2024-06-15: CfP closes (BSDCan closes on 2024-06-01)
2024-06-22: PC finalizes speaker selection
2024-06-31: Early Bird closes
2024-07-15: Schedule published
2024-09-19—22: EuroBSDCon 2024 in Dublin
@al1r4d@SDF The same BIOS bootloader is used on 32-bit and 64-bit x86, which is why it just says NetBSD/x86. We usually call the 64-bit variant amd64, since AMD invented it.
The core part of the BIOS bootloader has to be written in 16-bit assembler code, so it's rather irrelevant whether it's running on a 32-bit or 64-bit machine.
Alas, I have to consider some other hardware that is more BSD friendly than what I currently have for my main laptop. Wifi worked great on NetBSD, whereas it was flaky on FreeBSD, but the audio input was the flaky one.
A ThinkPad, maybe? I'll gladly accept hardware recommendations for BSD-friendly models from at least a decade ago (read: cheap).
Current status: Deciding between Void and Alpine for the next episode of The Main Machine Trials®
@greggyb@jutty Sadly most from Lenovo have BIOS whitelists by default, forbidding you from changing the card, though there's the option of getting an X230 with Coreboot pre-installed from various vendors.
I've been using an X260 for the past years, though I use an USB WiFi device (urtwn) or ethernet for reliability.
@netbsd@jutty Yeah, that is a pretty lame part about Lenovo machines. I loved my x260 and its dual batteries, but I've recently moved to a #FrameworkLaptop and I couldn't be happier.
After a search in the NetBSD packages for lightweight web browsers, the winners are: vimb, dillo, luakit and netsurf.
Dillo's new release 3.1.0 still hasn't landed, so no HTTPS there. Luakit is very neat, extremely lightweight, minimal, has vim-like bindings and would be perfect if it weren't for the constant white flashing between each pageload when using a custom, darker CSS. NetSurf is also quite neat, with tab support for heavier sessions.
The winner for me is vimb, which although leaving tabs to the window manager, has vim-like bindings, is pretty minimal and does not cause flashing when switching between pages on a custom darker CSS setting.
Honor mention to Arctic Fox, a Pale Moon clone that hits peak nostalgia with the pre-omnibar Firefox look. No theming, not as lightweight, but going strong at 29.5k commits since 2018.
🧵 …although I tend to favour OpenBSD and Linux for personal reasons, I find this decision OK. Certain open source projects lack clear, reasoned positions and decisions.
»NetBSD’s New Policy – No Place for AI-Created Code:
NetBSD bans AI-generated code to preserve clear copyright and meet licensing goals.«
🤖 NetBSD’s New Policy: No Place for AI-Created Code
— @linuxiac
“New development policy: code generated by a large language model or similar technology (e.g. ChatGPT, GitHub Copilot) is presumed to be tainted (i.e. of unclear copyright, not fitting NetBSD’s licensing goals) and cannot be committed to NetBSD.”
#NetBSD joins the ranks of software projects that ban #AI generated code.
How they are going to enforce such ban is an obvious question lingering in the air.
Does it include only cases like “hey #ChatGPT write a suite of unit tests for this class”? Or also cases where #Copilot simply autocompletes a for loop while I’m typing it?
In the latter case, how would a hypothetical reviewer enforce the ban? How would the for loop autocompleted by Copilot, or the boilerplate population of hashmap values, look any different than one I would write myself?
And if the issue is with any code that isn’t directly written by a human, then why stop at modern AI generation? Why not include LINTers and traditional IDE autocomplete features?
I have no doubt that the projects that are announcing these no-AI policies have good intentions, but it’s probably time for all of us to have an honest talk.
Code completion isn’t a clear cut binary feature. It’s a big spectrum that goes from the old exuberant ctags to ChatGPT writing whole classes.
And code completion shouldn’t be banned. If it makes a developer more productive, and if the developer understands the code that is being completed, then such bans are akin to a “drivers should only use cars with manual transmission because we feel that it’s more manly”. It’s a conservative and elitist act of shunning out new productive tools because we can’t understand them and regulate them properly.
And more people need to call out the bluff: in cases where the AI only completes a few lines of code, its basically impossible to tell if that snippet was written by a human or an AI assistant.