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OpenBSD 3.8 Released
Cowards Anonymous writes "OpenBSD 3.8 is out. It comes with improved hardware support, some improvements to the OSPF daemon, some new RAID management tools, among many others. Even if you plan on installing via FTP, why not order a CD copy, tshirt, or poster as well? "
I used to run OpenBSD on my router/firewall, and I quickly grew to love it. Installing OpenBSD was one of the most painless installs I have ever experienced, although there is no graphical installer. The FAQ located on the OpenBSD web site is a very thorough and priceless guide, and there are quite a few books on OpenBSD that have been released recently, so the old argument that there's no documentation for OpenBSD to be found doesn't hold any water anymore.
Eventually, I ditched it for FreeBSD, because that's what I use on my desktop machine and on my notebook, and it feels more familiar. Also, I find patching and keeping the system up to date easier on FreeBSD than on OpenBSD. But don't let that discourage you, OpenBSD can be fun to use, just try it.
To say openbsd has risen from the dead makes no sense. It's only been getting stronger. With FreeBSD basically dying (sorry, a new website won't save you guys) and DragonFlyBSD not catching on as fast as it'd prefer, I'd say OpenBSD is the strongest of the BSD's. It continually pushes security ideas forward and continues to be the best foss network border operating system. It works fantastic for many things most people use Linux for. Web serving, file sharing, firewalling, database serving, etc...
Reality is nothing but a collective hunch.
Seeing how OpenSSH, pf and several other 'OpenBSD Spinoffs' have made it to Linux and other Unix-like operating systems, I'd have to say that at the very least, OpenBSD is by far the most interesting project in the BSD world for non-BSD:ers.
Try out fish, the friendly interactive shell.
This barrier is in place I believe for a reason. If you won't (not can't since creating a boot floppy or CD is in the FAQ) get past that hurdle then they don't want you. OpenBSD is not the Linux community where they actively want you to join. You learn that quick and it can be refreshing at times.
OpenBSD can run Linux binaries, and WINE is available, too. I don't use either facility, so I can't comment on how well it all works, but it might just work. NetBSD has this page with screenshots, among other things demoing Linux and Windows apps running under NetBSD. NetBSD and OpenBSD are closely related enough that if something works on one, chances are it will work on the other, or can be made to work without too large an effort.
Of course, there's always VMWare and the likes. QEMU also runs on OpenBSD. And, of course, the bulk of the popular open source software.
Still, not all is well. I run Linux on my laptop, and there's a reason for that: hardware support (especially power management). The server is happily on OpenBSD, though.
Please correct me if I got my facts wrong.
It's easy to ftp, even over a flaky dialup. The default install is pretty small. Get it up and working and play. If you want to add more suff later, pkg_add is extremely easy to use.