# A new FreeBSD company



## drhowarddrfine (May 19, 2021)

I don't know why I felt like posting this but I found this interesting or surprising. I got a call today from a company that developed software for the cattle business. Four years ago it was just three guys and now it's a many million dollars business that is hiring cause they are doubling in size this year from their current 2000 cattle producing customers. It runs on an iPad so, of course, they use Macs to write software for it but everything else runs on FreeBSD and ... they ... don't ... use ... Linux.


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## Geezer (May 19, 2021)

FreeBSD is very flexible, runs on many platforms now including cattle.


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## tOsYZYny (May 19, 2021)

So ... what is the name of the company and are they hiring sysadmins / developers?


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## drhowarddrfine (May 19, 2021)

tOsYZYny They are hiring ten developers which is why I was contacted. I don't know how they got my name other than it was a referral. I'm being vague until I learn more.


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## Crivens (May 19, 2021)

Both cattle and beasty belong to the horny category. No?


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## scottro (May 19, 2021)

Oy gevalt. (For those who don't speak Yiddish, that's literally oh, help, but basically, just me decrying Crivens's joke, though he has the best name on these forums).

drhowarddrfine, that's great to hear. I think, at present, FreeBSD sysadmin jobs are rare, and the more companies using it, the better for those of us who would prefer to work with it.  Thank you for sharing.  (One is tempted to put some sort of cowsay thing here, but I'm too lazy. So, I will just say, on behalf of those who may be affected by it.
Mooooo.  Mooo.


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## Crivens (May 19, 2021)

Let's make an ad for the FreeBSD admins.

There is this strange, bearded guy playing golf all day. The CEOs around get curious as to why he has so much free time. He certainly has to be crazy rich to do this.

No, says the guy. I'm a sysadmin, and I am on my job right now. But they are running FreeBSD and that thing simply runs and runs. No one has yet figured out he is not in the basement but on the links. 
Admin does a hole-in-one.
Pan out view of CEOs looking at each other with surprised pikachu faces.


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## George (May 19, 2021)

Ten developers is a lot.. It could be a social engineering attack.


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## drhowarddrfine (May 19, 2021)

No. I'll let you know all about it in a couple of weeks.

btw, it's programmers not sysadmins.


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## kpedersen (May 19, 2021)

A long time ago I worked on a pig feeding system running on Solaris and interacting with 8051 microcontrollers.
I guess programming isn't always glamorous... or ever 

Ontopic: It sounds like a really cool job. I imagine the consistency of FreeBSD will really help here and would be a joy to work with in this context. I suspect they have some really ancient FreeBSD installs hanging around!


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## George (May 19, 2021)

Okee. Maybe also post in the mailing list:


			FreeBSD Mailing lists: subscription for freebsd-jobs


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## Crivens (May 19, 2021)

I spent many years in automotive, some in defense and now in farm equipment. Writing software for a manure push robot may not be glorious, but it pays the bills. No idea if we drive cars in 10 years or still can afford an army, but people have to eat.


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## drhowarddrfine (May 19, 2021)

Crivens said:


> Writing software for a manure push robot may not be glorious, but it pays the bills.


Somebody's gotta do it. I can't think of a more suited person.


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## scottro (May 20, 2021)

Well my wife defended me recently. Someone said I wasn't fit to live with pigs and she said I was. <rimshot>


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## drhowarddrfine (May 20, 2021)

Someone once told me that, in a battle of wits, I was only half armed.


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## drhowarddrfine (Jun 18, 2021)

Home | Performance Livestock Analytics
					

Performance Livestock Analytics uses cattle data and analytics to improve beef management, saving time and boosting profitability for feedlots.




					www.performancelivestockanalytics.com


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## fbsd_ (Jun 18, 2021)

Hahah FreeBSD spending his time with cows now. Nice cows and hope to not become dirty c0w. Why they not using Linux. I think the best reason to not using Linux for a job is its license(GNU). So are it counting how much cow have been cutted? Anyway I think FreeBSD is flex


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## drhowarddrfine (Jun 18, 2021)

fbsd_ said:


> Why they not using Linux.


Why should they use Linux?



> Hahah FreeBSD spending his time with cows now.


Work is work and this work involves feeding millions of people and is just as important as anything else.


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## grahamperrin@ (Jun 18, 2021)

drhowarddrfine said:


> Someone once told me that, in a battle of wits, I was only half armed.



 don't forget the half that's akin to a suit of armour. It improves with age. (My own skin has become thick enough to tolerate most things.)



drhowarddrfine said:


> … this work involves feeding millions of people …



Fair enough. I'm a vegetarian, but if <https://www.performancelivestockanalytics.com/#products> can at least _partly_ improve conditions for cattle that will inevitably feed people's need/gluttony for meat, I can at least _partly_ see the good in the work.


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## kpedersen (Jun 18, 2021)

drhowarddrfine said:


> Why should they use Linux?


Because! docker! obviously! 

In some ways I would be interested in the choice of FreeBSD. Is it historic, a preference or do they have infrastructure in place (drivers, sensors, etc) specifically for FreeBSD. It could be as simple as their lead developer there is a FreeBSD fan. Could be a useful case-study of a success story for my next tech meeting!



grahamperrin said:


> can at least _partly_ improve conditions for cattle that will inevitably feed people's need/gluttony for meat, I can at least _partly_ see the good in the work.


I think a sad truth is that if it wasn't for people eating meat, those animals wouldn't be given life in the first place so this work is very important.
These days, I personally cut down on meat because the UK farmers are regressing in terms of animal welfare but if we all cut out meat completely I imagine many animals would go extinct almost over night. Cattle farmers don't exactly want cows just as pets (though if I had a farm, I possibly would!).


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## jardows (Jun 18, 2021)

kpedersen said:


> Because! docker! obviously!
> 
> In some ways I would be interested in the choice of FreeBSD. Is it historic, a preference or do they have infrastructure in place (drivers, sensors, etc) specifically for FreeBSD. It could be as simple as their lead developer there is a FreeBSD fan. Could be a useful case-study of a success story for my next tech meeting!
> 
> ...


If you've ever had cattle, you'd re-think that quickly!  

Agribusiness isn't glamorous, but it is extremely high-tech with advanced bio-chemistry and genetics at its core.  There is great potential for any company that wants to go into business supporting Agriculture, and as the son of a farmer and a FreeBSD user/fan, I am excited that this company is using FreeBSD for its support products.  If I were a programmer, I'd be extremely interested in working for this sort of company.


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## obsigna (Jun 18, 2021)

fbsd_ said:


> .... Why they not using Linux. I think the best reason to not using Linux for a job is its license(GNU). ...


As drhowarddrfine mentioned in the initial post of this thread, the company develops apps for iOS devices which are backed by FreeBSD server (client/server applications). The clients are developed on Macs. For macOS and iOS programmers, FreeBSD is the natural choice, since the UNIX-API of both systems is quite similar.

I basically do the same, I use Xcode on Macs for programming both, namely the client and the server side. On my Macs I got running test servers on localhost, so the coding/testing/debugging cycle is a quite rapid one. Usually the code can be directly deployed to the FreeBSD production server by simply re-compiling it. Usually I only need #ifdef __APPLE__ or __FreeBSD__ conditional directives in my code, when I target National Instruments PCIe-DAQ boards or the I²C-ADCs/DACs/DIOs which I got attached to BeagleBones Black running FreeBSD, since this stuff is not simply available on the Mac.

People programming on Windows for Android/Linux chose the hard way, and it is no surprise to me that those are the same who keep-on telling everybody that they are most comfortable with vi.


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## kpedersen (Jun 18, 2021)

jardows said:


> If you've ever had cattle, you'd re-think that quickly!


I don't quite know what I would be re-thinking. In general I agree with you that this is a great project. Besides as mentioned further up in this thread I have worked on a similar feeding system related project for pigs.

Or are you suggesting that my retirement pet cows idea is not feasible? Fair point, I might need to do some more research into it before I commit to that one haha.



obsigna said:


> People programming on Windows for Android/Linux chose the hard way, and it is no surprise to me that those are the same who tell everybody that they are most comfortable with vi.



Whilst it is fairly difficult to get a decent copy of (n)vi on Windows, I don't think Windows and Android development is particularly any different from Apple's ecosystem. When dealing with C or C++, it is actually a fairly identical workflow to Xcode CLI Tools / iOS, just with less DRM. Really just some makefiles and a cross compiler just like everything else.


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## jardows (Jun 18, 2021)

kpedersen said:


> I don't quite know what I would be re-thinking. In general I agree with you in thinking this is a great project. Besides as mentioned further up in this thread I have worked on a similar feeding system related project for pigs.


I meant rethinking the idea of having cattle as pets.


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## obsigna (Jun 18, 2021)

jardows said:


> If you've ever had cattle, you'd re-think that quickly!
> 
> Agribusiness isn't glamorous, but it is extremely high-tech with advanced bio-chemistry and genetics at its core.  There is great potential for any company that wants to go into business supporting Agriculture, and as the son of a farmer and a FreeBSD user/fan, I am excited that this company is using FreeBSD for its support products.  If I were a programmer, I'd be extremely interested in working for this sort of company.


More than 40 years ago, a local school offered adult evening classes on programming courses in Pascal in a class room full of Apple II computers. There I met a son of a farmer - a very bright guy, and he told me that they had installed computer based systems for feeding the cattle and this included already at that time individual quantities based on weight, milk production and demand - yes, cows would know how to demand more feeding by touching a panel with the nose.

Usually farmers are less dumb than those city people who believe they are.


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## Jose (Jun 18, 2021)

fbsd_ said:


> Hahah FreeBSD spending his time with cows now.


Linux started it!





						Larry the Cow - Gentoo Wiki
					






					wiki.gentoo.org
				






jardows said:


> If you've ever had cattle, you'd re-think that quickly!


I spent a month in a cattle ranch when I was a teenager, and I second this! Cows are nasty. Sheep are rock-stupid. Horses are smart, but can be Evil. This was in the early '80s, and it was a decidedly low-tech affair. From the computer standpoint anyway. We were already shooting up the cows with antibiotics and whatnot.


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## grahamperrin@ (Jun 18, 2021)

Jose said:


> … smart, but can be Evil. This was in the early '80s …







_View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38vjAAE4tkQ_


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## drhowarddrfine (Jun 18, 2021)

jardows said:


> Agribusiness isn't glamorous, but it is extremely high-tech with advanced bio-chemistry and genetics at its core. There is great potential for any company that wants to go into business supporting Agriculture


That is exactly what I learned from talking to them.


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## kpedersen (Jun 18, 2021)

Jose said:


> I spent a month in a cattle ranch when I was a teenager, and I second this!


C'mon guys. I played harvest moon back in the snes days so I am not completely new to it.
It's really not that hard, you pick up the brush and brush the cow until its happy. That is all there is to maintaining a cow.


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## scottro (Jun 18, 2021)

While horses can be evil, there is at least one record of a horse rescuing a woman from a cow.








						7 True Stories of Animals Rescuing People from Certain Death
					

Apparently, lions, gorillas and even whales throwing themselves in harm's way to save some helpless human.




					www.cracked.com
				



It's number 3 on the list. If you don't click the link I'll at least mention the best line about the woman calling for help and the horse, "ran to her aid, probably neighing something cool, like 'Your beef is with me'"  (I always imagine it in an Austrian accent, in a Schwarzenegger voice).
(The article is from 2012, when cracked was still pretty good, and didn't have autoplaying videos and popups saying get our newsletter that have to be blocked.)


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## Deleted member 30996 (Jun 18, 2021)

fbsd_ said:


> Hahah FreeBSD spending his time with cows now. Nice cows and hope to not become dirty c0w. Why they not using Linux. I think the best reason to not using Linux for a job is its license(GNU). So are it counting how much cow have been cutted? Anyway I think FreeBSD is flex


Welcome to FreeBSD and games/cowsay.


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