content/posts/2022-08-15-switch-from-openbsd.md


1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49

---
title: "Ending my short-lived experiment with OpenBSD"
date: 2022-08-15
lang: en
categories: [ blog, personal ]
tags: []
translationKey: "2022-08-15-switch-from-openbsd"
---

Despite [my last post][trying-openbsd], I am not actually content on this
operating system.  I believe that I have laid out some of the inconveniences
the last time:

- weird sndio control quirk
- too limited file access
- limited file descriptors
- lack of some packages

[trying-openbsd]: /posts/2022-07-31-trying-openbsd/

I find not being able to use my main messenger software enough a dealbreaker,
but last week I have just realized that there are even more dealbreakers:

- The faulty syncthing [has ruined my ebooks][ruined-ebook].
- I cannot record audio, so calling is impossible.  Yes, I have set `kern.audio.record=1`.
    This seems to be some [hardware problem][audio]; I should have checked
    carefully before buying, but how could I know?
    > On some modern Intel machines, the internal microphone is no longer wired
    > up to the HD Audio device supported by azalia(4).On some modern Intel
    > machines, the internal microphone is no longer wired up to the HD Audio
    > device supported by azalia(4).On some modern Intel machines, the internal
    > microphone is no longer wired up to the HD Audio device supported by
    > azalia(4).
- Related to calling, sharing screen made firefox crash. I reckon there is some
    security setting that prevents firefox from capturing screen.

OpenBSD also seems not to make good use of hardware and [use up quite a lot of
energy][energy] compared to other operating systems.

I think I should end this short-lived experience and go back to Linux.  I am
considering Alpine Linux and Debian GNU/Linux, but given that my hardware don't
seem to go quite well, I feel that Debian might be a better choice here.

![Meme, Thanos (labelled GNU) saying "Where did that bring you? Back to
me"](/images/back-to-gnu.png)

[ruined-ebook]: https://nixnet.social/notice/AM6BCN2awUyfvt0G4u
[audio]: https://libreddit.spike.codes/r/openbsd/comments/wlsq7z/audio_recording_doesnt_work/
[energy]: https://senioradmin.de/Energieverbrauch.html