💾 Archived View for gem.sdf.org › jmccue › computer › openbsd.gmi captured on 2024-03-21 at 15:38:48. Gemini links have been rewritten to link to archived content
⬅️ Previous capture (2023-11-04)
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This is another UN*X I really like.
When I read OpenBSD removed Linux Emulation and added a 2038 workaround for i386. I decided to give it a go, I was not disappointed. I believe I started using it around version 6.3. Personally, I think Linux Emulation that other BSDs have only creates issues, but I believe the other BSDs uses a module for that Emulation, so I should be easy enough to disable.
I had an old Thinkpad (R51e) and I decided to put OpenBSD on it for a test spin, it worked and still works great. From there it found its way to the other old Laptop I have.
OCC # 1 with the R51e w/OpenBSD
As I used it I learned about all the security enhancements and realised this would make a great home system.
I also really like the idea of pledge and unveil, I believe these are a much better solution than the various containers Linux is now pushing. Because of that, I have put these calls in most of my utilities I have in my repo.
For development, when I took some work applications and compiled and tested it on OpenBSD, many issues were identified. These crashed due to various issues where Linux and AIX would happily continue running. Of course I corrected the problems.
I mainly use OpenBSD on a Thinkpad T420, I would use it on the newer W541, but OpenBSD heats up the nVidia GPU in the lower left hand corner. It does know enough to ignore nVidia and use the Integrated Intel GPU, but the nVidia GPU gets hot.
With that said, once in a great while, I use OpenBSD on the W541 and just deal with the heat. From what I have read and asked, I believe the heat from the nVidia GPU is not that bad and should not cause any harm. I really like the larger screen of the W541. So when I want to run OpenBSD, all I do is swap the drives on the W541. Slackware is on an SDD, OpenBSD is on the old, original, HDD that came with the W541.
I general, OpenBSD runs hotter than the other Operating Systems. If not for that, it would be my main driver. IIRC, the heat issues started around release 6.8. Right now I am hoping these issues are solved in newer releases.
But, Port obsdfreq helps a lot with the heat issue, but not with the nVidia Issue on the W541. So using obsdfreq Solene created keeps the CPU Temp reasonable. This is what I have in rc.conf.local to start obsdfreq:
obsdfreqd_flags=-m 75,55 -l 0,0 -T 70,60 -r 50 -s 3 -t 3000
So for now, I mainly use Slackware on the W541 (sometimes OpenBSD). On the T420, I bounce between OpenBSD and NetBSD 10-BETA. Like the W541, I have two drives for the T420, the original and a larger HDD, each with their own OS. I just swap them out.
One thing about these old Thinkpads, changing disk drives is very easy.
So, I consider the T420 w/OpenBSD to be my "travel" laptop. When I travel I have OpenBSD on it because I believe its Full Disk Encryption is much better than Linux LUKS.
Note, I checked with ##ibmthinkpad on Librachat, due to the nVidia heat issue, they said best to avoid using OpenBSD on the W541 until it is fixed or you find a workaround :( That is a bit disappointing.
$Id: openbsd.gmi,v 2.2 2023/10/17 14:46:23 jmccue Exp $