[HN Gopher] OpenBSD on the Framework Laptop
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       OpenBSD on the Framework Laptop
        
       Author : yankcrime
       Score  : 16 points
       Date   : 2021-11-11 14:45 UTC (8 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (jcs.org)
 (TXT) w3m dump (jcs.org)
        
       | killingtime74 wrote:
       | I use Pop is, which is a great desktop Linux distro. Is openbsd
       | good for desktop usage?
        
         | jlawer wrote:
         | OpenBSD is not your typical consumer desktop OS. If you expect
         | it to be similar to linux / windows / macOS your not going to
         | have a good time. As a unix workstation however it has its
         | place.
         | 
         | Certain things you might take for granted around hardware (The
         | author mentions Wireless on intel AX210 and a bluetooth stack)
         | are missing or in a poorer state then you would find on your
         | "typical desktop" OS. Additionally there are plenty of Linux
         | apps that will make dump assumptions that they are running on
         | linux.
         | 
         | Things will generally be a lot more manual to setup rather than
         | auto-magic. OpenBSD is focused on software correctness
         | (security / reliability) over all other attributes
         | (performance, features, ease of use). As part of this there are
         | natural additional focuses on simplicity (to make it easier to
         | be correct). Thus OpenBSD is rarely going to be the first with
         | something that isn't security related.
         | 
         | If your workflow is heavily UNIX based, then OpenBSD can make
         | an awesome Workstation OS. If you work on open source, you will
         | have everything you need. However if you work with other people
         | on other platforms you will see incompatibilities, such as
         | being limited to web based versions of Collab services
         | (discord, teams, slack).
        
         | MonkeyClub wrote:
         | Probably better even.
        
         | bpye wrote:
         | I tried it a couple years ago, the laptop I tried it on was
         | underpowered (4GB memory, Skylake m3 - it was a Chromebook).
         | 
         | The core software worked great. I could mostly rely on the base
         | system for critical software, I found cwm entirely sufficient
         | as a window manager, xterm is obvious, even nvi is very usable
         | as a text editor. I did use mutt which isn't in the base
         | system.
         | 
         | I did however find that there were no performant web browsers,
         | though this situation may have improved since. Chromium was the
         | best option at the time and it worked okay for simple pages,
         | but struggled for complex content. I also use both Spotify and
         | VS Code typically, and whilst the former is easily replaced
         | with ncspot now, I don't think there is a vscode/vscodium port.
         | I suspect if you don't rely on any Electron applications though
         | you wouldn't have any issues...
        
           | mikem170 wrote:
           | I'm running it on my desktop, with firefox, seamonkey (a
           | firefox variant), and chrome. The tor browser is also
           | available (another firefox variant).
           | 
           | I haven't had any problems running youtube and other stuff.
           | Using a thinkpad x260. Very happy with the performance.
        
             | bpye wrote:
             | I'm glad to hear that. My experience was a little over 3
             | years ago so there has definitely been a bunch of time for
             | the situation to improve. The laptop itself was also pretty
             | weak.
        
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       (page generated 2021-11-11 23:02 UTC)