noun - primary one

NetBSD is one of several Unix-like operating systems stemming from the BSD4.4-lite release of the Berkeley Software Distributions.

Originally derived from 386BSD, on April 3rd, 1993, NetBSD (along with FreeBSD) later had to reimport their developments in March of 1994 to the BSD4.4-lite base after the settlement of a lawsuit between AT&T's USL and the University of Columbia/BSDi.

NetBSD has since moved to become one the most highly ported operating system in the world, running on more than 50 platforms.

Currently working towards the 2.0 release, tentitavely set for this spring, NetBSD is at 1.6.2 for it's stable release.

NetBSD was used for the base for the development of OpenBSD, a security focused BSD that runs on 11 platforms, when co-founder of the NetBSD Project Theo de Raadt was forced out of the core development team for personality and opinion differences.

noun - primary two

The NetBSD Project, the organisation that manages the development of the NetBSD operating system. The group that was responsible for registering NetBSD as a trademark and is charged with defending it.
Even though OpenBSD was started because of a fight between developers, NetBSD and OpenBSD freely share code.
by Nate July 7, 2004
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This is a UNIX based operating system that will function effectively on your toaster, alarm clock, and any other fucking thing you can plug in.
I just got NetBSD to work on my beard trimmer!
by gomer May 20, 2003
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It's actually a real OS unlike Linux and Windoze, which are constantly being updated because they both have more bugs than a rainforest.
by geek August 13, 2003
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another operating system for computers, and like any other OS, sucks, but not as much as Windows. Beloved by hard-core head-in-the-sand users to the point of obsession, and largely ignored by most technical people, and unknown to 99.9% of the population.
"NetBSD is far more stable and secure than your linux derivative"
... that's because it's so boring noone's bothering to look closely enough to try and hack it
by Paul M July 7, 2003
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A distribution of the *BSD based family of UNIX operating systems. NetBSD is known for its vast platform support, and also for its clean, simple, and stable design.
I am hoping that, one day, car computers will run on NetBSD...
by NetBSD_User February 8, 2005
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Without a doubt, the best free UNIX-like operating system available. NetBSD is known for it's portability, security, and stability. I would even go as far to say NetBSD is even better than OpenBSD. FreeBSD would be a close second to NetBSD. NetBSD is also superior to the UNIX ripoff operating system: "Linux".
Compared to to many distributions of Linux, such as "Slackware", NetBSD is easier to install, is more secure, and is more stable.
by Qbert May 12, 2004
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