On Sun, Mar 12, 2006 at 01:36:04PM +0100, Ramiro Aceves wrote:
> Hello dear OpenBSD fans.
>
>
> After "playing" during some time with OpenBSD 3.8 and understanding
> how it works, I wanted to give it a more serious try on my laptop. I
> know OpenBSD is not intended for desktop use, but anyway, I wanted to
> use some applications. The results have been very disapointing.
>
> GNOME-PANEL. It crashes very often, so GNOME is not usable.
>
> XFCE. Sometimes the panel suddenly disapears.
>
> VLC. When I try to open a file FILE-> OPENFILE->BROWSE. I am not able
> to see the directory and file listing properly. I get a list of
> strange named files.
>
> GNUMERIC. The application crashes after introducing a number on a
> cell-> right click->format cells
>
> I am used to Debian GNU Linux stable, I have never seen so many
> failures on the applications (none at all).
>
> I do not want to start a war here, but It has been my sad experience
> using OpenBSD ports. I have no complaints about the base system,
> wireless Intel 2200 wifi works well, firefox, gaim, vim, etc...
>
> Do the porters check that the ports work before a release? Am I doing
> something wrong?
> If you need some information about my system please let me know.
Ports should work, actually, and OpenBSD should be suitable for desktop
use. The flip side of the coin is that fancy GUIs are not too well loved
amongst the developers, so support is typically less good than would be
the case for, say, Fedora Linux.
However, I think I've heard of problems with the GNOME panel before (the
others are new to me, at least, but I didn't check the bugs).
You might want to:
1. Verify hardware
2. Upgrade to -stable, if you have not already done so
(coincidentally, this uses gcc a lot, which is a very good memory
tester - as in, it will almost certainly SIGSEGV if your memory is
bad; bad disks might get detected, too)
3. Verify your installation
4. Try to reproduce them, preferably on 3.9
5. Send a couple of bug reports. Don't forget the dmesg!
Before sending bug reports, you'll want to search the bugs list.
Joachim
