alt Hacker NewsThere are a few nice to haves that would really help me out with making an open bsd transition. I thought of writing them myself because I am getting very fed up with Linux for the above reasons.
- IDE support is an issue still
- Filesystem challenging when using a laptop that runs out of battery
- MATE lacking volume and WiFi controls
- This one is just me being picky but a GUI to help me gain a better understanding of the security settings or alternatively more up to date books.
- I am not exactly sure on how to correctly use virtualization and I need it to support docker workloads at work
Replies
> - IDE support is an issue still
I thought it was about the parallel ATA. And I tought "who uses that still?!" but is about IDEs for programming...
sorry about the topic deviation, but I laughed hard.
> alternatively more up to date books.
One of the reasons you don't see a lot of books around OpenBSD (aside from the very small userbase) is that the built-in documentation is so good. The manpages are actually worth reading, and for the more complex services, include examples and additional reading.
But still, the rest of your points are very true. OpenBSD is really not for everybody, but I think that's one of its strengths. It works extremely well for the people it works for, because it's not trying to coax new users into the fold.
Also, you know, like you don't have to use OpenBSD for everything. I still have plenty of Linux servers, and Linux computers, because there are some things OpenBSD is not suited to.
Your points are valid but I'd like to present counterpoints:
> IDE support is an issue still
IMO, languages and platforms that require IDEs, also leads to complex software that is hard to maintain. The only exception is smalltalk.
> Filesystem challenging when using a laptop that runs out of battery
Easily resolved by using apmd and it `-z` flag. I think there's a couple utility out there that you can script for monitoring battery level.
> MATE lacking volume and WiFi controls
One of the good strength of OpenBSD is that the cli utilities are quite nice that I've not installed gui replacements (I'm using cwm). I don't mind doing a few `doas ifconfig` every once in a while.
> but a GUI to help me gain a better understanding of the security settings
I'm with you on that one. But the man pages are truly extensive. And the OS code is fairly readable.
> how to correctly use virtualization
Current vm solution is very bare. For docker, you'll need a linux VM, but the installation process maybe troublesome. It only supports serial interaction, which can be disabled by default in some distros.