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"I installed OpenBSD 5.6 on my old Thinkpad x201 and much to my surprise, it just worked. [...] WiFi required a firmware update [...] I won't cover how to burn

"I installed OpenBSD 5.6 on my old Thinkpad x201 and much to my surprise, it just worked. [...] WiFi required a firmware update [...] I won't cover how to burn an ISO to a CD. [...] the various tweaks to config files in OpenBSD in my 'configs' github repo [... etc...]" Is this a joke? "Just worked". I don't think those words mean what you think they mean, even with the backtracking at the end of the post. Marcellus Wallace would have something to say about how near "just worked" that is.

samspenc 12y ago
Yeah, I couldn't tell whether the author was being honest or mocking it. I use Ubuntu on my home laptop, and I agree that it doesn't quite work 100% yet compared to OS X (or, uh, Windows), but it does have the most user-friendly installation of the Linux systems out there.
Sir_Cmpwn 12y ago
It looks like the only foothold you have here is WiFi? Burning an ISO to a CD is elementary school difficult and tweaking your configs to suit your preference isn't part of a working system. WiFi is consistently a problem on all operating systems, too.
- rodgerd 12y ago
  I have not needed to fuck around with wireless drivers on a Thinkpad x300 (around the same era as the 201) for Fedora, Windows, or, heaven help me, Haiku. It is not "consistently a problem on all operating systems". As for burning CDs - CD drives are becoming a legacy technology.
rufius 12y ago
So I'm the author of the linked post. I hadn't ever used OpenBSD seriously in a desktop setting. I've installed it for servers to play around with. And to answer your question "Is this a joke?", my writing is partly in jest and partly in seriousness. The fact that I had the laptop configured in about 45 mins (still faster than setting up Windows) was a surprise to me. It's faster than attempts at setting up Linux on it. Exception might be Debian but I've slept since then. Regarding configs, those are just preferences. With the exception of the trackpoint middle click button, I don't actually need any of the other things as some nice OpenBSD devs have informed me. For example, the PF settings I included aren't necessary. edit: expound on configs
- Oletros 12y ago
  You can install Ubuntu, Fedora or Windows 8 in less than 45 minutes
- frou_dh 12y ago
  You're the author. There's no "So" about it.
  - geographomics 12y ago
    Starting a sentence with "so" (or any other conjunction) is a valid stylistic preference.
    - frou_dh 12y ago
      How about a paragraph?
- ams6110 12y ago
  I would say that to really use OpenBSD as a desktop OS, the login.conf tweaks are non-optional. Otherwise you will find "big" software like browsers with more than a few tabs open, Office suites, etc. being killed due to the default memory limits.
  - clarry 12y ago
    Or you can do as I do and only change the limits for these big applications. In which case you don't touch login.conf. Note though that in current the login.conf defaults for the default user have been raised on amd64 at least: http://cvsweb.openbsd.org/cgi-bin/cvsweb/src/etc/etc.amd64/login.conf.diff?r1=1.2&r2=1.3 http://cvsweb.openbsd.org/cgi-bin/cvsweb/src/etc/etc.amd64/l...
  - tedunangst 12y ago
    Minor correction: firefox (at least) isn't "killed" due to memory limits. firefox segfaults because it tries to allocate memory and doesn't check for null. chrome in effect works around the memory limit by using one process per tab.
brynet 12y ago
OpenBSD doesn't presume to know how you'll use it. That said, it's understandable to be surprised when things 'just work' with very little configuration.

samspenc 12y ago

Yeah, I couldn't tell whether the author was being honest or mocking it. I use Ubuntu on my home laptop, and I agree that it doesn't quite work 100% yet compared to OS X (or, uh, Windows), but it does have the most user-friendly installation of the Linux systems out there.

Sir_Cmpwn 12y ago

It looks like the only foothold you have here is WiFi? Burning an ISO to a CD is elementary school difficult and tweaking your configs to suit your preference isn't part of a working system. WiFi is consistently a problem on all operating systems, too.

rodgerd 12y ago
I have not needed to fuck around with wireless drivers on a Thinkpad x300 (around the same era as the 201) for Fedora, Windows, or, heaven help me, Haiku. It is not "consistently a problem on all operating systems". As for burning CDs - CD drives are becoming a legacy technology.

rufius 12y ago

So I'm the author of the linked post. I hadn't ever used OpenBSD seriously in a desktop setting. I've installed it for servers to play around with. And to answer your question "Is this a joke?", my writing is partly in jest and partly in seriousness. The fact that I had the laptop configured in about 45 mins (still faster than setting up Windows) was a surprise to me. It's faster than attempts at setting up Linux on it. Exception might be Debian but I've slept since then. Regarding configs, those are just preferences. With the exception of the trackpoint middle click button, I don't actually need any of the other things as some nice OpenBSD devs have informed me. For example, the PF settings I included aren't necessary. edit: expound on configs

Oletros 12y ago
You can install Ubuntu, Fedora or Windows 8 in less than 45 minutes
frou_dh 12y ago
You're the author. There's no "So" about it.
- geographomics 12y ago
  Starting a sentence with "so" (or any other conjunction) is a valid stylistic preference.
  - frou_dh 12y ago
    How about a paragraph?
ams6110 12y ago
I would say that to really use OpenBSD as a desktop OS, the login.conf tweaks are non-optional. Otherwise you will find "big" software like browsers with more than a few tabs open, Office suites, etc. being killed due to the default memory limits.
- clarry 12y ago
  Or you can do as I do and only change the limits for these big applications. In which case you don't touch login.conf. Note though that in current the login.conf defaults for the default user have been raised on amd64 at least: http://cvsweb.openbsd.org/cgi-bin/cvsweb/src/etc/etc.amd64/login.conf.diff?r1=1.2&r2=1.3 http://cvsweb.openbsd.org/cgi-bin/cvsweb/src/etc/etc.amd64/l...
- tedunangst 12y ago
  Minor correction: firefox (at least) isn't "killed" due to memory limits. firefox segfaults because it tries to allocate memory and doesn't check for null. chrome in effect works around the memory limit by using one process per tab.

brynet 12y ago

OpenBSD doesn't presume to know how you'll use it. That said, it's understandable to be surprised when things 'just work' with very little configuration.