I hate reading “It’s been a while since my last post” but it has been a while since my last post…
I have a new piece of hardware on it’s way. It’s a miniforumn HX90. And while I’m waiting they
already released an update. The HX90G. While the added graphics chips are interesting and more
performant I actually do not care much. Maybe it’s why I received a coupon code to save an extra $60.
While I’m waiting for the CPU to arrive I’ve received all of the accessories and I’m ready to assemble.
What’s troubling me is trying to decide what to install on it. Should I configure it as a server
or a desktop? Should I go Ubuntu, RedHat, FreeBSD, OpenBSD, ChromeOS Flex, NAS or VM.
While I believe strongly in Chickens over Cattle I also have every reservation about the state
and nature of trust in the unseen components in modern computers and operating systems.
Lots of CONS
- Linux keeps expanding
- Linux keeps lowering the bar
- Ubuntu is linux
- Pop_os is Ubuntu
- RedHat in linux
- FreeBSD keeps getting bigger and sloppy
- OpenBSD small group of a-holes
- ChromeOS Flex still beta
- ChromsOS is linux
- ClearLinux is Linux
- Pop_os is ubuntu/linux
- VMware is linux and very commercial and expensive
- Proxmox is linux
- TrueNAS too many OS choices FreeBSD and Linux
And there are choices
- docker is just a wrapper in linux
- Rancher, docker and docker swarm struggle when they fail
- docker consumes too much disk
- docker registry is insecure
- bhyve is just a wrapper in FreeBSD
- jails are FreeBSD only
- chroot lack consistency and CLI
Package managers
- flatpak is for linux only
- pkg FreeBSD
- pkg_* OpenBSD
- yum RedHat
- apt Ubuntu
Decision tree
I’m reluctant to say it but OpenBSD seems to be the choice and I hope I’m not wrong.
OpenBSD is …
- small team of core and trusted developers
- as a layer above the hardware it’s simple
- my dev environment builds on top and is isolated from the OS
- my execution environment is a simple integration
- supports it’s own VM solution
- orchestration is more than possible
The answer
- ChromeOS as my user desktop
- OpenBSD as my server