4 ms·

I've come back into the warm embrace of OpenBSD this year, and couldn't be happier. On supported hardware (cheapo refurb ThinkPad T420) everything works out of

by maxaf 11y ago

I've come back into the warm embrace of OpenBSD this year, and couldn't be happier. On supported hardware (cheapo refurb ThinkPad T420) everything works out of the box. Suspend/resume, graphics, Wi-Fi, sound, etc... Hibernate to disk works seamlessly despite full-disk encryption being present as well. Everything Just Works (TM). I don't care if Linux is a wee bit more performant or supports a wider range of hardware. Truth be told, I simply want to do my thing & not think about the computer as such. I'm way past that age when "they say it's free, if you get it to run; the geeks say hey - that's half the fun!" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d85p7JZXNy8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d85p7JZXNy8) was a viable approach to computing.

teach 11y ago
I think the key part of your experience is "on supported hardware." I've run Ubuntu on a desktop machine for years and generally things have worked quite well. But I make sure that Linux will support it before I upgrade my video card. I really prefer Linux but I wouldn't install it on a random laptop.
montyedwards 11y ago
I'd use OpenBSD if it provided: 1. significantly faster vioscsi(4) driver for VirtIO SCSI adapters -- I can live with vioscsi being up to 2x slower than Ubuntu or FreeBSD, but 5x - 10x slower is probably a deal breaker for some other folks that would like to use OpenBSD on Digital Ocean, Linode, etc. 2. binpatches directly from OpenBSD, similar to the way a third-party is providing them at https://stable.mtier.org/ https://stable.mtier.org/ Other than that, really love OpenBSD and even their man pages are awesome.
- maxaf 11y ago
  Whatever for would you use vioscsi on a laptop? I'm only asking because the original discussion seemed to be somewhat laptop-centric. Apart from that, now that the initial Xen port is breathing (I ran it on EC2 just before 5.9 was cut and almost had a happy heart attack) I suspect the other goodies will follow quickly.
VLM 11y ago
I am in the warm embrace of the CLI, where the author's problems just don't exist and I can get stuff done. I like it.
- maxaf 11y ago
  CLI or not, don't you ever close the lid of your laptop expecting it to suspend without whirring its fans inside your bag for hours on end, and then resume without losing its ability to connect to wireless networks? I do use Linux at work by way of Vagrant, and it's great for that. It's Linux on the desktop that appears to be unsuitable for everyday use.
  - adrusi 11y ago
    If you want to use linux on the desktop, you have to buy your hardware with linux in mind. You don't have that concern with Windows because mainstream PC manufacturers need to support Windows to be profitable, but there's the exact same problem with OS X. It feels a little different because the OS comes preinstalled, but you're still choosing the hardware for the OS. If you buy a machine that is reputed to work well with linux, it works well with linux. If you don't bother to check that, you might end up with a bit of homework.
  - pritambaral 10y ago
    > don't you ever ... Never. In fact, my laptop connects to wireless networks even before I can unlock my screen. But then again, I'm on a ThinkPad (with an Intel 7265 Wi-Fi card), and these things are well-designed hardware that try to stick to standards and are well supported on Linux.
regularfry 11y ago
I love that the T420 is a "cheapo refurb" machine. Such a solid box.
- maxaf 11y ago
  If anything, this is a glowing review of the entire ThinkPad line. Most PC hardware turns into shit after a couple of years of heavy use. Not so with ThinkPads. I'm all for reuse-reduce-recycle, but very few electronic thingamajigs are capable of holding water after a certain period of time. On the other hand, "cheapo refurb" is also indicative of my desire to minimize the expense of purchasing an additional computer.
  - regularfry 11y ago
    Absolutely. I've got a T420 as my home machine running Jessie. I've replaced the keyboard, but other than that, it's just kept ticking. I'm thinking of getting another just to have the parts on-hand if I need to replace anything else.

by maxaf 11y ago

teach 11y ago

I think the key part of your experience is "on supported hardware." I've run Ubuntu on a desktop machine for years and generally things have worked quite well. But I make sure that Linux will support it before I upgrade my video card. I really prefer Linux but I wouldn't install it on a random laptop.

montyedwards 11y ago

I'd use OpenBSD if it provided: 1. significantly faster vioscsi(4) driver for VirtIO SCSI adapters -- I can live with vioscsi being up to 2x slower than Ubuntu or FreeBSD, but 5x - 10x slower is probably a deal breaker for some other folks that would like to use OpenBSD on Digital Ocean, Linode, etc. 2. binpatches directly from OpenBSD, similar to the way a third-party is providing them at https://stable.mtier.org/ https://stable.mtier.org/ Other than that, really love OpenBSD and even their man pages are awesome.

maxaf 11y ago
Whatever for would you use vioscsi on a laptop? I'm only asking because the original discussion seemed to be somewhat laptop-centric. Apart from that, now that the initial Xen port is breathing (I ran it on EC2 just before 5.9 was cut and almost had a happy heart attack) I suspect the other goodies will follow quickly.

VLM 11y ago

I am in the warm embrace of the CLI, where the author's problems just don't exist and I can get stuff done. I like it.

maxaf 11y ago
CLI or not, don't you ever close the lid of your laptop expecting it to suspend without whirring its fans inside your bag for hours on end, and then resume without losing its ability to connect to wireless networks? I do use Linux at work by way of Vagrant, and it's great for that. It's Linux on the desktop that appears to be unsuitable for everyday use.
- adrusi 11y ago
  If you want to use linux on the desktop, you have to buy your hardware with linux in mind. You don't have that concern with Windows because mainstream PC manufacturers need to support Windows to be profitable, but there's the exact same problem with OS X. It feels a little different because the OS comes preinstalled, but you're still choosing the hardware for the OS. If you buy a machine that is reputed to work well with linux, it works well with linux. If you don't bother to check that, you might end up with a bit of homework.
- pritambaral 10y ago
  > don't you ever ... Never. In fact, my laptop connects to wireless networks even before I can unlock my screen. But then again, I'm on a ThinkPad (with an Intel 7265 Wi-Fi card), and these things are well-designed hardware that try to stick to standards and are well supported on Linux.

regularfry 11y ago

I love that the T420 is a "cheapo refurb" machine. Such a solid box.

maxaf 11y ago
If anything, this is a glowing review of the entire ThinkPad line. Most PC hardware turns into shit after a couple of years of heavy use. Not so with ThinkPads. I'm all for reuse-reduce-recycle, but very few electronic thingamajigs are capable of holding water after a certain period of time. On the other hand, "cheapo refurb" is also indicative of my desire to minimize the expense of purchasing an additional computer.
- regularfry 11y ago
  Absolutely. I've got a T420 as my home machine running Jessie. I've replaced the keyboard, but other than that, it's just kept ticking. I'm thinking of getting another just to have the parts on-hand if I need to replace anything else.