From owner-freebsd-small@FreeBSD.ORG Tue May 16 01:46:10 2006 Return-Path: X-Original-To: freebsd-small@freebsd.org Delivered-To: freebsd-small@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 638DA16AA59 for ; Tue, 16 May 2006 01:46:10 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from kudzu@tenebras.com) Received: from pip.tenebras.com (pip.tenebras.com [216.27.179.43]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with SMTP id 0006543D45 for ; Tue, 16 May 2006 01:46:09 +0000 (GMT) (envelope-from kudzu@tenebras.com) Received: (qmail 23557 invoked from network); 16 May 2006 01:46:05 -0000 Received: from daggoo.tenebras.com (HELO ?127.0.0.1?) (192.168.188.60) by pip.tenebras.com with SMTP; 16 May 2006 01:46:05 -0000 Message-ID: <44692F23.1060800@tenebras.com> Date: Mon, 15 May 2006 18:47:15 -0700 From: Michael Sierchio User-Agent: Thunderbird 1.5.0.2 (Windows/20060308) MIME-Version: 1.0 To: freebsd-small@freebsd.org References: <04E232FDCD9FBE43857F7066CAD3C0F117CA31@svmailmel.bytecraft.internal> In-Reply-To: Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Cc: mk@neon1.net Subject: Embedded BSD X-BeenThere: freebsd-small@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: Dedicated and Embedded Systems List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Tue, 16 May 2006 01:46:10 -0000 We owe a lot to Manuel Kasper's miniBSD. I think the work done in making m0n0wall may be just as important. XML-based configuration is a powerful tool, and we can distribute updates as signed XML objects at a fairly high level of granularity. The process of creating distributions for embedded use is more painful than it needs to be, and is exacerbated by the notion of what constitutes a "base" install in FreeBSD. Of course a desktop system needs some version of MTA, etc. but I've long argued that much of what is included in the base install belongs in packages (which most installs will include, of course). While picoBSD had a purpose, I think its time has passed. A 128MB CF card and hardware to use it as a drive are more ubiquitous and cheaper than a floppy (the last several computers I've bought haven't even had fd devices). I can't see the point in continued effort in that vein any more than in using clay tablets and cuneiform implements for documentation. ;-) Just some random thoughts at the end of a very long Monday. Cheers, Michael