The more often I play with BSD operating systems the more I feel an archaic mood which spreads from them. On the other hand I like them because of that. They still retains a simplicity and transparency which I found in Unix like systems when I've tried them first. Some Linux distributions went into some deeper waters and it is not always easy to understand how it works and there to find something. So, I prefer BSD system in my NAS server. However, I mentioned about problems with NetBSD in a previous blog post. I wasn't able to boot NetBSD 5.0.1 as it hanged every time I had tried. As I didn't find any solution I tried earlier NetBSD version (4.x). I was unlucky again. The install booted this time, however I got watchdog timeout several minutes after network card had been configured (I used ftp install). I had similar problems on my VT-310DP with this version, because of this i decided not to install it at all (NAS server with network problems is a pain). So I decided to give up on NetBSD (It wasn't easy as I would need to reconfigure all my server once again) and tried to install OpenBSD instead. I downloaded 4.6 boot media without package sets as I like ftp install. OpenBSD CD booted without any problems and network configured successfully (watchdog timeouts have never appeared during installation). Installation is somehow similar to NetBSD (text-based) but not exactly the same. Install process went successfully, however the fun began after it. I rebooted computer and it hanged during POST (I saw only CPU information). I tried to add usb key to other computers but they also hanged. It appeared that BIOS didn't like default OpenBSD mbr (master boot record) on my Patriot Xporter XT usb memory stick. I copied mbr from other computer and computer started without problems. Of course, I couldn't boot OpenBSD with mbr which points to inexisting grub. However, I booted system from CD as it gives an option to change booting parameters and destination. I'll try to install grub into OpenBSD and conquer the booting problem in this way. So, Jetway JNF76-N1G-LF P has problems with BSD systems. NetBSD is not compatible at all at this point (in my experience at least). OpenBSD works ok probably (I need to work with it more to confirm), but you might have problems with booting if you use a memory stick at least (it wasn't the motherboard problem as OpenBSD hanged in all my computers). I saw complain about FreeBSD in RAID mode in newegg comment (JNF76 model with Eden 1.6GHz CPU) but my board doesn't hang during POST in RAID mode (though I didn't setup RAID). If you plan to buy this board for a small server you need to careful and ready to solve possible problems. I didn't try Linux. If I'll have time I'll do that (and maybe FreeBSD, MirOS BSD too).
Update (2009-11-25):
I tried MirOS BSD (current #10 Samhain 2009) yesterday (it is OpenBSD fork). Install script is almost identical to OpenBSD except some special things for MirOS BSD (I'm not going into details here as this blog item is not about that). It installs and boots ok (from CD), however, there are a lot of problems with hardware compatibility (almost all VIA hardware is marked as unknown during boot). Realtek RTL8111C network chip is not recognized too so MirOS BSD is almost useless in this motherboard. I'll try to contact to their mailing list, maybe they'll tell me something but for now MirOS BSD is not suitable for this motherboard. Though it is the first BSD which installed and booted without any problems.
Update (2009-12-01)
MirOS BSD doesn't have drivers for RTL8111C and it is not very likely that they'll be in the near future. You need to use supported PCI card (or maybe daughterboards might work but they use Realtek too). MirBSD OS doesn't see VIA Nano RNG and AES engines. It might be fixed. I probably will make a server on it with Intel PCI card (I'll post results later).
I stuck with OpenBSD once again. It hangs everytime then MBR is correct and shows OpenBSD partition. Somehow magically I booted several times but after one more reinstall I couldn't to repeat this. I didn't try OpenBSD on other media but it hanged in all my computers. I consider that OpenBSD and Patriot USB drive is not supported now. On the other hand I think that OpenBSD will be fine on normal hard drives as I didn't have any problems in that short period of time I managed to use it.
NetBSD 4.0.1 installs and boots ok. But I didn't try anything else. I mentioned about watchdog timeout issue that was very annoying on VT-310DP with the same NetBSD version.
Update (2009-11-25):
I tried MirOS BSD (current #10 Samhain 2009) yesterday (it is OpenBSD fork). Install script is almost identical to OpenBSD except some special things for MirOS BSD (I'm not going into details here as this blog item is not about that). It installs and boots ok (from CD), however, there are a lot of problems with hardware compatibility (almost all VIA hardware is marked as unknown during boot). Realtek RTL8111C network chip is not recognized too so MirOS BSD is almost useless in this motherboard. I'll try to contact to their mailing list, maybe they'll tell me something but for now MirOS BSD is not suitable for this motherboard. Though it is the first BSD which installed and booted without any problems.
Update (2009-12-01)
MirOS BSD doesn't have drivers for RTL8111C and it is not very likely that they'll be in the near future. You need to use supported PCI card (or maybe daughterboards might work but they use Realtek too). MirBSD OS doesn't see VIA Nano RNG and AES engines. It might be fixed. I probably will make a server on it with Intel PCI card (I'll post results later).
I stuck with OpenBSD once again. It hangs everytime then MBR is correct and shows OpenBSD partition. Somehow magically I booted several times but after one more reinstall I couldn't to repeat this. I didn't try OpenBSD on other media but it hanged in all my computers. I consider that OpenBSD and Patriot USB drive is not supported now. On the other hand I think that OpenBSD will be fine on normal hard drives as I didn't have any problems in that short period of time I managed to use it.
NetBSD 4.0.1 installs and boots ok. But I didn't try anything else. I mentioned about watchdog timeout issue that was very annoying on VT-310DP with the same NetBSD version.
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