Web Browser Suggestions

[hitest]

I primarily like and use Fire Fox on OpenBSD. However, Fire Fox on OpenBSD 7.4 was very unstable for me. So much so that I no longer run OpenBSD.
Does anyone have a suggestion for a stable browser on OpenBSD? Is Chromium okay?
Thanks for any and all suggestions.

[jggimi]

I don't have trouble with either. FF is my primary, Chromium my alternate when needed. I use the "staff" login class, and follow the pkg-readme.

[hitest]

Originally Posted by jggimi

I use the "staff" login class, and follow the pkg-readme.

I'm not afraid to appear foolish so I will ask. What does "staff" login class mean?
Thanks for your reply. It is appreciated.

[jggimi]

Here is a quick level set:

• Upon install, there are a set of login classes provisioned in the file /etc/login.conf, with various capabilities and resource limits defined.
• Each of the supported hardware architectures has its own unique /etc/login.conf, as resource specifications will vary with hardware functionality.
• Provisioning of capabilities and resources are described in the login.conf(5) man page. Note that the admin can use a single file, as installed, or provision a directory of files, or even provision a database.
• Every userid is assigned to a class when that userid is created. The assigned class can be changed, of course, and the admin can modify existing classes or add new ones. Modifying the existing class file, or using one of the other login class structures may complicate future upgrades for the admin, of course.

With that background in place:

• As installed, the "staff" class is permitted far more resource consumption than the "default" class.
• I recommend the "staff" class for any user expected to run something as large and complex as a graphical browser. A userid in the "default" class will not have enough compute resources to operate one.

[hitest]

Many thanks for your informative and thorough reply, jggimi! I appreciate that a lot, mate!
That explains my Fire Fox crash.

[hitest]

Quick follow up question. To enable staff login do I just comment out default:\ ? And leave staff:\ as is?

[jggimi]

Just assign the staff class to the user. I find it easy to change a user's class using chpass(1) as root.

[hitest]

Originally Posted by jggimi

Just assign the staff class to the user. I find it easy to change a user's class using chpass(1) as root.

Thanks, mate!

I found this site, it's helpful regarding staff settings.

https://www.czettner.com/2022/05/15/...rst-steps.html

[hitest]

Many thanks for the kind assistance, jggimi! That resolved the crashing issue. I can now run multiple tabs in Fire Fox.

[rufwoof]

For cli its common to use tmux and ssh attach/detach into severs, so you can kick off a job, detach, later attach again - maybe even from a different device and drop back in where you left off or where the job had moved on to such as a long render or compile.

You can do similar with gui/desktops, vnc into a server running whatever OS/gui, disconnect, later reconnect again, maybe from a different device.

OpenBSD doesn't support my (oldish) laptop's wifi, and even if it did its slower wifi than my smartphones. So typically I boot and then tether my phone, where the phone's wifi is enabled and connected, which yields a IP and DHCP on the laptop. I use the phones browser for having a youtube/whatever playing, and vnc into a gui desktop server for other general browsing (searches/documents). OpenBSD can serve well with just base OpenBSD and tigervnc, some don't even bother with that and use X forwarding instead.

With F-Droid installed on the phone, and then termux and termux-API installed via that, you can easily set the phone up to act as a sshd server, so you can ssh into that and initiate a call or take a picture ... or whatever via your laptop terminal screen/keyboard. scp images from the phone to the laptop/wherever ...etc.

I mostly use a Linux box that's hard ethernet wired and has a nvidia graphics in the i5/8GB system as my 'gui application server'. Browsing using chrome, Openoffice calc/writer etc. load/run very quickly and the screen transfers to my laptop are quick-enough for my needs.

So in that context ... no OpenBSD browser. That said for the likes of banking its nice to plug in ethernet, install chromium and use that browser. The OpenBSD OS is likely clean (unhacked), as-is the freshly installed browser, and data flow is via ethernet rather than wifi. Delete/remove the browser when done.