Changing tack

[mefisto]

Greetings all,

after several additional unsuccessful attempts on upgrade, I tend to agree with Onauk's conclusion in the original thread https://daemonforums.org/showthread.php?t=12512.

Thus, I dug out an ancient, by today's standard, ThinkPad R61, and discovered that it contained OpenBSD 7.2. I was able to upgrade, first to 7.3, and eventually to 7.4.

I had several issues during the upgrade. First, there was a problem with re-linking a kernel, it took several reboots to accomplish this. (During both 7.2 -> 7.3 and 7.3 -> 7.4).

Then X quit working with

 /var/log/Xorg.0.log

reporting

(EE) failed to open /dev/xf86 and /dev/mem, permission denied

and several additional errors. The offered solution to add

machdep.allowaperture=1

to (non-existent) file /etc/sysctl.conf not only fixed the error, but the VESA(4) driver from the 7.2 version was replaced with nv(4), which, if the man page can be trusted does 2D acceleration.

I was reading about the kernel re-linking problem and found suggestion(s) that it might be due to limit on size of some of the partitions. Since the hard-drive is an old small mechanical 64GB one, and I have a 128GB SSD, I plan to re-install the OS. Consequently, I have a question about the partitions sizes.

In the original installation, I accepted the defaults, but I now wonder if a different sizes would not be preferable. In that regard the laptop will be uses mainly for learning about the OS, word-processing, web-access, and watching movies. Initially, I want to use M:Tier, but would eventually like to learn how to keep the third-party applications current, which I understand will require re-compiling. So, If anyone could recommend partitioning scheme, I would appreciated it.

In that regard, I have a faint recollection, that I read on this forum about a script to set the partitions size, so it does not have to be re-typed, but I cannot find it.

The laptop currently has 4GB (2x2GB) RAM, but the chip-set supports 8GB (2x4GB). Would it be worth upgrading, and if so, is the DDR2 still available for a reasonable price?

I would also appreciate any advice on a backup solution, I have a backup server running ZFS.

Kindest regards,

M

[Head_on_a_Stick]

Originally Posted by mefisto

the VESA(4) driver from the 7.2 version was replaced with nv(4)

Using an NVIDIA card with OpenBSD is not a good idea.

[Onauk]

Originally Posted by mefisto

would eventually like to learn how to keep the third-party applications current, which I understand will require re-compiling. So, If anyone could recommend partitioning scheme, I would appreciated it.

I find it difficult to recommend a partitioning scheme because it will be dependent on what you want to do with it. However the FAQ recommends having a larger /tmp and /usr partition if you want to do a lot of compiling*.

Originally Posted by mefisto

The laptop currently has 4GB (2x2GB) RAM, but the chip-set supports 8GB (2x4GB). Would it be worth upgrading, and if so, is the DDR2 still available for a reasonable price?

DDR2 is cheap but 4GB sticks of DDR2 are not common, 2GB sticks are cheap but 4GB not so much. The easiest way to acquire some would be to buy second hand on your local marketplace. RAM sticks are quite reliable in my experience if you get a brand name. Personally I would not upgrade to 8GB right now since 4GB is plenty for OpenBSD and only upgrade if you observe some limitations in your use case, for example compiling.

Also apparently Lenovo does say the max supported is 2x2GB† but you are most likely right that it will go to 8GB since it is not the first time we have been lied to about maximum RAM capacity.

Originally Posted by mefisto

I would also appreciate any advice on a backup solution, I have a backup server running ZFS.

I think backup solutions deserve an entire thread.

[*]: https://www.openbsd.org/faq/faq4.html#Partitioning
[†]: https://support.lenovo.com/us/en/sol...s-thinkpad-r61

[bsd-keith]

As a casual user occasionally, I just have a / & /home, & this works for me doing normal daily tasks, like browsing the web & playing music/videos.

(I, personally, find 2GB ram & a 1.2GHz dual core sufficient for this usage.)

[mefisto]

Hi Head_on_a_Stick,

I know, there are about million+ threads about it. However, not everyone can afford buying several computers, and since the nv(4) driver works, what do you see as a problem?

Hi Onauk,

thank you for the reply.

Thank you for the recommendation regarding the sizes or /tmp and /usr.

My intent to increase the RAM is due to my understanding that it might improve Firefox performance; otherwise all the other tasks (in my likited testing) are satisfactory.

However, the Firefox takes about 15-20 seconds to start. This does not bother me too much, I will not be starting and shutting it on and off all the time, but, just loading the daemonforums.org web page takes anytime from 30-40 seconds. And some other web-pages are even worse - minutes. I am not sure, perhaps the slow mechanical dire might be a culprit?

Regarding the RAM size, the very specifications, including the RAM size, are all over place. E.g., the page you linked does not show the processor that the OS reports (T8100). Apparently, the specifications did "develop" over time.

Hi bsd-keith,

than you for the reply.

As your specifications are lower than mine, I was wondering how you deal with the web-browsing? Perhaps you have more patience waiting for the web-pages to load? Or, do I need to somehow optimize the OS/Firefox/network?

Kindest regards,

M

[Head_on_a_Stick]

Originally Posted by mefisto

since the nv(4) driver works, what do you see as a problem?

Performance will be terrible.

I would try Alpine Linux on that machine, it's almost as light as OpenBSD but it will have nouveau. Still not great but probably better than nv(4).

[Onauk]

Originally Posted by mefisto

My intent to increase the RAM is due to my understanding that it might improve Firefox performance; otherwise all the other tasks (in my likited testing) are satisfactory.

However, the Firefox takes about 15-20 seconds to start. This does not bother me too much, I will not be starting and shutting it on and off all the time, but, just loading the daemonforums.org web page takes anytime from 30-40 seconds. And some other web-pages are even worse - minutes. I am not sure, perhaps the slow mechanical dire might be a culprit?

Hello mefisto,

To improve performance you should look into sysutils/obsdfreqd. jggimi shared this CPU governor in other threads, but this one (https://daemonforums.org/showthread....ight=obsdfreqd) has an exemple.

In my experience with my ThinkPad X240 with i5-4200U and 4GB of RAM, Firefox was always slow so I would prefer to use other WWW browser like www/otter-browser or www/netsurf/browser, but sometimes bad websites are only compatible with Firefox.

[bsd-keith]

Originally Posted by mefisto

Hi bsd-keith,

than you for the reply.

As your specifications are lower than mine, I was wondering how you deal with the web-browsing? Perhaps you have more patience waiting for the web-pages to load? Or, do I need to somehow optimize the OS/Firefox/network?

Kindest regards,

M

I, personally, didn't have any concerns with the speed - I mainly use Firefox on Fluxbox WM.

[mefisto]

Hi Head_on_a_Stick,

thank you for the reply.

So far in my, albeit limited, testing all except the Firefox seems to be satisfactory.

Regarding Linux, that was how I started, since my friend was a big proponent, so he installed it for me. Three days later it was not working. He fixed it and I was able to mess it up again. After about the fourth time, we decided that I am not smart enough for Linux.

Then I found FreeBSD, about version 7.1, and for some reason it has always worked for me. So, when OpenBSD 7.1 appeared, I tried it, and I really like the logic of it.

Hi Onauk,

thank you for your reply and the links, I will try to follow the settings.

Yes, the Firefox does not seem to be speedy on OpenBSD, I did some search and there are pages of complaints. How is Chrome?

Hi bsd-keith,

thank you for your reply.

Interesting, I am testing on the manager (Fvwm?) that came with the installation, and the Firefox is slow. I do not believe that it is the video-card related, as the Firefox window reports messages like "connecting to xxx.com", "performing TLS handshake", "loading Google analytics", so it appears that the culprit is network/Firefox processing. But, what do I know?

Kindest regards,

M

[Onauk]

Originally Posted by mefisto

Hi Onauk,

thank you for your reply and the links, I will try to follow the settings.

Yes, the Firefox does not seem to be speedy on OpenBSD, I did some search and there are pages of complaints. How is Chrome?

Hello,

To get chrome the simplest way would be to install the chromium package. Sometimes it is faster than firefox, sometimes it is not.