4 ms·

For those expecting a little more content, here's a better "why": https://deftly.net/posts/2016-05-31-why-i-run-openbsd.html https://deftly.net/posts/2016-05-3

by sivers 10y ago

For those expecting a little more content, here's a better "why": https://deftly.net/posts/2016-05-31-why-i-run-openbsd.html https://deftly.net/posts/2016-05-31-why-i-run-openbsd.html (I agree and have gone 100% OpenBSD on all servers and even all my laptops now. Love love love.)

na85 10y ago
If you don't mind: which laptop models do you run it on and how is the performance compared to other OSes? I found openbsd ran horridly hot and sluggish on my thinkpad so I've been trying to find a laptop that will work well with it.
- sivers 10y ago
  Lenovo ThinkPad W520 = my main Lenovo ThinkPad T440s = a clone of my main Both work great. I had some issues before OpenBSD 5.9 but since 5.9 everything is wonderful, which is why I finally switched over 100%. Doesn't run hot. Only a miniscule slower than my souped-up super-fast Arch Linux was on the same laptop, but that's a fair trade. Happy to answer any questions and offer any advice. Click my username here and get my email address from my HN profile.
  - na85 10y ago
    Sent. Thanks!
    - jsjohnst 10y ago
      I'm also happy to help where I can.
  - jvoorhis 10y ago
    Does it run on those old SPARCs?
    - sivers 10y ago
      Ha! Hi Jeremy. Can't believe you remember that. Sold those big Sun machines with the company, unfortunately.
  - deleted 10y ago
    [deleted]
  - deleted 10y ago
    [deleted]
- jsjohnst 10y ago
  I recently installed it on a Lenovo X1 Carbon 2nd Gen. The only headache was the Intel wifi chipset needing proprietary firmware (easily obtainable after install, but I wasted a bunch of time trying to get it working on install only to learn I really didn't need it despite thinking I did). Other than that hiccup, literally no other OS issues at all and no custom tweaking needed to get a solid setup in place.
  - dingleberry 10y ago
    my lenovo yoga only comes with wifi (no rj45) that's not detected during openbsd install. could you please share where you get firmware for lenovo? thx
    - jsjohnst 10y ago
      My recommendation is to do the install using 'disk' option rather than 'http' skipping verification as needed. Then you don't need to worry about the firmware during install. The installer's ramdisk is only 2mb, so the 675k firmware for the wifi doesn't fit. Yes, you can have the firmware on a second USB drive, but as the installer unmounts all mounted volumes it takes extra steps that's more hassle than it's worth. Once you complete the install, you'd normally use `fw_update` to get the firmware, but as you are caught in a catch-22, you'll need to grab it from here [0] from another machine and then extract to /etc/firmware on your own manually. [0] http://firmware.openbsd.org/firmware/5.9/ http://firmware.openbsd.org/firmware/5.9/
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
stepvhen 10y ago
I installed OpenBSD on my laptop a few months ago, and the number of things that worked out of the box (screen resolution, wireless internet, touchpad) made a very good first impression. Since then it has yet to surprise me unpleasantly, something other *nix's were wont to do.
- sivers 10y ago
  Same here. I've been using OpenBSD off-and-on since version 2.9 which I think was like 1999 or 2000. I'd go switch to some new version of Linux for a while, try FreeBSD for a while, and each time I tried OpenBSD again - OMG it just works with no effort, whereas the others (besides a kitchen-sink OS like Ubuntu) would never quite get it right. Even for things where super-new Arch Linux would have trouble with the hardware, or require lots of tweaking to get Xorg working on a super-new laptop or whatever, just stick in the OpenBSD CD or USB, hit [Enter] a bunch of times for the defaults, and voila! A perfectly working base system, including X11 and all. Love love love.
cisstrd 10y ago
Maybe not as detailed as your link, but still interesting: http://www.cambus.net/why-openbsd/ http://www.cambus.net/why-openbsd/ Somewhat unrelated, but a very interesting read: "Why did I choose the DragonFlyBSD Operating System?" https://bsdmag.org/siju_george/ https://bsdmag.org/siju_george/ Let's give the 3rd major BSD OS more love :)

by sivers 10y ago

na85 10y ago

If you don't mind: which laptop models do you run it on and how is the performance compared to other OSes? I found openbsd ran horridly hot and sluggish on my thinkpad so I've been trying to find a laptop that will work well with it.

sivers 10y ago
Lenovo ThinkPad W520 = my main Lenovo ThinkPad T440s = a clone of my main Both work great. I had some issues before OpenBSD 5.9 but since 5.9 everything is wonderful, which is why I finally switched over 100%. Doesn't run hot. Only a miniscule slower than my souped-up super-fast Arch Linux was on the same laptop, but that's a fair trade. Happy to answer any questions and offer any advice. Click my username here and get my email address from my HN profile.
- na85 10y ago
  Sent. Thanks!
  - jsjohnst 10y ago
    I'm also happy to help where I can.
- jvoorhis 10y ago
  Does it run on those old SPARCs?
  - sivers 10y ago
    Ha! Hi Jeremy. Can't believe you remember that. Sold those big Sun machines with the company, unfortunately.
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
jsjohnst 10y ago
I recently installed it on a Lenovo X1 Carbon 2nd Gen. The only headache was the Intel wifi chipset needing proprietary firmware (easily obtainable after install, but I wasted a bunch of time trying to get it working on install only to learn I really didn't need it despite thinking I did). Other than that hiccup, literally no other OS issues at all and no custom tweaking needed to get a solid setup in place.
- dingleberry 10y ago
  my lenovo yoga only comes with wifi (no rj45) that's not detected during openbsd install. could you please share where you get firmware for lenovo? thx
  - jsjohnst 10y ago
    My recommendation is to do the install using 'disk' option rather than 'http' skipping verification as needed. Then you don't need to worry about the firmware during install. The installer's ramdisk is only 2mb, so the 675k firmware for the wifi doesn't fit. Yes, you can have the firmware on a second USB drive, but as the installer unmounts all mounted volumes it takes extra steps that's more hassle than it's worth. Once you complete the install, you'd normally use `fw_update` to get the firmware, but as you are caught in a catch-22, you'll need to grab it from here [0] from another machine and then extract to /etc/firmware on your own manually. [0] http://firmware.openbsd.org/firmware/5.9/ http://firmware.openbsd.org/firmware/5.9/
deleted 10y ago
[deleted]

stepvhen 10y ago

I installed OpenBSD on my laptop a few months ago, and the number of things that worked out of the box (screen resolution, wireless internet, touchpad) made a very good first impression. Since then it has yet to surprise me unpleasantly, something other *nix's were wont to do.

sivers 10y ago
Same here. I've been using OpenBSD off-and-on since version 2.9 which I think was like 1999 or 2000. I'd go switch to some new version of Linux for a while, try FreeBSD for a while, and each time I tried OpenBSD again - OMG it just works with no effort, whereas the others (besides a kitchen-sink OS like Ubuntu) would never quite get it right. Even for things where super-new Arch Linux would have trouble with the hardware, or require lots of tweaking to get Xorg working on a super-new laptop or whatever, just stick in the OpenBSD CD or USB, hit [Enter] a bunch of times for the defaults, and voila! A perfectly working base system, including X11 and all. Love love love.

cisstrd 10y ago

Maybe not as detailed as your link, but still interesting: http://www.cambus.net/why-openbsd/ http://www.cambus.net/why-openbsd/ Somewhat unrelated, but a very interesting read: "Why did I choose the DragonFlyBSD Operating System?" https://bsdmag.org/siju_george/ https://bsdmag.org/siju_george/ Let's give the 3rd major BSD OS more love :)