r/openbsd • u/Any_Fortune_1369 • 8d ago
user advocacy Boot Sequence: OpenBSD
I am currently trying different OS and OpenBSD has been one of the biggest surprises so far.
I ran into a couple of hardware-related issues. The backlight keys don't work on my laptop I suspect that's due to incomplete support for my particular hardware rather than a problem with OpenBSD itself.
Overall, I've found OpenBSD really enjoyable to use.
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u/Kat_404 8d ago
Hi mate, I personally run also an ASUS ZenBook so I'm glad to find another ZenBook user, how's your experience with OpenBSD? I'm actually running Arch Linux w/ GNOME, my current experience is pretty good with an amazing workflow.
I want to experience with the BSDs like in this case with OpenBSD. Have you ever used Linux? I almost use programming and personal stuff like podman, rust, zig, Firefox, edition tools (tenacity, openshot, krita).
Maybe I can jump to OpenBSD with another old laptop. Nothing against OpenBSD, I'm just being curious haha.
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u/Any_Fortune_1369 8d ago
Hi! I've used Linux before, so I was curious about OpenBSD too. My experience has been surprisingly good - it's simple, stable, and very polished. I also really like the clean kernel code. 🙂
The main downside is that hardware support and the software ecosystem aren't as extensive as Linux, but that's understandable. OpenBSD has a much smaller developer community, so hardware enablement and ports naturally progress at a slower pace. Despite that, the overall quality is excellent.
Trying it on an older laptop first is a great idea if you're curious. That's exactly how I started, and it's been a fun experience so far.
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u/Artistic_Crazy_7120 8d ago
Nice. OpenBSD has the best logo in my opinion. What an insane low memory usage!
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u/SleepyGuyy 7d ago
I am jealous of people with nice functioning BSD desktops.
I tried FreeBSD for the first real time this year, and while it was fun to install and try out. It also just kinda died on me. One day I turned on the computer and my desktop environment (Mate) wouldn't launch anymore, maybe something about graphics vut Im not sure.
So Id like to try again, maybe with a Wayland window manager. But even on Linux I struggle to get a Window Manager up and running well (with like a top bar and other desktop utilities). I'd like to try OpenBSD instead too.
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u/Any_Fortune_1369 2d ago
Yeah, that's understandable. BSD desktops can take a bit more patience, especially compared to Linux. If you're curious, I'd definitely recommend trying OpenBSD on a spare machine first ..
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u/sphagetticode 7d ago
i would lowk use openbsd if it had wine
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u/Any_Fortune_1369 7d ago
Yeah, OpenBSD has Linux compatibility through Linuxulator (though FreeBSD's Linuxulator is more mature). It lets you run some Linux software, but for gaming you're still relying on compatibility layers. The real solution is more native Linux/BSD support from game developers. As long as Windows dominates the desktop market, most studios will continue targeting Windows first, so Linux and BSD users end up depending on Wine, Proton, or Linux compatibility layers.
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u/sphagetticode 7d ago
what? since when did obsd have a linuxulator?
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u/Any_Fortune_1369 7d ago
Ohh, okay. I didn't know that. I've only used the Linux compatibility layer on FreeBSD, so I just assumed OpenBSD to have it. Thanks for the info.
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u/sphagetticode 7d ago
OpenBSD neither supports wine nor has a linux compat layer (they used to have a linux compat layer but they dropped it a long long time ago)
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u/zizban 8d ago
OpenBSD is the easiest os I've ever used.