OliveBSD: February 2008 Archives

Hardware configuration in OpenBSD is better than I thought it would be. My optimism largely stems from the fact that OpenBSD boots at all on this computer, which won't even get you to a boot prompt in NetBSD, FreeBSD, any variety of Red Hat past version 3, PCLinuxOS ... it's a long list.

Another good thing about the way OpenBSD installs is that while it begins in a minimal configuration, you do have the choice of running with or without X. I chose to install everything, which included X and the Fvwm window manger. While the 15-inch CRT monitor and video chip I have on this converted Maxspeed Maxterm thin client (with VIA C3 Samuel processor) can do 16-bit color and 1024 x 768 resolution, X autoconfigured at 800 x 600.

I tried "forcing" 1024 x768 and 16-bit color, but it kept reverting to 800 x 600. I got the same resolution on the OliveBSD live CD based on OpenBSD. I didn't necessarily need to see another version of OpenBSD, but since I had one -- Anonym.OS -- that autoconfigured at 1024 x 768 and looked great in Fluxbox, I loaded it and looked at the xorg.conf.

What it had that my OpenBSD install didn't was specified values for HorizSync and VertRefresh.

I entered those values:

Section "Monitor"
Identifier "Monitor0"
VendorName "Monitor Vendor"
ModelName "Monitor Model"
HorizSync 31.5 - 48.5
VertRefresh 50.0 - 90.0
EndSection

Then I restarted X and had 1024 x 768 resolution.

But ... after only a few minutes, X crashed. I could ctrl-alt-backspace out of it and start X again, but it kept happening.

I had already turned on "screen blanking" in the console, so I turned it off. Still X crashed.

Then I rebooted and loaded Puppy Linux 3.01. In Puppy, you generally have to choose your color depth and monitor resolution, and I did so, started the system and looked at xorg.conf.

The HorizSync values were the same, but the VertRefresh was different. I made the following modification to OpenBSD's xorg.conf, and now X has been running continuously for over 12 hours:

Section "Monitor"
Identifier "Monitor0"
VendorName "Monitor Vendor"
ModelName "Monitor Model"
HorizSync 31.5 - 48.5
VertRefresh 56.0 - 72.0
EndSection

Again, it pays to know what your monitor and video card is capable of before you start hacking into xorg.conf. It's always a good idea to copy the original and each configuration that's in any way promising so you won't lose it.

I've tried OpenBSD before, and I always said I'd try it again.

In the interim, I was able to try OpenBSD in a desktop configuration with the OliveBSD live CD, and that made me want to try a hard-drive installation of OpenBSD, which not coincidentally is the only one of the three major BSD projects (which include NetBSD and FreeBSD) to boot on my test machine -- a converted Maxspeed Maxterm thin client with a VIA C3 Samuel CPU.

First of all, OpenBSD has excellent online documentation, and since I have two computers right next to each other, I was able to use my Windows box to follow along as I installed OpenBSD on the converted thin client.

As was the case the last time I installed it, OpenBSD went on the box without a hitch. I created a user account, added it to the wheel group, which gave me sudo privileges, and I added the path to an FTP site for the precompiled packages to my .profile file. That enabled me to begin adding applications.

If you select all packages during the install OpenBSD begins its life on your computer with enough to get you going. You do get the X Window system along with the Fvwm window manager -- which I'm going to stick with for at least awhile this time. You also get the Lynx text-only Web browser, and things like xterm and vi (of course).

This time, since I figured out how to set the path to my local FTP mirror, I was able to begin turning my OpenBSD box into a usable desktop system. As I might've said above, I'm trying to be way more methodical this time about how I proceed. So far, everything's working perfectly.

I've added the following applications:

Dillo (lightweight X Web browser)
Geany (GUI text editor)
Firefox
Nano (console editor)
MC (Midnight Commander console file manager)
Rox (the ROX-filer GUI file manager)
Abiword (also added aspell, but Abiword and aspell aren't working together as yet)
Xscreensaver (which tended to freeze X, so I removed it)

That's all I've added for now.

What I'm going to do next:

-- Attempt to configure X for my 1024 x 768 CRT monitor (Done 2/6/08 with help from the Anonym.OS live CD ... and a little help from Puppy Linux after X began crashing)
-- Add applications to the Fvwm menus (I think Fvwm uses the Twm configuration file, and I've already located it) (Still working on it ... adding to the Twm configuration file didn't work, and I can't find the Fvwm configuration file)

A big part of this is the SCALE 6X convention this weekend in Los Angeles. All three of the major BSD projects will have booths at the show, and I wanted to have a successful BSD install under my belt, so to speak, before I hit the floor (literally and figuratively).

An aside: If I had a chance in hell of figuring out ACPI and my Gateway laptop's CPU fan, I would've installed OpenBSD on it -- and I still might do that on my older Compaq laptop -- but for now I'm sticking with the desktop and wired Ethernet.

Another thing that prompted me to do the install was finding Jem Matzan's Web page. There's a whole lot of good stuff to read there on Linux and BSD, and Jem is the author of two PDF-only books, one on FreeBSD, the other on OpenBSD. I definitely plan to get the latter one.

Michael Lukas has a new FreeBSD book out, but his OpenBSD book is out of print, though it is available as a PDF, which I think I'm going to spring for. I've seen Lukas' new FreeBSD book, and he's both very good as a technician and as a writer. I highly recommend anything he's written.

Another inspiration in this has been Denny White, a desktop OpenBSD user with a whole lot of knowledge -- and a willingness to share it.

I've also learned that it's relatively easy to create your own BSD live CD -- something I just might do in the future.

But the main reason I wanted to install, configure and use OpenBSD was that it's different -- and fun.

And again, if you're anywhere in Southern California, you are going to SCALE 6X, aren't you?