# Ander runs OpenBSD I am 31, I earned an advanced degree in IT (something between high school and college). I'm learning ANSI C and Math in my spare time. First, I began with Debian Woody in 2003. A rough start, because I had no documentation around (just an article from a magazine), but I began to truly understand computers. Thanks to the Unix-like operating systems I had a solid ground on how actually these machines work. And those OSes were fun, hackable, expandable. A few years later, I tried a Live CD with [FreeSBIE]—OS based on [FreeBSD]. It ran faster than Linux, even from the CD. Finally, I'd got my internet connection. First, I had read FreeBSD manuals, and later I discovered [NetBSD] and [OpenBSD]. I was amazed. Clear steps to setup X, daemons easily explained, everything. No more `/etc/sysconfig`. [pf(4)] syntax is saner than iptables, and compat_linux(8), and it ran Opera even (proprietary, I know, but back in the day it was preferable). I hadn't switched to BSD yet, but I applied a lot of its philosophy on my Linux setup, it was wonderful. I began to like distros like Crux and its ports. Later I tried [DesktopBSD] 1.x, and it felt as fast as the old FreeSBIE distro, but now it was installable. So, with OpenBSD 5.3 all my hardware was recognized according to [dmesg(8)]—I made my final switch. OpenBSD is easy to install and manage (binary ports!). I followed [afterboot(8)] tips, before reading the [FAQ], which exmplains all the basics. Every upcoming release improves performance a lot and, what's more important, what I've learned stays as is. I realized how many years I wasted switching operating systems, when one BSD gives me all. All my half-baked knowledge from now defunct Linux distros is outdated. It's different with BSDs: all you've learned will serve you well for years. The tipping point for me was a complete base, great documentation, and availability. Linux was everywhere: in magazines, on book covers, in libraries. While getting a BSD distro was a matter of luck, because for a teenager ordering CDs from outside of Europe would've been really expensive. With broadband at home BSD was an easy choice. Back to OpenBSD. I run OpenBSD on my desktop PC and I do everything on it: IT theory, homework programming exercises, pf(4) testing under [vmm(4)]/[vmd(8)], web browsing, media playing, gaming (source ports and emulators). Nobody would believed me in 2004, if I told them that I am playing a Game Cube game under OpenBSD and MESA. All of that on a low-end 4GB machine. Now I'm getting another Advanced Degree as a developer, and all Linux VMs run under vmm(4) with VNC for Mono Develop IDE. Find me on [Mastodon]. _[11 Aug 2018](/raw/people/anthk.md)_ [FreeSBIE]: http://www.freesbie.org/ [FreeBSD]: https://www.freebsd.org [NetBSD]: https://www.netbsd.org [DesktopBSD]: https://www.desktopbsd.net [pf(4)]: https://man.openbsd.org/pf.4 [vmm(4)]: https://man.openbsd.org/vmm.4 [vmd(8)]: https://man.openbsd.org/vmd.8 [dmesg(8)]: https://man.openbsd.org/dmesg.8 [afterboot(8)]: https://man.openbsd.org/afterboot.8 [OpenBSD]: https://www.openbsd.org [FAQ]: https://www.openbsd.org/faq/ [Mastodon]: https://bsd.network/@anthk