SBC & BSD

I'm curious, how many people are successfully running BSD on their SBC.

I'm thinking of using (Open/Net) BSD on my RPi SBC, (3A+ with 512MB ram probably), as BSD normally installs less MB of programs than Linux.

I've used OpenBSD mainly on my (Intel) computers/laptops, so have the basics under my belt; any one using it on a RPi as their daily driver?

(Interested in hearing about other BSD too.)

I'd be curious if anyone bothered to build a BSD OS. Design & Provide BSD licensed software for sbcs of varying power, cpu architecture etc? The early stages are the worst, and sbcs & tablets are so difficult. Then there's the many places where compiles break because x86 code breaks on another arch. Maybe if you got life in solitary, but they gave you internet and an sbc …

EDIT: The worst thing is that if your OS was any use, someone like m$ or Google could rip it off, and copyright it!

I know there are releases for the RPi, I'm just after other peoples opinions, if possible, before I try installing.

There are 2 versions I'd like to try, FujuIta/OpenBSD & NetBSD, just haven't got around to it, yet.

(Re the rip off merchants, we know that one has been using parts of BSD code for years.)

Originally Posted by fatmac (Re the rip off merchants, we know that one has been using parts of BSD code for years.)

Are you talking aboiut m$ or Apple? Because I know of two that have the BSD network stack.

Well knowing what we know about M$ quality, would anyone want them to even attempt their own network stack?

OpenSSH is probably the most ripped off component, it would seem:

If a penny was donated for every pf or OpenSSH installed with a mainstream operating system or phone in the last year we would be at our goal. -- OpenBSD 2020 Fundraising Campaign

As for the question, I'm getting ready to try OpenBSD on the RPi 4B again soon. I read there has been a lot of work done in -current since I last tried it.

Originally Posted by business_kid Are you talking about m$ or Apple? Because I know of two that have the BSD network stack.

Mainly M$, but Apple uses FreeBSD under its Aqua desktop, (or at least, used to).

@Turbocapitalist

Please post in this thread when you do, we may be able to encourage others to try the BSDs on their SBCs.

OpenBSD 7.0 (64 bit) with Xfce and a handful of applications running smoothly on RPi4 4GB, alternating with Slackware -current (32 bit, until 64 bit is released.)

In terms of speed, it’s not blazing fast for web browsing on FF or Chromium, for instance, but acceptably fast for what I do. In a pinch, it would do even as a daily driver for general day to day use - web browsing, webmail, simple document writing.

If you have specific questions about it, ask and I will answer what I can, when I can - family priorities will be intermittently keeping me away from my RPi and LQ, so I can’t promise quick turnaround.

TKS

Thanks TKS, I'm wondering how it fairs compared to RaspiOS/Firefox or Devuan/Firefox mainly.

I'm only a casual user, but I like to have as little as possible on my discs re programs, especially as I only use a couple regularly, Web Browser & Music/Movie Player mostly.

I've used OpenBSD on a regular Intel computer successfully, wondering how it performs on ARM.

Originally Posted by fatmac Thanks TKS, I'm wondering how it fairs compared to RaspiOS/Firefox or Devuan/Firefox mainly.

I haven’t run RasPiOS in a long time. I should upgrade it and give it a go again, and then I can compare. It could be awhile before I get to that, though.

I run my SlackwareARM -current 32 bit and my OpenBSD 7.0 64 bit on the same RPi4 4GB but on two different brand, model and spec SD cards, so I couldn’t fairly compare FF launch time difference. Maybe - *maybe* - FF runs ever so slightly faster on my Slackware than on my OpenBSD, but that really is a weak impression, not an objective test and if even true the difference would be small enough that FF speed wouldn’t be a deciding factor for me between using Slackware or OpenBSD for browsing.

TKS

Originally Posted by TheTKS I haven’t run RasPiOS in a long time. I should upgrade it and give it a go again, and then I can compare. It could be awhile before I get to that, though.

DON'T! I have an RPi 4B (4G, 1.5Ghz), and went from Buster (which was getting no updates) to Bullseye, the latest. I keep losing audio, and there are reports of issues with this update. That's true of 32 & 64 bit. I chased the audio myself. It's configured; it has module & firmware; Alsa seems happy, and is giving it loads; Even that stupid sound widget in X looks good. BUT NO SOUND! My Pi is a media box, so sound is essential for me. If you update, 100% that breaks sound on Bullseye. If you don't update, sound goes away by itself on 32 & 64 bit versions. You boot it, and sound isn't there.

I'm very wary of any system that can hide a fault that well, and went to Slackware versions of which there will soon be 3

1. Slackware Arm 32bit - handlind the Pi & a few sbcs. Bitchy to set up, but it has official status.
2. Ditto in 64bit is due out this summer - Slackware Arm aarch64.
3. Slarm64 - just a 64bit version. This is distributed for many SBCs, they do binary images for installation; it services many sbcs and has many packages not in the standard slackware available. I'm using that.

I'm not without issues on Slarm64. I'm having issues adding a user. The user goes in, but I can't set a password. You could get around that by logging in as root and then running 'su <user>' but it's messy. I'm also unable to transfer a system to sdcard, as rc.S fails to run. On the sdcard, it's just fine.

Originally Posted by business_kid DON'T! I have an RPi 4B (4G, 1.5Ghz), and went from Buster (which was getting no updates) to Bullseye, the latest. I keep losing audio…

business_kid, thanks for the heads up. Audio is a point I wasn’t thinking about, since I don’t use audio on my RPi, but fatmac is curious about FF performance on the Pi with a Linux (specifically RPiOS) vs with a BSD. I’ll have to try watching a video and streaming some music via FF on both and see what happens.

Originally Posted by business_kid Slackware Arm 32bit - handlind the Pi & a few sbcs. Bitchy to set up, but it has official status.

This thread is BSD focused, but I have to respond to this one. I had no problem setting up SlackwareARM 32 bit on my RPi4 4GB, with the Sarpi packages and following the Sarpi recipe strictly, so my experience wasn’t “bitchy.” Definitely more time consuming and more involved than setting up Raspbian, but mostly ran like a top once set up. There have been some incidents (ex. wifi and BT not working for awhile, but I almost always connect via ethernet cable), but not more than I’ve had with other Linux installations on ARM or x86_64 (I’ve run Raspbian too little to compare.)

TKS

On the Pi versus my laptop, the Pi is slower, noticably on scripts. I also have FF & palemoon oddities on the Pi, but chromium seems better.

Originally Posted by TheTKS ......difference would be small enough that FF speed wouldn’t be a deciding factor for me..... TKS

Many thanks for the insight.

I was about to give FuguIta (OpenBSD) a try yesterday, until I saw it uses a serial console as default - I think I need something that 'just works' these days.


(By the way, my main distro on my RPi SBCs is Devuan - thought I'd mention it, as some are having problems with other distros.)