> > OpenBSD is great for those who understand how to use it, but not for > > newbies. > > Actually, in the Unix class that I teach at a University, OpenBSD was > very good for newbies. If you plan to learn Unix instead of trying to > emulate the Windows way of doing things, OpenBSD is great. The > documentation is good, and the system has been very consistent over > time. Given a range of basic Unix tasks, and groups of students with > different versions of Unix-like operating systems, groups with OpenBSD > do quite well.
I too have found the opposite. I've found that for people used to the 'hand-holding' style OS's that want to be more adventurous OpenBSD is easier for them than Linux (unless you are talking about one of those 'hand-holding' distro like Mandrake). In one case somebody got it installed (with some help during the partitioning stage) and got to his prompt and didn't know what he should do next. I said 'try man afterboot' for some ideas. He's been toying with it since then and hasn't had the need to ask any questions. I find that the thought that goes into the entire project, in particular, the documentation, is actually *easier* on newbies. I can't tell you how many times I've followed directions to the 'T' and it didn't work (courier, I'm looking at you ;), but I've never had that happen with OpenBSD. Perhaps it's because the docs focus more on the *why* things are done certain ways rather than 'here's what you type', so that you actually understand what you are doing rather than just typing commands because some howto says this is how you accomplish X. --Bryan
