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<div id="header"><h1 title="MidnightBSD Home"><a href="../" title="MidnightBSD Home">MidnightBSD: The BSD For Everyone</a></h1></div> |
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<h2><img src="../images/oxygen/about32.png" alt="About Icon" /> About MidnightBSD</h2> |
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<blockquote> |
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<p class="icon"> |
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<p> |
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<p class="midnightpic fleft"><a rel="shadowbox" href="../images/midnight_large.jpg"><img src="../images/midnight.jpg" |
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width="150" height="150" alt="Midnight the cat" /></a><br />The "Midnight" in MidnightBSD |
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<p>MidnightBSD is a FreeBSD derived Operating System. A critical goal of |
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the project is to create an easy to use desktop environment with graphical ports |
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management, and system configuration using GNUstep. The vast majority of the |
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operating system will maintain a BSD license. Certain software packages use |
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other licenses such as X.org, GCC, and GNUstep.</p> |
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<p>MidnightBSD was forked from FreeBSD 6.1 beta. The system was forked to allow |
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us to customize and integrate the environment including the ports and system |
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configuration. We wish for the system to appeal to beginners as well as more |
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experienced BSD users. Many operating systems are under active development; |
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with MidnightBSD, we wish to focus on optimization and usability improvements |
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for desktop users.</p> |
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<p>The FreeBSD project has developed a reliable server operating environment, |
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but often usability and performance on the desktop is overlooked. Scheduling, |
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allocation of resources, security settings, and available application support |
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should be tailored to desktop users. Many of the BSD projects are tailored to |
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servers or older hardware. Others are distributions of FreeBSD with a nice |
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graphical user interface, but still suffer from server centric design under |
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the hood. We did not fork FreeBSD as a result of a falling out, but rather |
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as an excellent starting point. It should be viewed as a compliment to the |
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FreeBSD developers who have worked very hard on FreeBSD 5.x and 6.x.</p> |
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<p>We hope to create something unique. Project goals include:</p> |
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<ul> |
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<li>A new window and login manager. [Replaced by Etoile]</li> |
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<li>Centralized system preferences while maintaining the BSD style on the command line.</li> |
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<li>A graphical ports and package management system. Currently we use a |
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derivative of FreeBSD ports. [Now we have mports]</li> |
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<li>Work on various portions of the kernel including syscons, process and |
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disk scheduling, imports of FreeBSD and OpenBSD drivers, etc.</li> |
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<li>Importing useful features from DragonFly, OpenBSD and NetBSD.</li> |
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<li>Improving security with little distraction to the end user. |
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[ipfw is enabled in 0.2+, sudo added, many other changes are coming]</li> |
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</ul> |
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</blockquote> |
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<h2 id="history">History</h2> |
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<h3>MidnightBSD: Naming an OS</h3> |
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<blockquote> |
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<p>Picking a name for MidnightBSD was challenging. Many domain names related to |
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BSD are in use by different parties. desktopbsd's domain had been purchased but |
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not up yet. My list of 35 names didn't last long when I started checking whois |
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records.</p> |
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<p>After anything obvious for the desktop was taken, I decided to follow |
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DragonFly's idea of using a living element. Many stupid names came up like |
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SharkBSD, HammerHeadBSD, etc. I decided they sounded stupid. I thought of TigerBSD; |
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it sounded nice and I could think of some good themes for it. However, I was afraid a |
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certain fruit company would get upset with me. Finally, I decided to name MidnightBSD |
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after my first cat, Midnight.</p> |
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<p>Newer logo designs feature a cat sitting on the moon. This was a compromise as so |
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many people hear the name and think of the time of day. The current logo on the |
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website is a picture of Midnight's eyes. A newer logo design we've been playing |
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with is on cia.vc and the MidnightBSD Developer Blog.</p> |
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<p>Also, a cat has a similar shape to the BSD daemon, and there is of course |
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the "cat" command.</p> |
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<p>Midnight is ten years old. He's a black turkish angora with long hair and |
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gold eyes. When he was younger, he used to shutdown Netscape on me while I was |
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surfing to get attention on my old iMac (OS 9). He frequently sits on top of PCs and Macs.</p> |
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</blockquote> |
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