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1 - Introduction to OpenBSD

Table of Contents

• 1.1 - What is OpenBSD?
• 1.2 - On what systems does OpenBSD run?
• 1.3 - Is OpenBSD really free?
• 1.4 - Why might I want to use OpenBSD?
• 1.5 - How can I help support OpenBSD?
• 1.6 - Who maintains OpenBSD?
• 1.7 - When is the next release of OpenBSD?
• 1.8 - What is included with OpenBSD?
• 1.9 - What is new in OpenBSD 3.5?
• 1.10 - Can I use OpenBSD as a desktop system?

1.1 - What is OpenBSD?

The OpenBSD project produces a freely available, multi-platform 4.4BSD-based UNIX-like operating system. Our goals place emphasis on correctness, security, standardization, and portability. OpenBSD supports binary emulation of most binaries from SVR4 (Solaris), FreeBSD, Linux, BSDI, SunOS, and HPUX.

This FAQ specifically covers only the most recent release of OpenBSD, version 3.5.

1.2 - On what systems does OpenBSD run?

OpenBSD 3.5 runs on the following platforms:

• alpha - FTP only
• amd64 - CD bootable New for 3.5!
• cats - FTP only New for 3.5!
• hp300 - FTP only
• hppa - FTP only
• i386 - CD bootable
• mac68k - FTP only
• macppc - CD bootable
• mvme68k - FTP only
• mvme88k - FTP only New for 3.5!
• sparc - CD bootable
• sparc64 - CD bootable
• vax

bootable means that OpenBSD will boot directly from the CD. The CD set will boot on several hardware platforms. See chapter 3 of this FAQ for details of obtaining OpenBSD on CD.

Previous releases of OpenBSD also had a port for:

• amiga - removed after the 3.2 release
• sun3 - removed after the 2.9 relea