NetBSD

NetBSD is one of the many Unix-variants to appear over the last few years and is the second most popular version of Unix on the Amiga, beaten only by Linux. NetBSD on an ECS or AGA Amiga is predominantly a black and white text based affair, allowing you to run a huge range of software, such as text editors or graphic converters. These have evolved considerably over the past two years and are now in a state where they can easily match commercial Windows releases such as Microsoft Office. Whilst Unix is efficient, by nature it does not optimise the hardware to its full potential, requiring a graphics card and a very fast processor to run at a decent rate. You should only run it if you have a minimum of a 68030, although 68040 or higher is preferable. If you want to run the Unix GUI (called X-Windows) then you will require at least a 68040 with 8MB.What you do get for all the hassle of installing the thing is a lot of free software, mostly educational that would never be found on Amiga. The Unix-variant is described as one of the most stable, multi-user operating systems in the world, and is perfectly equipped for connectivity with other platforms and locations. If you are an emulator fan it also allows you to use software never designed for the Amiga, such as vMAC, the Mac Plus emulator, and a rather unusable Nintendo 64 emulator.

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