Reinder Dijkhuis Does ArtDec 21, 2024
After 3 years, I'm making another attempt at getting #OpenBSD running on my 2005 iBook, the oldest computer in the house that is still working. It turns out that the biggest challenge is that the hardware has degraded again and now the keyboard and mouse don't work. USB Keyboard/Mouse attached, but now the main system I'm getting my instructions off has no mouse, so I'm learning about tab navigation at the same time.
Anyway, I'm probably gonna have to open this thing up again, joy.
Show threadReinder Dijkhuis Does Art

Anyway, base install of this geeky OS is working and I've read the default message and the afterboot man page. Taking a break from it now. With an old USB hub and some extra time I should be able to make this look a little better and start installing software.
Didn't there use to be a snarky message in 'afterboot' about what window manager you should run instead of the one Theo de Raadt prefers?

#openbsd76

Dec 21, 2024 at 11:39amWeb
Show threadReinder Dijkhuis Does ArtDec 21, 2024
Why did I go back to this? Because I've been musing about purchasing an emergency laptop, but putting a modern OS on this antique box is even cheaper than that. Admittedly, this iBook has weaker specs than the 2018 Lenovo Thinkpads I've been eyeballing, and it's a little more complicated to setup than just slapping linux on a refurbished newer PC laptop, but if it can do the job of an emergency machine, that's EUR 150 saved.
Show threadReinder Dijkhuis Does ArtDec 21, 2024
OK, so, notes: it did not return from suspend (shut lid and wait for a few minutes) and on the next forced reboot after that it didn't respond to the USB keyboard anymore. The next forced reboot after THAT, it needed to do a bunch of file system self repair, and got stuck on "reordering: ld.so libc" which I am going to look up here shortly. Mainly to find out how long it's supposed to take. If it goes past that time, it'll be another forced reboot.
It has had no clean shutdowns yet so far.
Show threadReinder Dijkhuis Does ArtDec 21, 2024
Since this is the internet: I have no problem with slapping linux on a Thinkpad and calling it a day if that serves your goals. The fact that this is now relatively easy is a good thing and I may end up doing that if the OpenBSD solution doesn't work. I just wanna try this first.
Show threadReinder Dijkhuis Does ArtDec 21, 2024

I spent the whole afternoon away from the iBook and yeah, that process was hanging. Forced shutdown and trying again one more time.

Lesson learned: whatever you do, don't shut the lid without doing a full shutdown first?

More concerning is the intermittentness of everything. My first hunch is that this is because the hardware is really, no-take-backsies, at the end of its life.

Show threadReinder Dijkhuis Does ArtDec 21, 2024
Like, that keyboard actually did work for long enough for me to make it eject (F12) the Void linux CD from 2021 that was still stuck in there before I went into this install process. Hasn't worked since.
The mouse pad used to work intermittently and now is gone. USB peripherals are a roll of the dice.
Show threadReinder Dijkhuis Does ArtDec 21, 2024
Worse, it seems to have forgotten my root password, meaning one more forced shutdown to get into a boot prompt, following a bunch of instructions to reset it, and then trying again.
Show threadReinder Dijkhuis Does ArtDec 21, 2024
It … refused? Just flat-out didn't let me do boot - s? And then automatically booted up normally? I'm already tearing my hair out and I haven't actually done anything with this system yet.
I'm going to do a final forced shutdown and then put the box away until I figure out what to do next, probably some time around 2027.
#OpenBSD
Show threadReinder Dijkhuis Does ArtDec 21, 2024

For future reference, in case I do want to continue this experiment, these were the steps I tried to follow at the Open Firmware boot prompt to get my root access back:
https://www.cyberciti.biz/tips/reset-forgotten-openbsd-root-password.html

But I only got as far as the first step because the system said "no can do" and booted normally, leaving me without a clean way to shut down again.

Show threadReinder Dijkhuis Does ArtDec 21, 2024
This was, admittedly, made extra frustrating by the need to use an external keyboard and mouse, the latter of which I had to 'borrow' from the computer I was reading instructions on.
I can now confirm that one USB port only intermittently provides power to those peripherals, making me think that it's not worth continuing with this regardless of how well OpenBSD works otherwise.
Show threadReinder Dijkhuis Does ArtDec 21, 2024
OK, so, plan. When I have a morning to spare again:
Reset open firmware again to load from CD. Install anew from scratch. Ignore the warnings to set a strong root password and set one that I cannot mistype instead. Before doing anything else, add my non-root user to a group that can perform basic operations like shutting down. Shut down, reboot and reset open firmware to load from the SSD.
UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES CLOSE THE LAPTOP UNTIL I KNOW HOW SUSPEND ACTUALLY WORKS.
Show threadReinder Dijkhuis Does ArtDec 21, 2024
Actually, that's what I need to do when I have two mornings to spare. The first morning should be spent opening it up, looking inside and deciding whether to take it apart for scrap (there's a good SSD and extra RAM in there that someone else might have use for) or attempt to reattach connections and such. Fun!
Did I mention that the last and only time I took it apart was six years ago and I would have to learn the whole process again?
Show threadReinder Dijkhuis Does ArtDec 22, 2024
Meanwhile I spent a few minutes trying to install OpenBSD off the AMD install disk onto a VirtualBox VM on my Intel MacBook, setting it so the VM's specs are as similar to that iBook's as I can make them. However, installing it was even less successful than on the iBook because after going through the process, nothing was installed on the VM's hard drive. I probably made some stupid mistake, but it was frustrating to find that out anyway.
Show threadFritz AdalisDec 21, 2024
@reinderdijkhuis
It sounds like files got clobbered, maybe try booting from install media and tell it to upgrade, replace all the binaries with known good. It will save any config.