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05.01.07
A Quick Way to OpenBSD and How to Use it
 By
Juraj Sipos
I have been a BSD user since the late 1990's. I made my own FreeBSD distro - 1fcdbsd or One Floppy CD Audio and MP3 Player (http://www.freebsd.nfo.sk/), and I gained some experience with the BSD world, which rather thrives on the side without people's knowledge that it is almost the best.
BSD systems have a different licensing policy and anybody can take their code, change it and claim it to be his own. If you right click on the file "winsock.dll" in Windows 98 (C:\Windows\winsock.dll), you will see "BSD Socket API for Windows" in the Properties > Version window; however, the "BSD" is not seen in newer Windows systems in the "version information" window of winsock.dll. But there is a lot of information on the Internet if you google both terms : "winsock.dll" AND "bsd".
Albeit the real Unix is BSD, I tried all possible Linux distributions, too, and what I really loved about them was their revolutionary availability as Live CD's. You may download them as ISO images at the drop of a hat. With BSD systems, this is a bit different. You could hardly find a desired BSD Live CD in the 1990's. Only a few of them do appear now. Therefore, I tackled the problem of building such a CD myself. I toiled with FreeBSD. I succeeded. Later I focused on OpenBSD, as it has a good reputation concerning its solid security structure. I succeeded too. But this would require additional writing and this article is not about making an OpenBSD Live CD, but about making a simple OpenBSD bootable installation CD/DVD, which is also hard to get.
Usability BSD systems work well with all kinds of standard hardware; however, some users say they are "less user-friendly". On the other hand, others consider the so-called "user- friendliness" to be a hindrance in making needed configurations, as in other systems, where many services run automatically, it is a bit irritating when administrators, with their own security policies in mind, must turn them off on a regular basis.
Linux is more developed in terms of its accessibility to various types of hardware like, for example, inkjet printers or WiFi USB solutions. OpenBSD could be, from a Linux user's point of view, a can of worms. Some may disagree with me, but in the world where all mainstream operating systems bet on easiness-to-use and the graphical interactivity, this is surely the case. This means you must forget about graphical installers - your first touch with the system is the text mode. But the text is the best format I like.
OpenBSD cooperates with Linux, too - it can run Linux programs on an emulation layer; DOS programs within the Qemu emulator, as well as FreeBSD and other BSD and Unix binaries. Albeit OpenOffice.org has not been ported yet, you can easily write or open your MS Word documents in TextMaker for Linux or in native OpenBSD AbiWord port and use many other Linux or BSD applications.
The system and packages
The BSD family of operating systems consists of the base system and packages. The OpenBSD core - its kernel and the base system (system/network utilities, man pages, etc.) get cautiously, if not paranoically audited for security holes.
Continue reading this article.
About the Author:
David Evans is a technical author that specialises in Linux NTP Server synchronisation systems. Find out more about Linux NTP Server systems at: http://www.timetools.co.uk/ntp-servers/ref/linux-ntp-server.htm
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