I am an eight year Linux user and after getting into an argument with someone about OpenBSD overiding my theory that OS security is 50% OS and 50% admin skill, I decided to try OpenBSD for myself. I've tried BSDs before and haven't been able to get into them for day to dy use, but I am going to really give OpenBSD a good go. So, this leads me to a few questions. (I already posted some of these in the General forum for newbies of unix.com)

1. How do I get X working? I performed the OpenBSD install via HTTP from tux.org. That seemed to go pretty smoothly once I got to understanding how the install works. I requested that all packages be installed since I wanted "everything". It appears that this includes X. The response I got in the other forum was to run X -configure to generate a new XF86Config file. (Just like I'm used to doing in Fedora Linux if I need to) I did this and then put the file in /etc/X11 and renamed it XF86Config. I then tried typing 'xdm' (as root) to launch the X display manager, but there was a blink and then I was back to the console with no X. So I tried 'startx' (as root) and I got some more useful errors claiming that X was already running. I also checked /var/log/XFree86.0.log and saw the same thing. However a 'ps ax | grep X' showed me no processes. Since OpenBSD is so tightly secured, I imagine I have to change something to allow X to run (at least on :0 because I WAS able to get an X server to run on :1)? Finally, after fixing the PATH variable for my regular user, I could use 'startx' But I prefer 'xdm'. What could be going wrong?

2. When I performed the install originally, I set the system up for DHCP. When I rebooted, I got "device timeout" errors for ne3. After poking around in the man pages I discovered /etc/hostname.ne3. I rewrote it to set up static IP instead so now it looks like this:

inet 192.168.1.40 255.255.255.0 192.168.1.255

When I do: 'sh /etc/netstart ne3' and then 'ifconfig ne3' It appears that the card is up and configured with the right IP info. A little more digging on the net indicates that my problem may be the result of an IRQ conflict??? I run 'vmstat -i' and there is no information regarding ne3. This is all odd to me as the NIC worked fine during the HTTP install. A little more Googling turns up the possibility of a problem with ACPI for the ne2000 based NICs (This is a Netgear FA series NIX). But I can't find any information on how to set the IRQ (or how to probe it since I don't know what the IRQ address is to begin with. I also can't find info on how to disable ACPI support. I don't know if this is a probem since this is an older system (Pentium 233 MMX).

3. Is there a command to list all the installed base packages? I imagine that since the OpenBSD default install is secure, that it must come with everything I need (at least that's what the person I was arguing with implied). 'pkg_info -a' didn't display anything when I ran it. What I am looking for is basic internet services ike Apache, BIND, SMTP, POP3, IMAP, LDAP. The person who started me on this quest implied that to use Apache, all I need to do is "turn it on" and use it.

4. Apache. Does it come precompiled with support for SSL, Webdav, PHP and Perl? I am really trying to stick to the default install in order to retain OpenBSD's security.

5. How do I set a regular user's PATH? I created a regular user account and attempted to startx and it seems that /usr/X116/bin is not in my path. I tried the usual: PATH=$PATH:/usr/X11R6/bin but that didn't work with 'sh'. So, there ust be some other way to do it on-the-fly. There is probably also a file for a more permanent addition to the PATH environment variable for setting it globally? I looked for /etc/profile and /etc/login and found neither. I did find /etc/skel/.login and /etc/skel/.profile, but this seems like an odd place to make a global setting so I don't think that's the right place. I also just this moment discovered 'ksh' which seems a lot nicer than 'sh'. Hmmm... maybe I just answered my own question. ;P I'll have to investigate this more.

Well, that's it for now. I admit it... I'm lost with OpenBSD, but I want to plow through anyway to see if it really can suit my needs with a minimum of admin skill expended. So far it's been a pretty hash mistress.