Chapter 1. Learn OpenBSD Quickly

OpenBSD has some of the industry's finest integrated documentation, but it can take a long time to figure out which packages you need to get certain services running, and how to configure them once installed. If you are totally new to Unix-like operating environments, this guide could be a little over your head in some places, but if you read it from start to finish and stick with it when things get difficult, you'll end up with a functional and useful operating system. If you already have some experience with any Unix-like operating system, you'll probably feel right at home with OpenBSD and may want to skip ahead to the sections that apply to you.

While there are some suggestions and system administration tips sprinkled throughout "The OpenBSD Crash Course," it is not designed to teach you how to administer a server. It's impossible to anticipate each reader's hardware configuration and goals for working with OpenBSD, so instead of telling you how to set up your machine to perform specific tasks, this guide will show you how to install and configure various services and programs. This Short Cut is organized into two sections: desktop and server. From those two starting points, you can customize OpenBSD to meet nearly any need.