However, it is also worth noting that some typical desktop needs and uses
are incompatible with the focus of OpenBSD.  There are currently no video
cards that provide the necessary specifications to create open drivers for
all hardware function, most notably 3D acceleration. While more than
adequate for most uses of the X-Window system, in some cases performance
while watching movies, playing games, or graphic design, may be suboptimal
or not possible depending on your hardware and expectations. The use of
binary "blob" drivers would introduce the potential for unknown security
breaches and is not going to be supported on OpenBSD.  The work is ongoing
in the larger open-source community to both create open-source drivers that
can access the full hardware potential of the available video cards. If this
is something you care about, please contact your video card manufacturer.

Similarily, flash plugins in browsers cause untested code to run on the
computer and introduce the potential for unknown security breaches, and are
therefore not supported, other than as it already exists for the Opera
browser.

Therefore, it on what is meant by "desktop".  System administrators will
likely be thrilled with OpenBSD on their desktop. However, a home user
wanting an entertainment centre, a movie editor, a graphic designer, or a
user requiring a multi-headed Computer Aided Drafting and Design system may
find the trade offs made for security are too steep to use OpenBSD as their
operating system on such computers and may choose to use a less secure
operating system.

----

Fixed up a tiny bit, now that I've gotten a good whack with the old
cluestick. No opinion either positive or negative on it's inclusion. That,
and it has nothing to do with me.

I agree with what's being said, I think...but people's definition of a
desktop differ, and as an aside, it's perhaps a little excessive? I mean,
how many users are going to really notice video differences, or attempt to
play 3d games in OpenBSD? (Do we even have many in ports?)

On 10/11/07, Kevin Stam <harpalus.como@gmail.com> wrote:
quoted text
>
> Ah, thanks for the information. My bad. I'll have to take back the video
> comments now. :) Learn something new every day...
>
> On 10/11/07, Brett Lymn < blymn@baesystems.com.au> wrote:
> >
> > On Thu, Oct 11, 2007 at 10:56:38PM -0400, Kevin Stam wrote:
> > >
> > > Or perhaps you're being quite legitimate here. I just haven't heard of
> > that
> > > problem before, it's always been about 3d acceleration.
> > >
> >
> > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X_video_extension
> >
> > It makes a big difference.
> >
> > --
> > Brett Lymn
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