Absolute OpenBSD: Unix for the Practical Paranoid

Before you even begin, be sure OpenBSD supports your hardware! You can find the supported hardware list for the most recent version of OpenBSD on i386 at http://www.OpenBSD.org/i386.html, or on the FTP site or CD-ROM in the release directory as i386/INSTALL.i386. These documents include lists of hardware that is supported at this time.

The devices on the hardware compatibility lists are frequently identified by chipset, not by the vendor. After all, when you buy a computer the network card is frequently just listed as a "10/100 Ethernet," not an "Intel i8255x-based PCI Ethernet card." To make matters worse, many vendors use identical hardware under a separate brand name or use different hardware under the same brand name. For example, Linksys is famous for having four very different cards all called the EtherLink. You might have to dig in the hardware manual for this information, or ask your vendor. If nothing else, you can just try to install and see if everything works. The boot-time messages will give you a great deal of information on what sort of hardware you have.

BIOS Setup

Before you try to install, confirm that your system's BIOS is properly configured. Because every BIOS is slightly different, I won't go over exact instructions on how to configure. Most computer systems tell you how to access the system BIOS when you first boot the computer and include a simple menu-driven system to make changes. Consult your motherboard manual if you have any problems.

First, set "Plug and Play OS" to NO. This tells your BIOS to do some basic hardware setup, rather than relying upon the OS to do everything. Modern versions of Microsoft Windows expect to handle hardware setup. OpenBSD takes advantage of the BIOS' ability to configure the hardware itself. Many PCI devices will work poorly if you do not set this option!

Also configure your boot device. If you are installing from CD-ROM, set your boot device to CD-ROM, then floppy disk, then hard drive. (If your CD-ROM boot gives you trouble, you can use a floppy disk as a fallback.) If you are installing from some other media, your first boot device should be the floppy disk and the hard disk second.