Hi, I want to tell you about my experience with OpenBSD.
I'm a Linux user, but have always wanted to try OpenBSD. The last time I'd tried installing it was version 4.6 and I didn't get very far. That version wouldn't install on my notebook at all. The kernel couldn't recognise my hard drive because of some AHCI incompatibility on this notebook that I didn't have the expertise to solve, so I went back to Linux for the time. Two years later, we're on version 5.0, I decided to give it another try. So I downloaded all the package files, wrote them to a USB stick, created a bootable image with GRUB, booted into the OpenBSD installer and off we go. Now, this computer already had Windows 7 and Linux, plus about 16 GB of unpartitioned space where OpenBSD is going. It's actually the same notebook from two years ago. I start answering the installer's questions. Keyboard layout. Root password. Configuration of network interfaces. I'm not actually paying a whole lot of attention to the questions as this is just a test installation and I figure I can always explore and configure the system later. Next, the disk stuff comes up. A lot of partition information appears on the screen, followed by the question: Use (W)hole disk or (E)dit the MBR? [whole] At this point I'm actually trying to remember if there's a way to scroll back the console, because some information has scrolled of the screen. I try PageUp, PageDown, Ctrl-UpArrow, Ctrl-DownArrow, but nothing works, so I press Enter. And my partition table is gone. Poof! Instantly, with no confirmation. I immediately realized what had happened and rebooted. Too late. I got a "No OS" message. It seems that the OpenBSD installer actually overwrites the partition table the instant you press Enter. What saved me was an Ubuntu installation CD and the wonderful tool gpart (http://www.brzitwa.de/mb/gpart/). With a bit of tinkering in gpart and some very careful work with the Linux version of fdisk, I managed to reconstruct the partition table and saved my system. Distributing an installation program that can wipe out the user's hard disk instantly on a single wrong keystroke, without so much as a confirmation prompt is so shortsighted and irresponsible that I can barely believe it. This is not about being an expert user or knowing what you want to do, because I knew exactly what I wanted to do. This is about incredibly stupid user interface design. Sorry, it's just too unbelievable that someone would think that this is actually a good idea. I joined this mailing list just to tell you this: Right now, I feel like never, ever touching OpenBSD with a ten-foot pole again. Regards, - Leonardo
