OpenBSD
OpenBSD is a freely available UNIX-like computer operating system descended from Berkeley Software Distribution (BSD), a Unix derivative developed at the University of California, Berkeley. It was forked from NetBSD (the oldest of the three most popular BSD-based operating systems still active today, with FreeBSD being the other) by project leader Theo de Raadt in late 1995. The project is widely known for the developers' insistence on open source code and quality documentation; uncompromising position on software licensing; and focus on security and code correctness. The project is coordinated from de Raadt's home in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Its logo and mascot is Puffy, a pufferfish. The current release is 4.0 and it was released on November 1, 2006. Target release dates are in May and November.
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Resources
The OpenBSD system is extremely well-documented and there are many FAQs and guides freely available on the Web, so instead of re-writing most of it, below I have listed some resources by which you can find out more about OpenBSD:
- http://www.openbsd.org -- The home page for OpenBSD.
- http://www.openbsd.org/faq/index.html -- The official FAQ. Lots of helpful information here.
- http://www.openbsd101.com/ -- An excellent site for beginners. Some great practical information/help.
- http://marc.theaimsgroup.com/ -- OpenBSD mailing-list archive. Helpful to find topics that have already been discussed.
- http://undeadly.org -- A news site for OpenBSD.
- http://ports.openbsd.nu/ -- Port tracking.
- http://openbsdsupport.org/ -- General documentation and guides.
- http://www.bsdguides.org/guides/openbsd/ -- Guides
- http://www.nomoa.com/bsd/ -- Guides.
- http://www.weirdnet.nl/openbsd/ -- Guides/tips.
- http://opendoc.lindesign.se/ -- More guides/scripts.
- http://www.seifried.org/oag/ -- Seifried's OpenBSD Administrator's Guide.
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenBSD -- Wikipedia coverage
- http://vendorwatch.org -- Information on the open-ness and contributions of hardware vendors to opensource developers.
- http://openbsd-wiki.org -- Unofficial wiki. Guides/tips.
Getting it
OpenBSD has no wealthy sponsors, nor a business model.
OpenBSD is released on official CD sets. People purchasing these official release sets, other merchandise such as T-shirts and posters, along with donations are one of the few ways that the project is able to remain active. You are also able to donate hardware.
That said, you are able to download a small CD ISO which will allow you to do an FTP or HTTP install from one of the many mirrors. You can also perform other trickery like making your own install CD from the mirrors.
That leads us right into..
Installation
The installation procedure of OpenBSD is well-documented in the FAQ.
If you want to see it an action, check out this video on YouTube.
Further Information
You can discuss OpenBSD and get help with it on OCAU by joining the Other Operating Systems area of the forums.