On 8 Feb 2018 23:23, "Steve Litt" <sl...@troubleshooters.com> wrote:
On Thu, 8 Feb 2018 13:41:20 -0800 Charlie Eddy <charlie.e...@occipital.com> wrote: > hello misc, > > I am considering a move to OpenBSD, since I subscribed to this > mailing list some time ago (~few months). I want to take advantage of > security. > > However, a programmer who I know personally and respect considers > OpenBSD to be old-school, in a negative sense. He recommends Arch > Linux as superior, because more new. Does the difference boil down to > one's definition of free software, and then compliance with that > definition? > > I have read up on this a lot, and this is a serious question. I have > heard that it is unimportant what *nix you're on after a few years of > using one or the other, in terms of functionality. I am interested in > embedded devices. I think that bends the needle towards Arch, but the > security of OpenBSD is also attractive. What considerations should I > take into account? If installability on embedded devices is a requirement, I think that would rule out a whole bunch of BSDs and Linux distros. About your friend: There's a logical fallacy called "Appeal to Novelty" (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appeal_to_novelty) If your experience is anything like mine, household appliances installed in the 1980's tended to last almost 20 years, whereas appliances in the 2010's tend to last about six. Sometimes newer is better, sometimes it's not. Arch Linux uses the relatively new systemd init system/OS controller/Desktop aid. It's such a mess that nobody's ever been able to draw its block diagram, complete with boxes and arrows. My main OS right now is Void Linux, but when I used OpenBSD I was impressed with how everything worked exactly the same, every single time. This is subjective, but I view OpenBSD as the most solid OS I've ever run. SteveT Hardware support won't be as good as in Linux, but it's probably the BSD with the greatest level of hardware support out of the box, for PCs, plus it installs X11 out of the box (if you want); by default, though, OpenBSD's implementation of X11 is primitive, if you're coming from Linux, but can be made more user-friendly and attractive. WiFi support (more precisely switching networks) is still a pain; and I've come to the conclusion that I'm obsessed with fonts, because I seem to be the only one who thinks ALL Unices' fonts suck out of the box, though they can be improved greatly in Linux. I haven't yet got them looking great in OpenBSD, but maybe you'll have better luck/won't care. I can't speak to security because I wouldn't know a vulnerability if it bit me on the arse, but sometimes the stability of (userspace) software can be overrated (GDM for example can be unstable on my system, but then GNOME3 always is, and I use GDM only under duress, because it's the best desktop manager available on OPENBSD, IMO (the fact that I use MATE or XFCE, not the execrable GNOME, as my desktop might be a factor in GDM's instability. Oh, and proprietary or freemium software (even browsers like Chrome and Vivaldi) are hard to come by. Jeff PS if you're ONLY interested in embedded devices, try NetBSD too - it even runs on toasters. (This used to be a joke, but now it really does.) Steve Litt January 2018 featured book: Troubleshooting: Why Bother? http://www.troubleshooters.com/twb
