I agree with Holtzman's sentiment, the OP should consider himself lucky that he hit a struggling point as early as he did, lest he hit a much bigger "first brick wall" later down the road. Now he has the benefit of respecting the OS while still getting a feel for it. On Mar 7, 2012 3:21 PM, "daniel holtzman" <d...@redmountainfarm.net> wrote:
> Let's all step back a moment: Leonardo is neither the first nor will he > be the last person to be bitten by something in OpenBSD. I say we tell > him we are sorry for his troubles, giggle a little bit, give him a > hearty pat on the back, and shout, > > "Welcome to the elite community of OpenBSD users! We're not all > geniuses, we don't have all the answers but we all sure as fsck like > a quality product and the opportunity for deep learning, especially in > a community of like-minded people." > > I think it's safe to say that _everyone_ who uses OpenBSD is necessarily > curious by nature and understands the rigors of learning. We often > fiddle with things and frequently make really foolish mistakes--that's > how we learn. > > Leonardo will either "never, ever touch[ing] OpenBSD with a ten-foot > pole again", or he'll become a satisfied and dedicated user. That is > really up to him and his penchant for mastery and self-reliance. The > opportunities for these things are huge in OpenBSD because the project > sticks to its overriding mission, quality, in every aspect; including > documentation. > > By side-effect or perhaps by design, the OpenBSD community weeds out > those people who are not seriously dedicated. It may not welcome the > naive and it may not hand-hold the inexperienced, but it certainly does > not prevent the naive and inexperienced from learning. Lurk a lot. Grow > a thicker skin. You can be sneered at and called all sorts of names. Do > you want to work at mastering fascinating skills by some of the best in > the industry or do you want a nice touchy-feely experience? Rarely, you > can have both, but mostly, in real life, we have to make choices. > > When I first started using, and yes, "using"--like a drug (2.5 or 2.6), > I was lucky enough to have a steady supply of old machines (i386, sparc, > vax, ppc) and became install-happy. I'd love to show off how quickly I > could do an install over the net. I figure that I did at least 100 > installs in my first 6 months; trying to get partitions/labels just > right; messing things up and starting over; making a lot of mistakes. > I've not found another OS, ever, that was so quick and easy to install. > OpenBSD gave me the ability to learn a lot about installation that I > wouldn't have otherwise had the patience to do. I learned a new way of > thinking: where to "try" things and where to "do" things. > > So, if you've read this far, Leonardo, sorry you had problems. We _all_ > have been there and most of us go there more often than we'd like to > admit :) Stick with it and you'll likely learn more than you can even > fathom right now. If not, then good luck to you. > > > On Mar 7, 2012, at 7:26 AM, Leonardo Sabino dos Santos wrote: > > > 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
