From owner-freebsd-hackers@freebsd.org Wed Aug 5 19:10:35 2015 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-hackers@mailman.ysv.freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:1900:2254:206a::19:1]) by mailman.ysv.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 6CCD59B4BF6 for ; Wed, 5 Aug 2015 19:10:35 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from instructionset@gmail.com) Received: from mail-ob0-x229.google.com (mail-ob0-x229.google.com [IPv6:2607:f8b0:4003:c01::229]) (using TLSv1.2 with cipher ECDHE-RSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256 (128/128 bits)) (Client CN "smtp.gmail.com", Issuer "Google Internet Authority G2" (verified OK)) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id 411431CE2 for ; Wed, 5 Aug 2015 19:10:35 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from instructionset@gmail.com) Received: by obbfr1 with SMTP id fr1so2430518obb.1 for ; Wed, 05 Aug 2015 12:10:34 -0700 (PDT) DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=gmail.com; s=20120113; h=mime-version:date:message-id:subject:from:to:content-type; bh=u8CHkRJDB8BLn6fLIeBcwOyB9Z77cBMa29QuSjZTR8I=; b=Yj45Xe6HedKjkj7/K4Dtmqx9h32cWGxRy8WD3f0a7Nysm3OYQjXBnok2is9/o1Gm9P REKzaOYd4bTXSvmaMcAe7MJ8k2Gpmb4hmlUCIPA6/IyFCbsLXQCYTfoRR2sWHfpSC84c Mvv0FoNevdmArRopX7lq2SxFWjYeFguuAtLrM5M/9MOJgrww9BdyBFPJ6Ow00Qdeey1h u0tHChK67SNNLaoSwDNXC4bspMrewVx6Lcp/fuwfvG540HEzLfx4huHDO1qezX87GjFz vYYmEay3xwc2yf25HnfrqhmYO6A7ex8GUXXZX5QRB+zbhS1ewzqnE9Aif52Of7+bD8h+ aiyg== MIME-Version: 1.0 X-Received: by 10.182.153.228 with SMTP id vj4mr9772761obb.83.1438801834393; Wed, 05 Aug 2015 12:10:34 -0700 (PDT) Received: by 10.202.129.139 with HTTP; Wed, 5 Aug 2015 12:10:34 -0700 (PDT) Date: Wed, 5 Aug 2015 14:10:34 -0500 Message-ID: Subject: Sparc64 support From: Bill Sorenson To: freebsd-hackers@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Approved-At: Wed, 05 Aug 2015 20:13:35 +0000 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 X-Content-Filtered-By: Mailman/MimeDel 2.1.20 X-BeenThere: freebsd-hackers@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.20 Precedence: list List-Id: Technical Discussions relating to FreeBSD List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Wed, 05 Aug 2015 19:10:35 -0000 I have been advised to post this in this list. I was going to rewrite this a bit but I'm not sure what parts people will be interested. Anyway: I'm one of probably a few users of FreeBSD and OpenBSD on multiple platforms left and I thought I'd share some of my experience with BSD on some of the lesser used platforms. I manage a fair number of systems, most of them running FreeBSD on 64-bit Intel, but I probably have more sparc64 and powerpc systems running now than on i386. I have made it a bit of a specialty of mine to make use of BSD on existing equipment owned by a customer in a Solaris or OS X (or some other, older Unix...) environment and migrating their special sauce to run on it (or it could be as simple as setting up a FreeBSD Samba server on an existing G5 Mac they own). There are a lot of old SunFire servers running Solaris out there that will take years to die, and a lot of companies aren't excited about buying a lot of new hardware and porting their code over to Linux (thank goodness). When they start to run into software support and management issues, I've found FreeBSD to be a relatively easy sell. They get an up to date modern OS with modern ports available and usually migrating their C code or perl isn't much of an issue. They get to hold off on buying hardware until there is a direct need (accounting really loves this). The advantage for me is that when these companies start looking at new hardware with the latest Xeon, they're already running FreeBSD 9.3 or 10.1. Their code is already ported, the software they're now using is already available and works. When they move, its basically a recompile and its good to go. These customers stick to BSD and forget about Linux or paying Oracle more money. Everything just works and they couldn't be happier. I've always been interested in the older and more unusual hardware, its a big part of how I found a niche in supporting it on a professional level. Personally I run a sparc64 server, a powerpc G5 Xserve, a Alpha based DS20L running OpenBSD and an old 68k Mac running NetBSD, partly for fun and partly to make sure I can support my clients (ok, the 68k Mac is purely for fun). I've found a lot of value in FreeBSD's support for older platforms for getting my foot in the door with a lot of customers. Yes sparc64 isn't the future for FreeBSD but I still think it is very much the present. Its not dead yet, there are a lot of users of this old gear out there if you know where to look. For a company that has never heard of FreeBSD to adopt it because it will extend the life of their hardware I think that is a very powerful thing. -Bill Sorenson