OpenBSD is a great operating system, based on security and simplicity.
If you want to test this OS, you can run a virtual machine and install OpenBSD on it. And that's what we're going to do.
Many people like to use VirtualBox for these things, and that's great, but OpenBSD doesn't work very well there as there's no guest additions, so no full-screen there.
Instead, for this tutorial, we'll use the great QEMU which works great with OpenBSD, including full-screen support.
Install dependencies
sudo apt install qemu-kvm libvirt-daemon-system libvirt-clients bridge-utils virt-managerMake sure your hardware can run virtualization OK:
sudo kvm-okIt should say:
INFO: /dev/kvm exists KVM acceleration can be used
Get the installer
At the moment the latest version is 7.8, but check which is the latest and change the version accordingly (in two places):
wget https://cdn.openbsd.org/pub/OpenBSD/7.8/amd64/install78.isoPrepare the disk
Now we create a hard disk for the OS with up to 20GB (it will only use up to that amount in your disk). The extension qcow2 is from "QEMU Copy On Write 2", a popular image disk format for QEMU:
qemu-img create -f qcow2 openbsd78.qcow2 20GIt should say something like:
Formatting 'openbsd78.qcow2', fmt=qcow2 cluster_size=65536 extended_l2=off compression_type=zlib size=21474836480 lazy_refcounts=off refcount_bits=16
Install the system
Now we can attach the ISO and the recently created disk image:
qemu-system-x86_64 -enable-kvm -m 2048 -hda openbsd78.qcow2 -cdrom install78.iso -boot dQEMU will start, and boot the system. Now, wait for a few seconds until you see this screen:
Press I and enter. Then you will be asked about how you want the system to be configured, you can simply hit enter to accept the default options which are quite reasonable. Then specify the hostname you want (openbsd for example), continue accepting the defaults and then you'll setup the root password. Create a good one. Then continue accepting the defaults until you see:
"Do you want the X window System to be started by xenodm(1)?"
Answer yes (default is no). This is to have X on startup. Continue with defaults until they ask you to create a non-root user. Create one and setup a password for it, this is the user you will login with at the end. Continue with defaults.
You'll arrive to this screen:
Continue with the defaults, and specify cd0 for the sets. Then, say yes to "Continue without verification":
This is because it would make no sense for the installer to verify them. If someone were to make a rogue installation image, they could certainly change the installer to say the files were legitimate. If the image's signature has been verified beforehand, it is safe to answer "yes" at that prompt
After the sets are installed, simply press enter to accept the default (done).
That's it!, you now have OpenBSD installed, just reboot the system:
As you can see here, the installer is running again, that's because we still have the ISO in there:
We will now turn off the system and boot it with only the disk with OpenBSD in it (no ISO). Simply go to QEMU menu and select Machine->Quit. Now, let's start the system without the ISO:
qemu-system-x86_64 -enable-kvm -m 2048 -hda openbsd78.qcow2CTRL-ALT-F switches from full-screen to window mode and vice-versa
CTRL-ALT-G switches your mouse and keyboard from your host to OpenBSD and vice-versa.
After you login with your non-root user you will now be in an OpenBSD system, with full-screen:
And that's it, you can now explore OpenBSD at full-screen in the comfort of a virtual machine.
It comes with a custom FVWM as the default window manager. You can customize it to your liking:
If you instead want a more fully featured desktop environment, you can even install Plasma as KDE6 is now supported in OpenBSD.