If/When Hurd is "released"

Anikom15 · 2009-12-23 16:31:35

Would you ditch linux and use it? IMO, if it will be as good as they said it will be, I'd switch. Run it for awhile, start some flame wars on the BSD forums, and something will break and go back to linux. 2 years later the kinks will be sorted out, and I'll be switched again.

karol · 2009-12-23 17:22:29

Can I play Duke Nukem Forever on it? ;-)
Arch is good enough for me atm.

szymon_g · 2009-12-23 19:04:54

@Anikom15
people are talking about hurd, and about it's 'great architecture' for over 18 years now (or even more).
no, i do not think it will be ever released- rms is probably to busy with criticising everything not enogh free than working on something usefull.

eldragon · 2009-12-23 19:46:54

the main disadvantage of hurd would be the lack of device drivers. so even if its available today, it will be useful in 20 years or so

Ranguvar · 2009-12-23 20:34:44

If Hurd is better than Linux, then yes, I will ditch Linux
I think their ideas are certainly interesting, I've looked at the docs on Hurd quite a bit.

Obviously the major hurdle (ough, pun) would be drivers.
I think it's gotten MUCH easier to write Free Software drivers lately thanks to Linux, *BSD, Darwin, etc.
The only big pains remaining are some Wi-Fi, and of course video drivers, although the latter is rapidly getting much better.
However, the more Free Software OSes out there, the better, because that means the focus will be even more on providing good driver docs and such so others may follow, rather than OS-specific stuff, even if it is open source.

So far they have an interesting design and (I'm sure) a no-nonsense policy about binary blobs going for them, which I like since Linux has many blobs in the kernel tree by comparison.
They'll need to do more than that, though!

pwd · 2009-12-23 20:50:07

I like the hurd as a concept--maybe because that's all it has amounted to, and will amount to--but I know that Stallman will find a way to tamper with its execution.

His obsession has leaked little by little in places you'd least expect. Say, the situation regarding su and the lack of focus on the 'wheel' group. And this neglect happened because, and I quote, it's fascist to employ such a thing. Oh, Stallman. You and your ways.

flamelab · 2009-12-23 20:56:16

If/When Hurd is "released", Cylons will have occupied Europe

ugaciaka · 2009-12-23 21:08:23

flamelab wrote:

If/When Hurd is "released", Cylons will have occupied Europe

and skynet occupied USA

Misfit138 · 2009-12-23 22:01:00

eldragon wrote:

the main disadvantage of hurd would be the lack of device drivers. so even if its available today, it will be useful in 20 years or so

Precisely. While there is nothing spectacular or state-of-the-art about the linux kernel, it does have pretty decent driver support.

MP2E · 2009-12-23 22:17:00

Yeah, because of drivers I don't see myself switching anytime soon. FreeBSD just barely got x86_64 nvidia drivers(which was the main reason I went back to Linux), so how long would it take for Hurd?

I would rather use Plan9, though, than Hurd to be honest Or something Plan9 like(which is why I love suckless.org stuff, wmii and ii ftw!)

gajo · 2009-12-23 22:33:44

i really couldn't care less what kernel i'm using, it's the applications that matter;
would there be gentoo/archlinux like distributions with all the awesome package manegers and applications supported right from the start?
would there be drivers (and i mean decent drivers, think 3d hardware acceleration with nvidia + cuda support - i need that)?
linux, the most popular open source kernel out has pretty shit hardware status, at least from my own experience, i can only imagine the pain *BSD or Plan9/Hurd/Minix(lol) have/will have
so all in all, unlikely, it would need to be pretty impressive

mikesd · 2009-12-23 22:43:59

I doubt the GNU HURD kernel will ever meet expectations. There was a small window to develop a kernel to go with the GNU utilities and whether planned or not, Linus got there first with something that actually works. As others have said, drivers would be an issue for GNU HURD as it would have been for Linux initially back in the 90's. I don't know how GNU HURD would be able to catch up.

JohannesSM64 · 2009-12-23 23:38:59

Misfit138 wrote:

Precisely. While there is nothing spectacular or state-of-the-art about the linux kernel, it does have pretty decent driver support.

Yep. I'm using it for its hardware support, and until any other open source kernel gets remotely close to Linux' hardware support, I'm sticking with it.

Anikom15 · 2009-12-24 00:38:29

None of you are answering my question. I asked if you would try Hurd if it were to be released, not if it would be released.

moljac024 · 2009-12-24 00:51:07

Anikom15 wrote:

None of you are answering my question. I asked if you would try Hurd if it were to be released, not if it would be released.

Of course we would try it. We would probably add it to the repos too

Acecero · 2009-12-24 00:55:41

Anikom15 wrote:

None of you are answering my question. I asked if you would try Hurd if it were to be released, not if it would be released.

The answer to that question is... why not?

If it were to be release, people have tried it out, and met the expectation, people here would start making a ArchHurd derivative and move away from Linux.

chpln · 2009-12-24 01:20:01

For me, if GNU Hurd were released right now, in its current state, I would not try it. I have already tried a checkout from the CVS trunk only a couple of years ago on rather generic hardware: it would hang while booting and I could find no way in which to resolve it. Since then it would appear there has been minimal development.

Should there be a miraculous surge in development on Hurd and a microkernel upon which it can be based, and it had became everything which was intended, perhaps then it would be worth more investigation. However, I've seen several developers indicate GNU Mach (the default microkernel for Hurd) is fundamentally flawed.

I strongly doubt GNU Hurd will ever see an official release let-alone be in a production-ready state.

fumbles · 2009-12-24 05:59:04

.

Last edited by fumbles (2020-09-26 11:29:21)

zowki · 2009-12-24 12:06:16

The day GNU Hurd is released is the day penguins fly.

sHyLoCk · 2009-12-24 15:06:07

The day GNU Hurd is released is the day I fly

[Did I just make it a TGN candidate? ]

Last edited by sHyLoCk (2009-12-24 15:06:38)

skottish · 2009-12-24 16:19:20

zowki wrote:

The day GNU Hurd is released is the day penguins fly.

Errr...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nrxmpihCjqw

moljac024 · 2009-12-24 16:21:36

No, way beyond candidate.
You made it the lucky thread that gets a free all-expenses paid trip to TGN land.

Ranguvar · 2009-12-24 17:42:36

Looking over the recent replies to this thread...

-) Some of the Hurd devs are working on or considering moving to a non-Mach approach.
-) More RMS bashing? Really? ...
-) Okay, to properly answer the OP, yes, I would try Hurd -- I already have, both some old official releases and Debian/Hurd

Furthermore, to fit into my thoughts on the future of OSes, I predict that Hurd will see a massive resurgence in development effort after the rise of the mega-distro, thanks to its no-nonsense no-blobs approach. That, and it's a different, more interesting design than the traditional Unix kernels of Linux and *BSD.

kolbycrouch · 2009-12-30 01:47:38

you can try HURD. I think a big reason people dont is because lack of a good installer. LX1 is the only decent automated installer for the HURD, and its outdated.

The hurd borrows most drivers from linux, but more complex drivers( sound, video, usb) are much harder to port.
The big problem with the hurd is mach, its very sensitive and slow, hopefully veingoose works out.

jolinfire · 2009-12-30 15:17:36

Well, GNU/Hurd is something I don't hope to see in my lifetime and I'm only 35... So

Arch Linux

#1 2009-12-23 16:31:35

If/When Hurd is "released"

#2 2009-12-23 17:22:29

Re: If/When Hurd is "released"

#3 2009-12-23 19:04:54

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