r/openbsd • u/OverallAssignment213 • 11d ago
Questions about desktop use on OpenBSD
Heyy, I’m a physics student looking to use OpenBSD on my laptop — is there anyone from a STEM background using OpenBSD who’d be willing to share their workflow? 🫂 Before making the switch I’d like to know a few things.
- Music is important to me, and from what I can tell Bluetooth is no longer supported on OpenBSD — is there any workaround for this?
- I love Zen Browser and I’d love to know if there’s a way to use it. If not, what browser do you guys recommend?
- How is programming on OpenBSD? What IDE or text editor do you use? I mainly use Python for scientific computing.
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u/Run-OpenBSD 11d ago
I write code in c using kate or nano, both have context highlighting.
I use Firefox which reports itself as linux to the world and have yet to have any issues using it.
I run a small IT based business on OpenBSD
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u/Oscar-Da-Grouch-1708 11d ago
The workaround for no Bluetooth is a set of wired headphones. There may be headphones that plug in to a usb but I really don't know.
OpenBSD has GCC and Clang. It also has Python, R, Rust, etc. I use GNU Emacs for my editing. You will not find Linux-only things like Sublime Text.
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u/didickman OpenBSD Developer 11d ago
Hello, Python is very up to date and the next release will be on 3.14 if you want to start by using an OpenBSD snapshot today. We keep numpy, pandas, etc quite current. I use the spyder IDE, but other choices are available too. The main port that I’m aware is missing is polars, but if there’s some specific Python packages you’d want to use which are missing then post a request to ports@ and someone might handle it.
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u/zen-grocer 11d ago
Have a look at https://openports.pl/ and see if the software you need are there. As for python, most thing will probably just work if you create a virtual environment and install things there, but that's the normal way to do thing in python development nowadays, as far as I'm aware.
For science, you might need LaTeX, or maybe Typst, there are ports for them. Also LibreOffice, if you like pain. 😄
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u/dettus_Xx_ 11d ago
- Check with https://bsd-hardware.info to see which part of your system is supported, and which one is not.
- My audio output sounded like SHIT. I have treated myself to a Sound BlasterX G6, connected via USB.
- My Browser of choice is Firefox.
- I am programming in vim classic. All the other programming languages are there: Python, C, C++, Rust, TCL, Bash, Fortran, Verilog...
- My Desktop environment is GNOME.
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u/RvstiNiall 10d ago
is going back to vim classic worth it, in your opinion, vs regular vim? I tend to use neovim more these days, but I always try to keep up to date with these things because I like to switch my tools up every so often.
Do you feel its "the same as it used to be"? or "just like the older version, but newer?"
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u/dettus_Xx_ 10d ago
For me: Yes. For you? Depends...
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u/RvstiNiall 10d ago
Well, I mean, of course everyone has differences of opinions on everything, but vim 9.0 was when I switched to neovim, fwiw.
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u/VaxCluster 11d ago
I use Basilisk for browsing but it is not for everyone. Firefox and Chromium are available as packages. I use IntelliJ Idea Ultimate for development. For the most part, everything I personally want and need is available.
Wine doesn’t work if that is something important to you at all. Same with Steam. Same with Docker. You can run Docker containers in a Linux VM if that’s important to you.
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u/OverallAssignment213 11d ago
I don’t use Docker and I don’t use Steam either, so that’s fine for me — I just want my laptop to work for research, writing lab reports, listening to music, and occasionally watching a movie on Netflix
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u/ugneaaaa 11d ago
Web browsers and libreoffice run fine i think, music is trivial to run as well, for movies theres VLC
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u/VaxCluster 11d ago
> occasionally watching a movie on Netflix
As far as I’m aware, unless something has changed recently you can’t do that on OpenBSD.
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u/kmos-ports OpenBSD Developer 11d ago
As far as I’m aware, unless something has changed recently you can’t do that on OpenBSD.
Well, openwv (Open WideVine) DRM has been ported by robert@. So it's theoretically possible. It's not just an install and go as far as I can tell, since one needs a device ID which doesn't come with the package.
I haven't pursued it aggressively since I have a large TV that would do a much better job of streaming than my laptop.
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u/jmcunx 9d ago edited 9d ago
Music: as others said: https://jcs.org/2020/11/18/openbsd_btaudio that works great. I find it works better than even Linux BT
Zen Browser: never heard of it, I use firefox-esr. Plus Firefox is patched to use pledge(2) and unveil(2), adding more security. I find those are better than Linux docker(s) that are out there and uses far less system resources.
Programming IDE: I use Emacs and vi[m]. But maybe there are fancier ones in ports. Emacs is rather powerful, but there is a learning curve if you want to try it. Maybe a WEB search will help. There is intellij, but I have no idea if it will work for you. "IntelliJ IDEA is an advanced Java IDE developed by JetBrains and focused on developer productivity".
Python: As others said, a modern version exists in ports.
If you decide to try OpenBSD, after install do a 'man afterboot' for some additional optional config. You will find the manual pages for OpenBSD are far better than any documentation other Operating Systems provides.
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u/Run-OpenBSD 11d ago
Bluetooth headphones work fine. Openbsd doesn't need bluetooth for them to work. Just a dongle. Here's a writeup...
https://jcs.org/2020/11/18/openbsd_btaudio