The newest version of my all time favorite operating system has been released. Focused on correctness, portability, standardization, simplicity and pro-active security, OpenBSD really does stand out when compared to many of its peers. Did I mention it’s free?

The full release announcement is available here: https://www.openbsd.org/63.html

Origins

OpenBSD was started by Theo de Raadt, in 1995, as a result of a disagreement with the NetBSD people. What started as a “go fuck yourself” software fork of NetBSD 1.0 has turned into one of the most well respected BSDs available, which is really saying something, as in some ways, BSDs stand above all other operating systems. My first copy of OpenBSD was given to me not long after it first launched, by my boss at the time: “This is going to be the coolest shit ever”, I was told.

Turned out to be true. Many big Internet sites used OpenBSD and BSD-based servers, as do manufacturers we are all familiar with. The PS3 is an example. OS X is another. Microsoft is another (true story!) Also, based on some comments I read in the Vault Leaks (you did read that stuff, right?), I am lead to believe that a certain shadowy government agency also uses it regularly, on their internal machines. If that’s not an endorsement for its security, I don’t know what is.

The default desktop of OpenBSD: barely changed since the 90's!

The world doesn't live off jam and fancy perfumes - it lives off bread and meat and potatoes. Nothing changes. All the big fancy stuff is sloppy stuff that crashes. I don't need dancing baloney - I need stuff that works. That's not as pretty, and just as hard. - Theo de Raadt

Powerful, Secure Server

OpenBSD is particularly well regarded as a platform for network servers, routers and firewalls. It has set the standard in many areas (pf, openssh) and is a wonderful choice for many infrastructure related tasks. Why anyone would build a firewall with anything but OpenBSD, I’ll never know! It also makes a great mail/web/ftp server, or what have you. If you want something rock solid that you can generally fire and forget, OpenBSD is the ticket.

What I do know is Theo is the kind of security genius that various state secret-service organizations would love to have on their side. If he were to waltz into the Department of Defense and promise to be a good boy, I think Director of Central Intelligence George Tenet would probably jizz all over himself. Annalee Newitz, AlterNet, July 8, 2003

Kickass Workstation

Workstation use is less common, but in my experience it makes a wonderful desktop operating system (depending on what you’re after.) There is a lot to like about Obsd on the desktop, but for me, here are some of the highlights:

• Installs in 5 minutes flat, if that.
• Provides very secure defaults (secure by default.)
• Logical configuration (it is easy to make it do what I want.)
• Highly stable (reboots are almost non-existent.)
• Tonnes of software available for it.
• Easy to customize.
• Awesome Documentation (the best out there, truly.)
• Everything “just works.”

Of course, for those of you coming from Windows/Apple land, there are even more things to note, when you contrast your OS with OpenBSD. Here are some things that we OBSD users take for granted:

• It’s free, and entirely open source
• The OS will do what we tell it (not the other way around.)
• There is no telemetry, no spying. At all. ZERO!
• It performs well on older hardware (I run it on a Core2Duo laptop and it is just fine!)

Here are two excellent guides to OpenBSD workstations. If you’re new to the OS you could stand to read both of these for some ideas/things to consider.

https://begriffs.com/posts/2017-05-17-openbsd-workstation-guide.html
http://eradman.com/posts/openbsd-workstation.html

Windows Users Take Note!

I hear windows users have to deal with things like lockout periods, when you can’t use your computer. I hear about forced upgrades. I hear about constant work interruptions. All of these things would be blasphemy in the OpenBSD world: there is nothing like that at all. All of that type of stuff goes completely counter to what OpenBSD is about. Your computer does what you tell it, and that’s all. If you want to upgrade daily, do it. If you want to leave it for years, do it. It’s your choice.

It’s so … Clean

When I install any version of Linux, even the smaller ones, I am always struck by the notion that “there is shit everywhere.” Configuration files are spread across hells half acre. Initialization systems (even the simple ones) are overly complex. Documentation is often spotty, at best; although you’ll often find the answer you’re looking for, being able to find the answer in the man page (local documentation) or even on the official site is often questionable. None of this is a problem with OpenBSD: everything is where it should be, and if you need answers, they are there. It has a much more professional feel to it. Linux feels like the bedroom of a sloppy teenager. OpenBSD, like that of a military cadet. I concede that there are some fairly tight linux distributions out there, but they still don’t compare.

Linux people do what they do because they hate Microsoft. We do what we do because we love Unix. -Theo deRaadt

Licensing

OpenBSD is BSD licensed, which means you can do whatever you want with it. You can take it, replace its name, and start selling it for profit. It is the absolute freest license out there, which is why people like Microsoft and Sony (and Google and Apple) take it and use it as foundations for their own products/servers. By contrast, Linux is licensed under the GPL, meaning you cannot do this: there are restrictions, varying depending on the type of GPL license. Although the debate gets very political as to which approach is better for open source, I personally believe the BSD way is best. It’s certainly cleaner. As someone who values freedom, I respect the “do whatever you want with it, I don’t care” attitude of OpenBSD, and of the BSD license generally. You can’t get any freer.

Not a Panacea

As with anything, OpenBSD is not perfect. It is known as being slightly “pokey”, and that is a valid criticism: it is not as snappy as Linux at most tasks. The reason for this tends to be security related: OpenBSD offers more protection from various exploitation techniques, but this can introduce performance degradation. On that front, you must ask yourself: what is more important, performance or security? For some applications where performance is #1, OpenBSD may not be the ideal choice. For me, I’ll take the 10% performance hit for better security, any day.

Less Software (slightly!)

As a BSD, it has less software available for it than Linux. With that said, almost all the big applications are available .. though you will definitely find that some of the shiniest, newest software does not run on OpenBSD, simply because some developers do not consider the BSD platform when developing their software. That said, Firefox, Libre Office, Gimp, and all the apps you’d expect are there, and new ones show up all the time. There is no shortage of apps whatsoever, so don’t think that because it has “fewer” that the selection is not tremendous. At last check, for the AMD64 platform, there are over 9,000 applications available.

Gamers won’t like it

Gamers are not going to like OpenBSD: it is not a good platform for that, particularly since OpenBSD dropped support for Linux binaries. That said, you CAN do a lot of gaming on the platform, but you won’t be playing AAA titles, nor any of the flashier stuff. A gentleman by the name of Mr. Satterly has kindly put together an awesome list of OpenBSD gaming resources: it will give you an idea of what you can and can’t do. Kudos to Mr. Satterly: he has obviously put a lot of time and effort into this document, and he updates it regularly.

https://mrsatterly.com/openbsd_games.html

Can “normal” people use it?

Yes and no. If you do not have some decent computer experience, you’re probably not going to have the greatest of luck with it. That said, if you have some Linux experience and are willing to do a little work, you can probably make a go of it. If you have someone knowledgeable who can help you with the initial setup, even better.

My wife runs OpenBSD, and she is not a highly technical user (although she did recently write an ffmpeg video editing script, so there is hope for her yet.) It took me awhile to get things adjusted to her liking (like, a couple hours), but now, she refuses to try anything else. I wanted to set her up with some virtualization stuff so that she could run multiple OS’s at the same time, for testing web sites, and she defiantly told me “You are NOT touching this, I love it.” I tried to explain that she’d have basically the same thing when I was done, but she was having NONE of it. “You are not touching my computer, it’s the best one I have ever had.” That was the end of the discussion. She used to be an OS X user, by the way. But now, she’s seen the light.

Summary

If you can’t tell already, I’m a huge fan of OpenBSD. Truthfully, I feel slightly dirty installing anything less. I have over two decades (oh my god, two DECADES) of experience with OpenBSD, and it has truly stood the test of time, and stayed true to its ideals (such a rare thing in the world today.) If you’ve got some computer chops and a willingness to learn, I’d highly suggest you check it out. Although it will seem slightly overwhelming to start with, you’ll quickly come to see why so many people love it and swear by it. There is a tonne of documentation out there to help you with the process, which is actually fairly simple:

Download iso, burn to CD or USB
Boot. Install.
Install applications (with the command ‘pkg_add appname’)
Customize desktop (by editing one or two files)
Security (turn on firewall, establish vpn connection, etc.)

The best computer to experiment on is “your old one.” If you’ve got something collecting dust, blow it off and give OpenBSD a try. You’ll (eventually) be very happy you did, for once you “get it” there is no going back. Truly, once you understand what this classy, elegant OS gives you, you’re going to have a hard time with anything else.

Re-claim some of your digital sovereignty and install the OS of Champions:

http://openbsd.org

---

[ @xwalkran ]

Seeking truth, meaning and enlightenment.
Philosophy, Technology, News, Conspiracy, Homesteading, Fiction, $$ and more.

Check out my news/conspiracy aggregation site @ http://walkran.com