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This is a good opportunity to ask: Can anyone recommend a laptop I could put OpenBSD on and be fully functional for busy workdays (i.e., when I need to spend 10

This is a good opportunity to ask: Can anyone recommend a laptop I could put OpenBSD on and be fully functional for busy workdays (i.e., when I need to spend 100% of the day being a knowledge worker with a reliable tool I don't have to think about, and 0% being a sysadmin trying to get their tool to work)? On one hand I've seen threads on HN and Reddit saying how OpenBSD works flawlessly, esp. on various Thinkpads. OTOH I read in-depth reports like these, by OpenBSD insiders who know far more than I ever will, and even their results seem insufficient: * https://gist.github.com/reyk/80dca43c8bcfa76d2a7ff147ea64d442 https://gist.github.com/reyk/80dca43c8bcfa76d2a7ff147ea64d44... e.g., "The [wlan] connection is sometimes not stable or the firmware shows errors when switching the AP configuration. But stsp@ is actively working on improving it!" * http://www.tedunangst.com/flak/post/Thinkpad-Carbon-X1-2015 http://www.tedunangst.com/flak/post/Thinkpad-Carbon-X1-2015 * https://marc.info/?l=openbsd-misc&m=145275871714024&w=2 https://marc.info/?l=openbsd-misc&m=145275871714024&w=2 EDIT: For those interested in this topic, I would start with tedunangst's excellent summary from earlier this year. Thank you Ted!: http://www.tedunangst.com/flak/post/openbsd-laptops http://www.tedunangst.com/flak/post/openbsd-laptops

carapace 10y ago
Same question, for desktop server/workstation?
- clarry 10y ago
  If you don't need ridiculous performance, I can recommend the shuttle fanless mini PCs. I have a DS437 and a DS57U7. Both used to be desktops, now the former serves as a server. I think there's a new one out now (DS67*), I haven't tried it yet. But I might buy one. Or wait for the next gen of intel CPUs. http://dmesgd.nycbug.org/index.cgi?action=dmesgd&do=view&id=2810 http://dmesgd.nycbug.org/index.cgi?action=dmesgd&do=view&id=... http://dmesgd.nycbug.org/index.cgi?action=dmesgd&do=view&id=2809 http://dmesgd.nycbug.org/index.cgi?action=dmesgd&do=view&id=... Note that I swapped the wlan card on one of these, for an Intel one. I don't know if the original card would've worked; I never tried it.
  - carapace 10y ago
    Thank you. :-)
aaron_m04 10y ago
I used OpenBSD CURRENT on the Thinkpad Carbon X1 for 3 months earlier this year, and my experience has been that hardware support is not a problem for a "knowledge worker" (I am assuming you don't need things like HDMI audio for that). The main problem is software that is outdated, unavailable, or buggy on non-Linux platforms. I came crawling back to Linux in the end.
- hackuser 10y ago
  Thanks. Though a knowledge worker sometimes does need to connect their laptop to a TV for collaboration and presentations. > The main problem is software that is outdated, unavailable, or buggy on non-Linux platforms What kinds of applications could you not find a good solution for?
  - aaron_m04 10y ago
    > What kinds of applications could you not find a good solution for? * LibreOffice Writer (lowriter) had an annoying bug where it would sometimes take over a second to redraw the toolbar buttons, and the editor was unavailable during that time. This happened on save, resize, or unhiding the window. * Konsole's logic to identify the name of the foreground process would occasionally go into an infinite loop and all the konsole windows would lockup and need to be kill -9'd. It can be avoided by using tmux but that's inconvenient. This is sad because it's the most featureful and user-friendly terminal emulator I know of. * No good C++ IDEs. * No support for cargo in the rust packages. * No workable virtualization. Also, if you use OpenBSD on a laptop, you'd be crazy not to use GNOME 3 in my opinion. Support for the other DEs are not on par.
    - hackuser 10y ago
      Thanks for the tips; that's very helpful > * No workable virtualization. For those interested, they are working on it AFAIK. Look up vmm/vmd.
    - aaron_m04 10y ago
      I forgot another one: * No Atom editor (no binary package, and I went through hell trying to compile from source but was unsuccessful).
cylinder714 10y ago
I run OpenBSD on a T420s and an X220i without any trouble, but I made very sure to get Intel graphics and WiFi as Nvidia and Broadcom are not supported.

carapace 10y ago

Same question, for desktop server/workstation?

clarry 10y ago
If you don't need ridiculous performance, I can recommend the shuttle fanless mini PCs. I have a DS437 and a DS57U7. Both used to be desktops, now the former serves as a server. I think there's a new one out now (DS67*), I haven't tried it yet. But I might buy one. Or wait for the next gen of intel CPUs. http://dmesgd.nycbug.org/index.cgi?action=dmesgd&do=view&id=2810 http://dmesgd.nycbug.org/index.cgi?action=dmesgd&do=view&id=... http://dmesgd.nycbug.org/index.cgi?action=dmesgd&do=view&id=2809 http://dmesgd.nycbug.org/index.cgi?action=dmesgd&do=view&id=... Note that I swapped the wlan card on one of these, for an Intel one. I don't know if the original card would've worked; I never tried it.
- carapace 10y ago
  Thank you. :-)

aaron_m04 10y ago

I used OpenBSD CURRENT on the Thinkpad Carbon X1 for 3 months earlier this year, and my experience has been that hardware support is not a problem for a "knowledge worker" (I am assuming you don't need things like HDMI audio for that). The main problem is software that is outdated, unavailable, or buggy on non-Linux platforms. I came crawling back to Linux in the end.

hackuser 10y ago
Thanks. Though a knowledge worker sometimes does need to connect their laptop to a TV for collaboration and presentations. > The main problem is software that is outdated, unavailable, or buggy on non-Linux platforms What kinds of applications could you not find a good solution for?
- aaron_m04 10y ago
  > What kinds of applications could you not find a good solution for? * LibreOffice Writer (lowriter) had an annoying bug where it would sometimes take over a second to redraw the toolbar buttons, and the editor was unavailable during that time. This happened on save, resize, or unhiding the window. * Konsole's logic to identify the name of the foreground process would occasionally go into an infinite loop and all the konsole windows would lockup and need to be kill -9'd. It can be avoided by using tmux but that's inconvenient. This is sad because it's the most featureful and user-friendly terminal emulator I know of. * No good C++ IDEs. * No support for cargo in the rust packages. * No workable virtualization. Also, if you use OpenBSD on a laptop, you'd be crazy not to use GNOME 3 in my opinion. Support for the other DEs are not on par.
  - hackuser 10y ago
    Thanks for the tips; that's very helpful > * No workable virtualization. For those interested, they are working on it AFAIK. Look up vmm/vmd.
  - aaron_m04 10y ago
    I forgot another one: * No Atom editor (no binary package, and I went through hell trying to compile from source but was unsuccessful).

cylinder714 10y ago

I run OpenBSD on a T420s and an X220i without any trouble, but I made very sure to get Intel graphics and WiFi as Nvidia and Broadcom are not supported.