4 ms·

> the fact that OpenBSD runs on some pretty slow hardware This is one of my favorite aspects of OpenBSD. I play with a lot of retro hardware and running OpenBS

> the fact that OpenBSD runs on some pretty slow hardware This is one of my favorite aspects of OpenBSD. I play with a lot of retro hardware and running OpenBSD is an excellent way to make any old hardware feel like new. Oldest real hardware I've run it on is a 486 DX2-66, oldest virtual hardware was a 386 using OpenBSD 4.1. Also ran a Pentium MMX as a WiFi router for a few weeks while sourcing a replacement.

gosub100 3y ago
ActionRetro has several videos where he puts it on G3 macs: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rT71HwfiM_A https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rT71HwfiM_A
SoftTalker 3y ago
Despite the "i386" name I don't think contemporary OpenBSD will work on a real 80386 or 80486 system. The supported hardware is described as: "All CPUs compatible with the Intel Pentium or later, with Intel-compatible hardware floating point support should work." There is also a note: "Due to the increased usage of OpenBSD/amd64, as well as the age and practicality of most i386 hardware, only easy and critical security fixes are backported to i386. The project has more important things to focus on." I would guess they are not too far from dropping support entirely, but as I understand it that all depends on whether there are any developers interested in still working on it. The OpenBSD developers build the OS for themselves. They make it freely available to anyone who finds it useful, but they do not really build it for "the users."
- accrual 3y ago
  You're correct, 386 support was dropped after OpenBSD 4.1 (May 2007), and 486 support was dropped after 6.8 (October 2020). If I recall correctly, the project compiler changed after 6.8 and wasn't able to build the entire ports tree when targeting the 486, so they now target Pentium (i586) and higher. Even though it's technically out-of-date and unsupported, an OpenBSD release from 2020 is still pretty impressive for the DX2 (1993). :)

gosub100 3y ago

ActionRetro has several videos where he puts it on G3 macs: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rT71HwfiM_A https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rT71HwfiM_A

SoftTalker 3y ago

Despite the "i386" name I don't think contemporary OpenBSD will work on a real 80386 or 80486 system. The supported hardware is described as: "All CPUs compatible with the Intel Pentium or later, with Intel-compatible hardware floating point support should work." There is also a note: "Due to the increased usage of OpenBSD/amd64, as well as the age and practicality of most i386 hardware, only easy and critical security fixes are backported to i386. The project has more important things to focus on." I would guess they are not too far from dropping support entirely, but as I understand it that all depends on whether there are any developers interested in still working on it. The OpenBSD developers build the OS for themselves. They make it freely available to anyone who finds it useful, but they do not really build it for "the users."

accrual 3y ago
You're correct, 386 support was dropped after OpenBSD 4.1 (May 2007), and 486 support was dropped after 6.8 (October 2020). If I recall correctly, the project compiler changed after 6.8 and wasn't able to build the entire ports tree when targeting the 486, so they now target Pentium (i586) and higher. Even though it's technically out-of-date and unsupported, an OpenBSD release from 2020 is still pretty impressive for the DX2 (1993). :)