are being used for server environments. A lot more BSD there than you might have initially guessed.

pjmlp|2 years ago

And thanks to the BSD license, the project is getting zero back from Sony, while those Playstation profits get a big higher thanks to less R&D costs spent on OS code.

Same applies to clang/LLVM port to the Playstation, regarding everything that would expose console implementation details without an NDA.

xxs|2 years ago

> your favorite game consoles

unless it's a steamDeck, ofc. No love for consoles, though.

miki123211|2 years ago

> but with a huge chunk of user space borrowed from FreeBSD

Any sources on this, and on what parts were borrowed specifically?

I was under the impression that Nintendo did away with most of the Unix layers we know and love and went all-in on custom code and APIs, is that not the case?

gamache|2 years ago

macOS and iOS are BSDs. Pretty good niche!

prmoustache|2 years ago

This is pretty much a myth. Both run a different kernel. macOS used be known to have a network stack (and maybe some stuff like a virtual file system) from freebsd but I am pretty sure most of the code has been replaced by now.

Having some BSD userland binaries doesn't make your OS a BSD. Otherwise Windows is just a fork of curl.