NetBSD on the Cobalt Qube 2
After changing two servers from Linux to BSD, I decided to install
NetBSD on the Qube. First of all, I wanted to have a nice integrated
way of crypting a partition with sensitive data and I heard that it's
kernel footprint is smaller than the Linux Kernel.
1. Installation:
The easiest way of installing NetBSD is to use the, so called, Restore
CD. It is a live cd for x86 PC which provideds everything to netboot
the Qube. After booting the CD on a x86 (!) machine, rebooot the qube
and press the LEFT and RIGHT KEY during start up, until "netbooting"
appears on the LCD screen. Then wait until everything is installed on
the qube. Be careful, because everything on the HDD will be lost! The
installation can take a few hours, if you have a big harddrive, because
formatting the disc takes a long time. One nice thing is that every
install step is displayed on the LCD, even with a status bar during
formatting.
The only thing I disliked during the installation was that I couldn't
manipulate the partition table. The whole disk is used for NetBSD. So,
if you need a additional slice or even a seperate partition, you need
to remove the hard drive, connect it to a different machine so that you
can backup a slice, then delete it and recreate a smaller one and your
additional slice.
It would be cool, if the slices have a pre defined size and if you need
a bigger one for, let's say, /home, it ain't a problem to enlarge
(grow) a slice with growfs, while the Qube is running, after the
install. But making a slice smaller is not possible.
1.1 Post Install Configuration
You should do the first boot in a save network, because the Qube will
be totally open. You can telnet to the Qube (user root, password: just
hit enter ;) ) and set a root password. Then start the ssh deamon and,
please, close telnet.
The next thing you may wanna do is to install a few programs, which is
pretty simple with pkgsrc, but pretty slow, too, because of the limited
Hardware resources. Don't forget to set the right IP adresse, gateway
and dns for you real network!
The Qube has an unused pci interface, in which I installed a USB 2.0
card. Unfortunately, the Generic Qube kernel just supports the standard
Qube2 hardware. So, if you add anything, you need to recompile the
Kernel. Here
you find the current kenerl sources. The USB support isn't all that
good, so you should better get a USB card with a NEC chipset. I never
really got my via chipset to work.
2. Problems
I have experienced a few system hang-ups, when the Qube was running
under heavy load with NetBSD 3.0 (and previous version), but since I
use current, the Qube runs stable with out any problems.
If you have 16 MB RAM installed, NetBSD may not work on your Qube2. The
installation won't be a problem. But when you try to boot up the new
system, it will hang, because the kernel and bootloader need more than
16 MB Ram, otherwise they overwrite each other in Ram :(
I have heard about a fix, so you may give it a try.
3. Daily usage
I really love the BSD approach, so I really enjoy working with it and
its "small" differences to Linux: the rc boot scripts, pkgsrc (even
thought it so damn slow on the qube2), and the small footprint!
And, of course, it's just NetBSD running on ahrdware, which not everyone has.
Conclusion
I would not recommend NetBSD to everyone. If you wanna use it make
sure, you know your way around on a *nix system and don't mind if
installing a new program takes a couple of hours(!), and installing new
hardware can be a tough job.
But NetBSD has its strong sides, too: everything is integrated into the
OS (Disk encryption etc.), you stay up to date with the new Kernel (not
like with Linux). The base install has a really small footprint. So,
maybe, just give it a try, the installation with the restore CD is so
easy!