OpenBSD LiveCD

Tsuroerusu · Post by **Tsuroerusu** » Tue Feb 21, 2006 11:49 pm

The version of BSD you never would think of as a LiveCD, OpenBSD!
OliveBSD is a new OpenBSD-based LiveCD, being a big fan of OpenBSD (Their mascot is great!) I just thought I'd say it's something to take a look at

thetza · Post by **thetza** » Wed Feb 22, 2006 4:23 am

Why, would you want to use a openbsd desktop live cd? If it were a router distro I would understand. Kewl name tho.

Tsuroerusu · Post by **Tsuroerusu** » Wed Feb 22, 2006 4:53 am

thetza wrote:Why, would you want to use a openbsd desktop live cd?

Well, PowerMac owners might, because the OpenBSD guys are working on G5 support for 3.9 which is pretty exciting, at least to me, who knows when people will sell you a G5 for 800 bucks, in order to get one of the new sshiny Intel ones or have Steve Jobs' next child?

I personally like OpenBSD, not only because I'm interested in security, and even though OpenBSD may seem weird as a desktop OS, I can tell you, it works very well, not a problem, but we're getting to the point where any UNIX, OK maybe not MINIX, can be used a desktop OS.[/code]

Aaron X · Post by **Aaron X** » Thu Feb 23, 2006 7:14 am

Its only andecdotal, but I was running FreeBSD quite happily as a desktop OS and speeeeeeeed was great. I am developing quite a liking for a BSD machine as a stable machine while playing with Linux for a play around machine which is a lot more fun

Tsuroerusu · Post by **Tsuroerusu** » Thu Feb 23, 2006 7:20 am

What I plan to do in the future, when I get a more powerful AMD64 box (I am actually saving up for it, and I plan to do so for a while longer so I really can get something that kicks ass), either I'll get an AMD X2 or a dual CPU Opteron system. Both choices depend on a good SMP capable OS to be used to the full capabilities. I've been doing a little bit of reading on the different OSes, and to me it seems that FreeBSD's implementation of SMP is generally more solid and robust than the one in Linux, of course Linux's is better than Windows that's just a fact. I think that in FreeBSD 7 we will see Xen support, so what I plan to do is run FreeBSD as my main OS and then run a Linux distro in Xen (And have A LOT of RAM, 3 GB possibly) all the time, so than I actually run them both, that way I can have all the benefits of FreeBSD's ports system and all that cool stuff, and avoid the Java mess by running my Azureus addiction in the Xen'ed Linux

Aaron X · Post by **Aaron X** » Thu Feb 23, 2006 8:32 am

Tsuroerusu wrote:What I plan to do in the future, when I get a more powerful AMD64 box (I am actually saving up for it, and I plan to do so for a while longer so I really can get something that kicks ass), either I'll get an AMD X2 or a dual CPU Opteron system. Both choices depend on a good SMP capable OS to be used to the full capabilities.

I believe they have worked all the way through the kernel to ensure that it makes good use of multi-cores. If they put as much effort into it as those slight TOO geeky BSD people usually do it will work awesome.

What else are you planning to do with that sort of machine... trying to put the SETI@home project out of business?

Tsuroerusu · Post by **Tsuroerusu** » Thu Feb 23, 2006 9:42 am

Aaron X wrote:I believe they have worked all the way through the kernel to ensure that it makes good use of multi-cores. If they put as much effort into it as those slight TOO geeky BSD people usually do it will work awesome.

What else are you planning to do with that sort of machine... trying to put the SETI@home project out of business?

I'm not going to get into the Linux vs. BSD debate, but I'll say this: THEY'RE BOTH GREAT!

Well, I like the idea of having a super fast machine, and also, the ability to add a lot of RAM, PCI-X, motherboards with features sets on steroids and all that stuff. Also, I like the FreeBSD ports system, because it gives be the choice between a source install or a binary install, which is really great, so I can compile when it makes sense, and install binary packages when it makes sense. That compile a dual Opteron (The low end 1.8 Ghz Opteron chips are dirt cheap, I think they're about 200 bucks, not bad for a great 64-bit workstation chip) would do blazingly fast, and Xen has really caught my interest so having a lot of RAM and either dual core or dual CPU makes a lot of sense if you're gonna run multiple operating systems. Also, I'm a storage a junkie, and with Opteron I can get the best of a server chip and the best from a workstation chip, for example, servers that use SATA typically use a PCI-X SATA controller, and that can allow for up to 16 drives on one controller if you have have big pockets, but even the SX8 controller from Promise is relativly inexpensive and can carry 8 drives, and if I can get two PCI-X slots, that's 16 drives plus the 4 onboard ports, which allows me to use 20 drives! And 400 GB drives are like sky diving in price, if I thrown in 8 x 400 GB drives with some automated back up stuff, I would almost eliminate the whole "no more space" barrier, because even though I download about 80 GB a month (Podcasts, video shows, and all sorts of good stuff) I think 16 x 400 GB is enough for at least a few years when I can build a dedicated file server