[metalforever]

There are a few nice to haves that would really help me out with making an open bsd transition. I thought of writing them myself because I am getting very fed up with Linux for the above reasons.

- IDE support is an issue still

- Filesystem challenging when using a laptop that runs out of battery

- MATE lacking volume and WiFi controls

- This one is just me being picky but a GUI to help me gain a better understanding of the security settings or alternatively more up to date books.

- I am not exactly sure on how to correctly use virtualization and I need it to support docker workloads at work

[skydhash]

Your points are valid but I'd like to present counterpoints:

> IDE support is an issue still

IMO, languages and platforms that require IDEs, also leads to complex software that is hard to maintain. The only exception is smalltalk.

> Filesystem challenging when using a laptop that runs out of battery

Easily resolved by using apmd and it `-z` flag. I think there's a couple utility out there that you can script for monitoring battery level.

> MATE lacking volume and WiFi controls

One of the good strength of OpenBSD is that the cli utilities are quite nice that I've not installed gui replacements (I'm using cwm). I don't mind doing a few `doas ifconfig` every once in a while.

> but a GUI to help me gain a better understanding of the security settings

I'm with you on that one. But the man pages are truly extensive. And the OS code is fairly readable.

> how to correctly use virtualization

Current vm solution is very bare. For docker, you'll need a linux VM, but the installation process maybe troublesome. It only supports serial interaction, which can be disabled by default in some distros.

[lelanthran]

>> MATE lacking volume and WiFi controls

> One of the good strength of OpenBSD is that the cli utilities are quite nice that I've not installed gui replacements (I'm using cwm). I don't mind doing a few `doas ifconfig` every once in a while.

I also don't mind doing things like this for network, but for volume this is very much an instant always-there requirement. If I need to mute/lower/raise the volumne in a hurry, I don't want to hunt for the application playing the sound, then find the volume slider on it, etc.

This is literally a deal-breaker for desktop/laptop users.

What I'd like to know, if there are any OpenBSD people reading, is how hard is it to contribute a fix or similar to make the desktop environment's volume control work?

I can obviously fix it for myself with some gui script/keyboard shortcut/etc, but I'd rather have anything be in the default installation whenever I refresh the install.

[metalforever]

Hello, thank you for taking the time to respond.

“ IMO, languages and platforms that require IDEs, also leads to complex software that is hard to maintain. ”

The truth is that I (and probably other users) don’t always have the luxury of choice and a large portion of commercial codebases have a very large number of files. Sometimes, it is multiple codebases at once with a very large number of files .

“ Easily resolved by using apmd and it `-z` flag. I think there's a couple utility out there that you can script for monitoring battery level.”

Yeah but I don’t want to accidentally lose data if I shut the lid and accidentally forget to plug the thing in for a few days . “ One of the good strength of OpenBSD is that the cli utilities are quite nice”

I don’t want to enter and exit a cli tool in order to increase and decrease the volume . Ideally it’s a control in the top right or a keyboard mapping . What if something loud begins playing in a browser tab and I have to change the volume quickly?

[f1shy]

> - IDE support is an issue still

I thought it was about the parallel ATA. And I tought "who uses that still?!" but is about IDEs for programming...

sorry about the topic deviation, but I laughed hard.

[metalforever]

Does everyone really just use vim? This one surprised me as a problem.

[i-zu]

You are not the only one.

[thesuitonym]

> alternatively more up to date books.

One of the reasons you don't see a lot of books around OpenBSD (aside from the very small userbase) is that the built-in documentation is so good. The manpages are actually worth reading, and for the more complex services, include examples and additional reading.

But still, the rest of your points are very true. OpenBSD is really not for everybody, but I think that's one of its strengths. It works extremely well for the people it works for, because it's not trying to coax new users into the fold.

Also, you know, like you don't have to use OpenBSD for everything. I still have plenty of Linux servers, and Linux computers, because there are some things OpenBSD is not suited to.