5 ms·

This is quite the handy resource! Great idea and well done. OpenBSD is really quite friendly, just need to be comfortable with reading man pages and Unix basics

by nalck 11y ago

This is quite the handy resource! Great idea and well done. OpenBSD is really quite friendly, just need to be comfortable with reading man pages and Unix basics. A tip for first-timers: perform the installation with an Ethernet internet connection. On my laptop, wireless firmware was installed and configured automagically on first boot. After that it's all gravy.

dijit 11y ago
I agree. It certainly feels more friendly than I was expecting. And the fact that they patched in modern features to old utilities (wpa in ifconfig instead of wpa_supplicant) makes things super clean and easy to understand. FreeBSD is less easy to use, and Linux, by comparison is a mess. That said. Finding pre-built binary packages can be hit or miss. And ports requires X11 to be installed. But when all is said and done. It's the community that's most important. And OpenBSD has one of the kindest and active IRC channels on freenode. Far from the "in your face"/elitist reputation others have stated before.
- justinsaccount 11y ago
  > And the fact that they patched in modern features to old utilities (wpa in ifconfig instead of wpa_supplicant) makes things super clean and easy to understand Sure.. though from what I can see, openbsd didn't support wpa enterprise until 2013, and at that point it was supported using wpa_supplicant. http://www.undeadly.org/cgi?action=article&sid=20130128142215 http://www.undeadly.org/cgi?action=article&sid=2013012814221...
snksnk 11y ago
Agreed, OpenBSD is rock solid; it just works, with well thought out defaults and excellent drivers for devices that are supported. I only wish they would port hammer faster..
- na85 11y ago
  If only the performance was adequate. It was so laggy and power-hungry on my i7 thinkpad that I was forced to go back to Linux.
  - morganvachon 11y ago
    That's the only thing stopping me from running OpenBSD 24/7/365 on my workstation. It's getting marginally better with each release, but even on a system that screams under any other OS, OpenBSD just lags and lags, even with tweaks. I've found a great use case for it though; older, slower hardware (think P4 and older) actually benefits from running OpenBSD versus most modern Linux distros. For example, I have an ancient PIII laptop that refuses to run anything other than OpenBSD, Slackware, and Haiku OS. Out of those, OpenBSD is the fastest and least buggy. Granted, it's just a toy/hobby device, but I found it intriguing nonetheless.
    - geggam 11y ago
      using minecraft as an example... http://www.laptopmag.com/reviews/laptops/fujitsu-lifebook-s751 http://www.laptopmag.com/reviews/laptops/fujitsu-lifebook-s7... The above ~5yr old laptop will give 60fps running minecraft with no hiccups / glitches. Installed an SSD and frankly its a perfect workstation for anything I would use and I see no lag.
    - zmyrgel 11y ago
      Could you be more specific on what problems you have? Usually OpenBSD has been running quite smoothly. Only issues I've experienced have been on video use. Like I haven't been able to get smooth playback of HD material. And firefox seems to be bit choppy but that is probably my "gazillion tabs" I keep open.
      - na85 11y ago
        Multiple-second system freezes when opening programs or changing workspaces, etc. It's just laggy and runs hotter than Linux. I get a solid hour and a half more battery life on Linux too.
jlgaddis 11y ago
> A tip for first-timers: perform the installation with an Ethernet internet connection. Yes, it's much easier that way. Then, once the firmware for your wireless card is installed, configure your wired and wireless interfaces as a failover trunk (if you switch back and forth between them very often). This way, your IP address doesn't change when you {dis}connect your Ethernet cable. Obviously, everyone has different needs but this works out great for me (I plug in when at my desk and use wireless the rest of the time).
- zmyrgel 11y ago
  Only use failover trunk if your wireless network and wired connections share same subnet. Otherwise it work that well. Like once you connect the ethernet cable you lose network connectivity as trunk won't renew your address. Seems the currently recommended method is to just run dhclient on both wireless and wired interfaces and let the routing table to decide which to use.
  - jlgaddis 11y ago
    I haven't encountered that issue as I only use that laptop at home (same subnet) but that's a very good point, thanks.

by nalck 11y ago

dijit 11y ago

I agree. It certainly feels more friendly than I was expecting. And the fact that they patched in modern features to old utilities (wpa in ifconfig instead of wpa_supplicant) makes things super clean and easy to understand. FreeBSD is less easy to use, and Linux, by comparison is a mess. That said. Finding pre-built binary packages can be hit or miss. And ports requires X11 to be installed. But when all is said and done. It's the community that's most important. And OpenBSD has one of the kindest and active IRC channels on freenode. Far from the "in your face"/elitist reputation others have stated before.

justinsaccount 11y ago
> And the fact that they patched in modern features to old utilities (wpa in ifconfig instead of wpa_supplicant) makes things super clean and easy to understand Sure.. though from what I can see, openbsd didn't support wpa enterprise until 2013, and at that point it was supported using wpa_supplicant. http://www.undeadly.org/cgi?action=article&sid=20130128142215 http://www.undeadly.org/cgi?action=article&sid=2013012814221...

snksnk 11y ago

Agreed, OpenBSD is rock solid; it just works, with well thought out defaults and excellent drivers for devices that are supported. I only wish they would port hammer faster..

na85 11y ago
If only the performance was adequate. It was so laggy and power-hungry on my i7 thinkpad that I was forced to go back to Linux.
- morganvachon 11y ago
  That's the only thing stopping me from running OpenBSD 24/7/365 on my workstation. It's getting marginally better with each release, but even on a system that screams under any other OS, OpenBSD just lags and lags, even with tweaks. I've found a great use case for it though; older, slower hardware (think P4 and older) actually benefits from running OpenBSD versus most modern Linux distros. For example, I have an ancient PIII laptop that refuses to run anything other than OpenBSD, Slackware, and Haiku OS. Out of those, OpenBSD is the fastest and least buggy. Granted, it's just a toy/hobby device, but I found it intriguing nonetheless.
  - geggam 11y ago
    using minecraft as an example... http://www.laptopmag.com/reviews/laptops/fujitsu-lifebook-s751 http://www.laptopmag.com/reviews/laptops/fujitsu-lifebook-s7... The above ~5yr old laptop will give 60fps running minecraft with no hiccups / glitches. Installed an SSD and frankly its a perfect workstation for anything I would use and I see no lag.
  - zmyrgel 11y ago
    Could you be more specific on what problems you have? Usually OpenBSD has been running quite smoothly. Only issues I've experienced have been on video use. Like I haven't been able to get smooth playback of HD material. And firefox seems to be bit choppy but that is probably my "gazillion tabs" I keep open.
    - na85 11y ago
      Multiple-second system freezes when opening programs or changing workspaces, etc. It's just laggy and runs hotter than Linux. I get a solid hour and a half more battery life on Linux too.

jlgaddis 11y ago

> A tip for first-timers: perform the installation with an Ethernet internet connection. Yes, it's much easier that way. Then, once the firmware for your wireless card is installed, configure your wired and wireless interfaces as a failover trunk (if you switch back and forth between them very often). This way, your IP address doesn't change when you {dis}connect your Ethernet cable. Obviously, everyone has different needs but this works out great for me (I plug in when at my desk and use wireless the rest of the time).

zmyrgel 11y ago
Only use failover trunk if your wireless network and wired connections share same subnet. Otherwise it work that well. Like once you connect the ethernet cable you lose network connectivity as trunk won't renew your address. Seems the currently recommended method is to just run dhclient on both wireless and wired interfaces and let the routing table to decide which to use.
- jlgaddis 11y ago
  I haven't encountered that issue as I only use that laptop at home (same subnet) but that's a very good point, thanks.