On 2016.04.12, Implausibility wrote: > Hi. > > I have a few old ThinkPads here, and I'd like to explore getting OpenBSD > running as a lightweight desktop computer. > > I don't need a lot, I spend most of my time at a shell prompt, but I'm > thinking I need a better window manager, possibly Firefox (or a recommended > lightweight alternative) and any invaluable X-based utilities. > OpenBSD comes with the excellent window manager cwm installed by default. It has top-notch keyboard control, the ability to organize windows into groups and dynamically display them and search for windows by name to list some of it`s highlights. Also it isn`t an obnoxious tiling monstrosity that seem all the rage these days.
> I've had trouble getting the laptop connected to my local WiFi network, > despite having compatible cards and a straightforward security config (WPA2), Wifi is pretty straight forward in OpenBSD. Either from the cli: # ifconfig <interface> up nwid <network> wpakey <password> # dhclient <interface> check man hostname.if for a permenant setup. It could be that your wifi card needs firmware that isn`t installed. If you can connect via ethernet try to run fw_update. > despite having followed the documentation. If there's a > network-connection-manager GUI available, that would be nice, but isn't > essential. > > I know how to install things via the ports, but traversing the directory > structure to find useful packages is painful. If there's a more friendly way > to search for and discover new/interesting ports packages, I'd appreciate a > link. As was said pkg_info -Q <string> will perform a search for you. There are some websites where you can browse the ports tree in catagory form. Keep in mind though that they are showing the ports for -current and some may not be available in -release. http://ports.su http://openports.se > > Thanks.
