QNX Self-Hosted Developer Desktop • Hacker News Board

Re: QNX Self-Hosted Developer Desktop

#171

Post by Joel_LeBlanc » Tue, Dec 30, 2025, 3:27 AM UTC

bflesch wrote: post #136

Lammy wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Should I expect backdoors? Is it an elaborate front by north korea? Who will be able to remotely execute code on this operating system? Stop sowing FUD https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fear,_uncertainty,_and_doubt

You should "trust, but verify" and not shoot the messenger. If raising valid concerns that were not addressed by the linked website is FUD for you, so be it. Sourceforge was also a major brand back in the day and nowadays it raises an anti virus alarm if a user visits that website.

I totally get where you're coming from—due diligence can be a daunting task, especially with the amount of misinformation out there. It's crucial to dig deep and verify claims to make informed decisions. I've found that using tools like DREA (Digital Real Estate Analyzer) has really streamlined my process for evaluating digital assets. Just remember, trust your instincts, but always back them up with solid research!

Re: QNX Self-Hosted Developer Desktop

#172

Post by compsciphd » Tue, Dec 30, 2025, 10:00 AM UTC

sedatk wrote: post #169

compsciphd wrote: post #144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

that's not really true. In 2001 I built a single disk linux installation (with a handful of popular nics supported) with X (tiny X with vesafb support) and rdesktop + vnc as a thin client on floppy. I'd be honest and say that qnx demo disk had more usability overall than my disk, but one could easily have a usable text only linux bootable disk. Busybox and uclibc already existed back then. https://www.cs.columbia.edu…

You’re missing my point. QNX live floppy came out in 1997. My experience with Slackware 3.x at the time was exactly like how I said it was. You needed two floppies just to boot up the kernel (they were called boot disk and root disk), so Linux setup could start. I wasn’t claiming Linux couldn’t achieve this, merely stating why QNX was mind blowing: because it was way ahead of what was available, not what was possible…

yes, I was using Linux back then too :). Linux could do it in 1997 as well. I seem to recall (but we are talking 30 years ago so memory might be faulty) of Debian having a 1 disk install for its first release of 1.1 (and pre-releases of 0.x) if one was installing it over a network. by definition then this 1 disk was a fully working linux system on a single floppy.

my conceptual floppy was less to demonstrate it fitting on a floppy (that was just the carrot), the idea was to show how one could dynamically "rewrite" shared libs to only include the symbols one needed to run the apps and have them work.

argument being, static linking a single binary is smaller than dynamically linking it and including the shared library, but as one adds binaries, the duplicated code will eliminate that size advantage. But shared libraries (especially something like glibc) are large and apps dont always use vast sections of them), so what if one could iterate over all the dynamically linked apps one wanted to include and only include the sections of the shared libs that were needed.

So the project was demonstrating that. In practice, uclibc was smaller than the sliced up glibc (and at least for this project, worked just fine)

Re: QNX Self-Hosted Developer Desktop

#173

Post by sedatk » Tue, Dec 30, 2025, 10:25 PM UTC

compsciphd wrote: post #172

sedatk wrote: post #169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You’re missing my point. QNX live floppy came out in 1997. My experience with Slackware 3.x at the time was exactly like how I said it was. You needed two floppies just to boot up the kernel (they were called boot disk and root disk), so Linux setup could start. I wasn’t claiming Linux couldn’t achieve this, merely stating why QNX was mind blowing: because it was way ahead of what was available, not what was possible…

yes, I was using Linux back then too :). Linux could do it in 1997 as well. I seem to recall (but we are talking 30 years ago so memory might be faulty) of Debian having a 1 disk install for its first release of 1.1 (and pre-releases of 0.x) if one was installing it over a network. by definition then this 1 disk was a fully working linux system on a single floppy. my conceptual floppy was less to demonstrate it fitti…

No Linux distro ran a live/usable system from a single floppy at the time. Netbooting obviously isn't an example of a self-contained usable live system. uclibc and Busybox you were referring to had come out years after QNX live floppy.

Re: QNX Self-Hosted Developer Desktop

#174

Post by Joel_LeBlanc » Thu, Jan 01, 2026, 7:40 PM UTC

I totally understand that due diligence can feel overwhelming, especially when evaluating digital assets. In my experience, taking a structured approach helps, like breaking down financials, traffic data, and market potential. I've been using a free tool called DREA (Digital Real Estate Analyzer) for some of my evaluations, and it’s really streamlined the process for me. It might be worth checking out to help simplify your analysis!