I tried NetBSD as a desktop, and it felt like stepping into the ’90s in a good way

我尝试将 NetBSD 作为桌面系统使用，感觉就像回到了 90 年代，而且是一种美好的体验

By David Delony | Published Jun 25, 2026 作者：David Delony | 发布于 2026 年 6 月 25 日

While Linux gets most of the attention of open-source fans, I’ve also long had a soft spot for the BSDs as a former Mac user. While FreeBSD is serviceable as a desktop OS, I wanted to find out how well its rival, NetBSD, could serve as a desktop. 尽管 Linux 获得了开源爱好者的大部分关注，但作为一名前 Mac 用户，我对 BSD 系列系统也一直情有独钟。虽然 FreeBSD 作为桌面操作系统表现尚可，但我还是想探究一下它的竞争对手 NetBSD 作为桌面系统表现如何。

What is NetBSD? Of course it runs NetBSD

什么是 NetBSD？当然，它能运行 NetBSD

While Linux systems are described as “Unix-like,” modern BSD systems, including NetBSD, can trace their lineage to the original Unix system first developed at Bell Labs starting in the late 1960s. An article in the influential computer science journal Communications of the ACM brought Unix to the wider attention of the academic computer science community. 虽然 Linux 系统被称为“类 Unix”，但包括 NetBSD 在内的现代 BSD 系统，其血统可以追溯到 20 世纪 60 年代末在贝尔实验室开发的原始 Unix 系统。计算机科学领域极具影响力的期刊《ACM 通讯》上的一篇文章，让 Unix 进入了更广泛的学术计算机科学界的视野。

Because Bell Labs’ parent company, AT&T, was legally barred from entering industries other than phone service under a consent decree, Bell Labs licensed Unix to universities for a nominal cost. This license included the source code. One of the universities that got hold of Unix was UC Berkeley. Graduate students, particularly future Sun Microsystems co-founder Bill Joy, set to work modifying the system and adding new tools, among them Vi, the basis for the modern Vim editor. This modified version of Unix became known as the Berkeley Software Distribution, or BSD. 由于贝尔实验室的母公司 AT&T 根据同意令在法律上被禁止进入电话服务以外的行业，贝尔实验室以象征性的费用将 Unix 授权给大学使用。该授权包含了源代码。加州大学伯克利分校就是获得 Unix 的大学之一。研究生们，特别是后来成为 Sun Microsystems 联合创始人的 Bill Joy，开始着手修改系统并添加新工具，其中包括 Vi——现代 Vim 编辑器的基础。这个修改后的 Unix 版本被称为伯克利软件套件（Berkeley Software Distribution），即 BSD。

During the 1980s, BSD became the basis for workstation versions of Unix, including on Sun’s workstation line. BSD predated Linux and GNU as open-source operating systems, though parts were initially still from Bell Labs’ Unix and thus required an AT&T license. In the early ’90s, Bill Jolitz ported BSD to the PC with 386BSD, but was slow to develop updates. Two major projects split from 386BSD. One of them, continuing to focus on the PC, was FreeBSD, and the other, intending to port it to as many architectures as possible, became NetBSD, because of how the developers collaborated over the early internet. NetBSD has been ported to nearly any machine you can think of. A common slogan is “Of course it runs NetBSD.” 在 20 世纪 80 年代，BSD 成为 Unix 工作站版本的基础，包括 Sun 的工作站系列。BSD 作为开源操作系统早于 Linux 和 GNU，尽管其部分代码最初仍来自贝尔实验室的 Unix，因此需要 AT&T 的授权。90 年代初，Bill Jolitz 通过 386BSD 将 BSD 移植到了 PC 上，但更新开发缓慢。随后，两个主要项目从 386BSD 中分化出来：一个是继续专注于 PC 的 FreeBSD；另一个则是旨在将其移植到尽可能多的架构上的 NetBSD，这得益于开发者们在早期互联网上的协作方式。NetBSD 几乎被移植到了你能想到的任何机器上。一个常见的口号是：“当然，它能运行 NetBSD。”

Downloading and installing NetBSD: A time warp back to the ‘90s

下载并安装 NetBSD：一场回到 90 年代的时光倒流

I wanted to see if I could run NetBSD as a desktop. I downloaded the amd64 version from NetBSD’s website. It was similar to downloading a Linux distribution with an ISO. I chose to set it up in a VirtualBox virtual machine. Booting the installation media was straightforward. I was treated to a text-based installation program. Since I grew up in the MS-DOS era, I was used to seeing screens like this when installing games. 我想看看能否将 NetBSD 作为桌面系统运行。我从 NetBSD 官网下载了 amd64 版本。这与下载 Linux 发行版的 ISO 镜像类似。我选择在 VirtualBox 虚拟机中进行安装。引导安装介质的过程非常直接，我看到的是一个基于文本的安装程序。由于我是在 MS-DOS 时代长大的，安装游戏时经常看到这样的界面，所以对此并不陌生。

This was similar to other Linux distribution installation programs, even if it did seem like an early ’90s throwback. It walked me through choosing, partitioning the drive, and installing the system. It also let me set up the user account and set up automatic clock syncing with NTP. There was nothing particularly exciting about the installation program, and it doesn’t need to be. It’s something that in theory I’ll only do once. 这与其他 Linux 发行版的安装程序类似，尽管它看起来确实像是 90 年代初的产物。它引导我完成了选择、磁盘分区和系统安装。它还让我设置了用户账户，并配置了通过 NTP 进行自动时钟同步。安装程序本身并没有什么特别令人兴奋的地方，但它也不需要那样。理论上，这只是我只会做一次的事情。

Setting up a desktop: From console to Xfce

设置桌面：从控制台到 Xfce

With my system installed, I had to boot into it. This worked, but I was confronted with a minimal system. NetBSD is completely console-based by default. There’s no desktop. There are no graphics at all. If you’ve ever installed distros like Gentoo or Arch, this would likely feel familiar. Again, having come up in the MS-DOS era, this didn’t faze me either. 系统安装完成后，我启动了它。系统成功启动，但我面对的是一个极简的系统。NetBSD 默认完全基于控制台，没有桌面，没有任何图形界面。如果你曾经安装过 Gentoo 或 Arch 等发行版，这可能会让你感到熟悉。同样，由于我是在 MS-DOS 时代成长起来的，这并没有让我感到困扰。

I installed the X Window System when I installed NetBSD. To be able to launch it from the shell, I just had to copy the example xinitrc file to my home directory: cp /etc/X11/xinit/xinitrc ~/.xinitrc. Next, I needed to modify its permissions so that I could write it: chmod u+w ~/.xinitrc. With this file in place, I could launch X: startx. 我在安装 NetBSD 时一并安装了 X Window 系统。为了能从 Shell 启动它，我只需将示例 xinitrc 文件复制到我的主目录：cp /etc/X11/xinit/xinitrc ~/.xinitrc。接下来，我需要修改其权限以便进行写入：chmod u+w ~/.xinitrc。有了这个文件，我就可以启动 X 了：startx。

This starts up X11 with the default CTWM window manager. Like the installation program, it seems like it stepped out of a time machine from the ’90s. It’s serviceable, but as with everything else, a nontechnical user might feel a bit lost. 这会启动带有默认 CTWM 窗口管理器的 X11。和安装程序一样，它看起来像是从 90 年代的时光机里走出来的。它虽然可用，但和其它部分一样，非技术用户可能会感到有些迷茫。

Installing extra software

安装额外软件

Apart from the desktop, there was really not much else installed with the system. Fortunately, as with most modern Linux distros, NetBSD has a package manager. The pkgin command downloads binary files instead of using source compilation as has been traditional in the BSD world. First, I wanted to install my favorite editor, Vim. To install software, you have to be root on NetBSD, as you do on Linux. Instead of sudo, NetBSD uses su by default. The - option will cause su to work if you had logged in directly to the root account: su -. 除了桌面环境外，系统中并没有安装太多其他东西。幸运的是，像大多数现代 Linux 发行版一样，NetBSD 也有包管理器。pkgin 命令用于下载二进制文件，而不是像 BSD 世界传统那样使用源码编译。首先，我想安装我最喜欢的编辑器 Vim。在 NetBSD 上安装软件必须拥有 root 权限，这与 Linux 一样。NetBSD 默认使用 su 而不是 sudo。如果你直接登录到 root 账户，使用 - 选项可以让 su 生效：su -。

I was prompted for the root password and as soon as it was accepted, I was at the ”#” prompt indicating that I was superuser. While CTWM wasn’t bad, Xfce is my go-to desktop because it’s both full-featured yet lightweight. pkg install xfce4. To launch it, I would have to use the startxfce4 command. I then installed Vim: pkgin install vim. pkgin also accepts in as an abbreviation for “install”: pkgin in vim. I also needed a web browser, so I installed Firefox: pkgin in firefox. I was surprised to have the nightly version come up. 系统提示我输入 root 密码，验证通过后，我进入了显示 ”#” 的提示符，表明我已成为超级用户。虽然 CTWM 还不赖，但 Xfce 是我的首选桌面，因为它功能齐全且轻量。我输入 pkg install xfce4。要启动它，我必须使用 startxfce4 命令。接着我安装了 Vim：pkgin install vim。pkgin 也接受 in 作为 “install” 的缩写：pkgin in vim。我还安装了 Firefox 浏览器：pkgin in firefox。令我惊讶的是，安装的竟然是 Nightly 版本。

How viable is NetBSD as a desktop?

NetBSD 作为桌面系统可行吗？

If you can use Linux, you can use NetBSD. With NetBSD, I could install a system comparable to a desktop Linux system with not much effort. If you’re used to more technical distros like Debian, Gentoo, or Arch, you would probably feel at home with NetBSD. If you have older hardware, particularly systems that aren’t based around x86 processors, NetBSD would also be worth tinkering with. 如果你会用 Linux，你就能用 NetBSD。使用 NetBSD，我无需费多大劲就能安装一个与桌面 Linux 系统相当的系统。如果你习惯了 Debian、Gentoo 或 Arch 等更硬核的发行版，你可能会在 NetBSD 上感到宾至如归。如果你有旧硬件，特别是那些非 x86 处理器的系统，NetBSD 也非常值得折腾一番。