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<h1 id="openbsd-is-a-cozy-operating-system">OpenBSD is a Cozy Operating System</h1>
<p>2024-04-11</p>
<p><img src="/public/images/open-suck-75.png" alt="Screenshot of OpenBSD 7.5 running dwm" /></p>
<p><em>OpenBSD 7.5 running dwm on my X220</em></p>
<p>With the recent release of OpenBSD 7.5, I decided to run through my <a href="https://git.btxx.org/open-suck/about/">personal OpenBSD &#8220;installer&#8221;</a> for laptop&#47;desktop devices. The project is built off of the <code>dwm</code> tiling window manager and only installs a few basic packages. The last time I updated it was with the release of 7.3, so it&#8217;s been due for an minor rework.</p>
<p>While making these minor changes, I remembered how incredibly easy the entire install process for OpenBSD is and how <em>cozy</em> the entire operating system feels. All the core systems just work out the box. Yes, you need to &#8220;patch&#8221; in WiFi with a firmware update, so you&#8217;ll need an Ethernet connection during the initial setup. Yes, the default desktop environment is not intuitive or ideal for newcomers.</p>
<p>But the positives heavily outweigh the negatives (in my opinion):</p>
<ul>
<li>Incredibly secure operating system (No <code>xz</code> drama here&#8230;)</li>
<li>Detailed documentation. Probably one of the best of any OS</li>
<li>Much smaller codebase and small core team</li>
<li><em>Complete</em> operating system (kernel, userland utilities, libraries, applications combined)</li>
</ul>
<p>These points might not seem important to others, but they are to me. Maybe you&#8217;re possibly interested in checking it out yourself? If you are, then read on&#8230;</p>
<h2 id="try-it-yourself">Try it Yourself!</h2>
<p>I&#8217;ve tried my best to write up a simplified, noob-friendly guide on both setting up the core OpenBSD system, along with installing a simple <code>dwm</code> based desktop environment. These are both focused on personal devices (laptops&#47;computers), so if you&#8217;re looking for server-specific setups you won&#8217;t find that here!</p>
<p>You can find both of those wiki-pages below:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://btxx.org/wiki/openbsd/installation/">Installing OpenBSD</a></li>
<li><a href="https://btxx.org/wiki/openbsd/desktop_environment/">Setting up a Desktop Environment for OpenBSD</a></li>
</ul>
<p>Some additional reading I highly recommend is: <a href="https://www.c0ffee.net/blog/openbsd-on-a-laptop">c0ffee.net&#47;blog&#47;openbsd-on-a-laptop</a></p>
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