BSD noob tries out OpenBSD

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Ever since I heard about it, I've been interested in the various BSDs, their direct UNIX heritage and licensing model intrigued me. So, I've decided to give it a shot.

To start off: Why OpenBSD and not FreeBSD/TrueOS/NetBSD/etc?
Well, I did try FreeBSD/TrueOS and ran into a few problems such as:
- Bootloader was invisible if UEFI mode. It was still there, booted up fine after waiting a bit or pressing enter
- I personally don't like the Lumina desktop in TrueOS, so I installed gnome, which presented it's own problems
- When attempting to remove lumina, it wanted to remove some necessary dependencies for gnome
- GDM not starting at boot. (Yes, I did install it properly, added gdm_enable="YES" to /etc/rc.conf along with other gnome-related things)
- Stability concerns around running the absolute latest development kernel (12-CURRENT) in TrueOS.
- After installing FreeBSD 11, my wifi card did not show up in ifconfig but did in pciconf -lv even though it is supported by the iwm driver with all needed entries in /boot/loader.conf
- I don't feel like installing NetBSD

Enough problems, time for solutions!

First off, downloaded the install60.fs from a local mirror and burned it to a USB. Booted it on my laptop (The Gigabyte P15F v5) and started the install.
Right off I was struck by the "Unique" font used in the terminal...

Screenshot at 2017-01-19 12:33:43.png1276x743 14.1 KB

(Virtualbox screenshot 'cos I don't feel like getting out a camera)

Followed the install instructions and when I got to the network selector, the wifi interface showed up, but I was unable to connect to a network. Damn. Connected to Ethernet instead for now.

Note: my wifi card is supported under OpenBSD, but the firmware isn't included on the install media due to it being proprietary. Fair enough. Available in ports tree though, so I'll install it later.

Made EXTRA SURE I installed it on the right drive since I have 3 of them in there with the other 2 being used by Ubuntu and Windows, and rebooted.

Luckily, I didn't destroy my windows or linux installs and OpenBSD booted, strangely slowly, but booted.

Configuration time!

Connected to Ethernet for now (dhclient re0) and got myself a copy of the ports tree, cd'd to /usr/ports/sysutils/firmware/iwm and did a "make install clean" to install the firmware. Rebooted and it connected to wifi automatically! Seems like it saved the wifi configuration from the installation, even though it couldn't connect then. Nice.

Now, I shouldn't just build everything from ports, so I copied /etc/examples/pkg.conf to /etc/pkg.conf and uncommented my chosen mirror.

And thus, my epic journey is concluded for now while I install gnome on a really slow Internet connection. I'll update this once it's done.

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Well, gnome finished installing but, surprise! Skylake graphics aren't supported. At all. Nvidia is only supported up to the 200 series which rules out using the GTX950M. Unfortunately, this will cut my adventures in OpenBSD short. At least on my laptop.

Now, lets see how far I can get on my desktop! Seems like it has support for my R9-380...

edit: Hello from OpenBSD on my desktop! X starts so, that's a start. now to install gnome... again.

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OpenBSD intel drivers are always a bit behind, mainly because the OpenBSD project can't use intel's linux drivers because of license and code quality issues.

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Progress report: turns out the R9-380 is only supported in OpenBSD-Current rather than the 6.0 release. I guess I'll try installing that then.

Edit: Progress! Instead of reinstalling, I removed my graphics card so that I can use my motherboard's inbuilt Radeon HD3000 graphics and I am typing this from gnome on OpenBSD!

Honestly though, I think I'll wait until the next stable release of OpenBSD until continuing using it further. I'll keep a virtual machine of OpenBSD though so that when I do ever start using it seriously, I'll know how to use it properly.

Actually, I'll try installing current. Just for fun.

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Most OpenBSD users run -CURRENT on their desktops/laptops through snapshots.
I've been doing it for quite some time and never found it to be unstable.

I only use -STABLE on appliances/servers

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That's good to know. Following this guide now. Is there any way to install -CURRENT directly rather than installing -STABLE and upgrading?

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I wouldn't build the -CURRENT source myself - especially as a beginner.

Snapshots are compiled by the OpenBSD team when they feel it's time to do so (if you compile from source, it might be in between commits for example).

Using -CURRENT is the same as -RELEASE, replace "6.0" with "snapshot" in the url:
https://ftp.openbsd.org/pub/OpenBSD/snapshots/amd64/

You should be able to follow the "upgrade" procedure from -RELEASE to -CURRENT or install from the install60.fs under snapshots.
Note that somewhere in the future the install60.fs under snapshots will be renamed to install61, this is just in preparation for the 6.1 release.

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Might do that instead then. Thanks.

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Foiled again! Turns out the "Radeon R9 Series" Compatibility on the radeon man page refers to only the 200 series and not the 300 series! Ergo, no support :(

I guess I'll just have to wait until it is. It's definitely been an interesting experience though, a worthwhile project to waste the day. At least I got it working with integrated graphics!

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I believe the overwhelming majority uses inteldrm nowadays.
The only use case of a radeon card on openbsd - afaik - is to hook up more displays.