[CS-FSLUG] BSD-questions

[Frank Bax]

At 03:20 AM 6/21/04, Jukka Y wrote:
>Since here seems to be some BSD-users in a list (Hi Ed! ;-) could you help me
>with some questions (I have just made some room for OS-experiments in my
>computer and I think some BSD could be a candidate this time ;-). These are
>the questions that puzzles me:
>1. What are my software choices for BSD's (eg. can I use for example any
>linux-software on them)?
>2. Are there any performance-hits or some other problems with linux-software?
>3. Which BSD would you suggest for a multimedia-workstation use?


OpenBSD has linux emulation - which (I think) is used to get OpenOffice 
running.  Out-of-the box, there is a basic X environment.  If you want 
Gnome or KDE or other stuff, you install those via "packages" which is 
roughly equivalent to rpm's, but already include patches/customisations for 
OpenBSD.  If what you want is not available as a binary "package", then you 
can try downloading "ports.tgz", this is a huge file used to install 
software titles from source.  Both packages and ports will auto-install 
dependencies if setup right.  If you want to install something not it 
either package and/or ports, then you are on your own.  The most common 
response to questions on the openbsd 'misc' mailing list is 'read the 
manual' - it's not very newbie tolerant.  I use OpenBSD for a server 
hosting several domains and hundreds of email accounts - I did not install 
X on it.

OpenBSD 3.5 (May 1, 2004) expanded there own spamd (for fighting spam) with 
a new 'greylisting' feature.  The deamon (in partnership with 'pf' 
filter/firewall) will intercept all incoming port 25 traffic.  If the ip 
address of sending MTA has never sent an email message before, it will get 
a '450 - temporary failure' response.  When the sending MTA tries again, 
the message will be accepted, the ip address is remembered and future 
messages to do not go through tarpit.  The theory is that spammers will 
ignore temp errors and not try again.  IP addresses accepted via this 
method can also be dropped from the 'accepted' table due to inactivity 
(default 36 days for monthly announce-lists).  Blacklists and Whitelists 
are also supported and override this process.  I am in the middle of 
testing a new machine with this release.

Frank