
OpenBSD on the Huawei MateBook X - ryanmaclean
https://jcs.org/2017/07/14/matebook
======
IgorPartola
A few years ago I bought a top spec MacBook Pro 15" as my main workhorse. I
did it somewhat for the OS because there was a small handful of applications I
needed that only ran on OS X or Windows and between the two the choice was
clear. But the main reason for it was that the build quality of the laptop
case, the screen, and the keyboard were superior to anything money could buy.
I am still very happy with it, but I am just so happy to see that build
quality is starting to become a thing manufacturs and consumers are starting
to pay attention to and not the specs. I don't really care if I have an i5 or
an i7. Both are damn fast and if I need more power I will rent it from AWS et
al. But I can't rent a better screen hinge. Or a higher res display. Just look
at this laptop in TFA. Five years ago you couldn't find a thing like that. X1
Carbon was just popping up and having a decent display was basically
impossible. And don't get me started on the touch pads the size of my
thumbnail. Competition is truly good for the consumer!

~~~
willtim
What exactly do you mean by "build quality"? An aluminium case? Sure it gives
a premium feel, but it's also heavy, dents and attenuates radio, so not really
an obvious choice before Apple popularised it. Recently Apple have also
standardised on glued-in batteries, which is not really representative of a
premium "build quality" IMHO. Their trackpads have been very good, but I've
always preferred the ThinkPad nipple.

> _the screen, and the keyboard were superior to anything money could buy_

You are showing your bias here. Thinkpad keyboards have always been more
highly regarded than Apples. And not everyone wants a glossy glass-covered
panel, even if it's a good one (i.e. not the MacBook Air).

~~~
cptskippy
I have both a MacBook Pro 2015ish and a Thinkpad T430 2016 issued through work
and I would be hard pressed to choose which one I prefer. They're both well
build and both keyboards are nice. Oddly I find the MacBook much more
comfortable to use on my lap but prefer the Thinkpad on a desk. I have not
found glare to be an issue and prefer the glass screen of the MacBook to the
matte screen of the Thinkpad primarily because it's next to impossible to
remove finger prints from the matte screen. I hate hate hate the sharp edge of
the MacBook which digs into my wrists. I like the battery bump on the Thinkpad
because it gives me a grip to carry it. I baby the MacBook because I know it
will be a chore to repair or replace where as the Thinkpad is just a 15 min
HDD swap so it receives a lot of abuse.

------
gbrown_
I'm just happy to see new devices being made with high resolution 3:2 screens.

~~~
Hasknewbie
This. So much this. It boggles my mind that basically 100% of PC business
laptops are stuck with productivity-averse 16:9 displays.

Corporations are willingly paying the 'enterprise' markup for business
laptops, manufacturers should have at least the decency to come up with proper
screens. But no. For almost all hardware-related design improvements, they
will make a move only after Apple has kicked their asses and humiliated them
and their derivative design...

~~~
RaleyField
I prefer my 21:9 on desktop, I feel like you'd be stuck with one window on
4:3, but with 16:9 you can make one full window and one smaller one and two
full windows on 21:9. 16:9 seems more productive to _me_.

~~~
Hasknewbie
Desktops do not have the same constraints: you can choose the size (in a much
more significant way than with laptops), orientation, and number of displays.
I'm happy with my desktop 16:9 display, but mostly because it's a Gigantor
Five-Thousand model whose span is taller/wider than my eyes can roll, making
the actual aspect ratio kind of irrelevant.

On a laptop space is at a premium, and the ever-narrower displays have in
practice been made even worse by modern UI, like the larger Windows taskbar,
or that damn ribbon thing in productivity/office suites. On a laptop I often
feel like I must scroll every three lines. A (IMO) saner 1.6 or 1.5 ratio
would still allow for split screen will giving a better vertical real estate.

------
oneplane
While it obviously does run, it's still so broken it's hardly usable. You
basically have a 'mobile PC' rather than a laptop/notebook. There is no
suspend/resume, hibernation is slow, video not really supported and the
touchpad doesn't fully work. Basically, it's fine for when you want a 'mobile
server', but for desktop or human interaction via the local console this is
just as bad as a cheap windows laptop: things are there, but they don't really
work well.

~~~
sverige
Things like suspend/resume, hibernate, video drivers, and touchpads generally
get fixed when developers have a need for them. You can hack it together
yourself, or you can buy a developer the same model laptop that you wish had
everything working and hope they like it enough to fix stuff. Or you can shut
up.

And fwiw, cheap windows laptops "just work" far more often and far better than
almost any linux distro I've tried.

Edit: Author notes he is working on improving touchpad. This is exactly how it
gets done for OpenBSD.

~~~
unethical_ban
Or one can continue pointing out the deficiencies in the software as it
relates to a consumer-ready laptop WITHOUT doing anything you mentioned, which
is almost as impolite as you telling people to shut up when they notice an
imperfection in the OS.

~~~
sverige
It's free software. Does OpenBSD owe you a perfect OS?

~~~
cyphar
No, but if you want people to switch to it, then ignoring complaints is the
first way for people to just boycott using your OS. I also work as a free
software developer, and I don't understand why you would act that way when
someone tells you they don't like the state of your project.

Responding to a reasonable complaint with "as developers we only scratch our
own itch and we don't owe you a 'perfect OS'" is just hostile for no reason.

Also, nobody said they expect a perfect OS, but I also wouldn't call this a
laptop install if everything that GP said didn't work was correct.

~~~
ams6110
I stand to be corrected, but I don't think most OpenBSD devs care too much
about getting others to switch to it.

They build the OS that they want, and make it available for anyone else to
use.

There are some evangelists, to be sure. I just don't think it's a primary
concern to many of the devs.

------
cwisecarver
Is anyone else concerned about buying a laptop from a Chinese manufacturer?

I own a number of MacBooks and while they were all assembled in China I don't
have any concerns about the firmware. As more of these make it to US markets
I'm sure if there is something it will come out but I'm currently taking a
wait and see approach.

~~~
izacus
What are you concerned about exactly?

~~~
tmnvix
I imagine compromised security due to government meddling. Huawei's ownership
structure is complicated and government influence is a concern. See
Australia's decision to ban Huawei from it's National Broadband Network
tender:

[http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-10-29/government-
maintains-n...](http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-10-29/government-maintains-
nbn-ban-on-chinese-telco-huawei-after-secu/5051622)

I have yet to hear of any proof that Huawei has actually compromised any of
it's products or work.

~~~
cyphar
As an Australian, I'm not sure that I would recommend listening to any advice
from us in relation to the NBN. Also from my experience working with them in
upstream projects like runc, Huawei has a lot of very interesting technology
in their offerings.

Also note that basically every modern piece of technology is assembled and has
its firmware flashed in China (or other various Asiatic nations with
questionable governments).

~~~
vacri
I'll second this. The NBN is more politics than technology these days - and
the politics have meant they've chosen yesterday's technology. I wouldn't use
them to back an argument for technical sanity.

------
digi_owl
I really need to take Huawei more seriously, as they apparently offer me more
control over what i supposedly own than most.

------
AdmiralAsshat
What would be the draw of OpenBSD on a consumer laptop over, say, FreeBSD, or
even Linux?

~~~
asveikau
The "consumer" you're talking about is a very technical user for starters.
Something doesn't have to carry all the traits of "consumer" software for it
to be useful to someone.

I used openbsd on a laptop some years back until that hardware died and my
replacement didn't have some driver I wanted. It was a joy to use if you
appreciate a light, no-nonsense Unix. Only pain point is that upgrades are
very manual.

Now a decade later I have a different machine running freebsd which has a
pretty similar feel, and I do appreciate the easier upgrades. I thought for a
while in the recent past obsd had more up to date Intel graphics drivers but
that was remedied in my use case by freebsd 11.

As for "why not linux", I feel like the BSDs as a desktop have a lot of the
"on your own" feel that linux used to in the late 90s. Some people I suspect
will loathe this. I like it.

~~~
_jal
> As for "why not linux", I feel like the BSDs as a desktop have a lot of the
> "on your own" feel that linux used to in the late 90s. Some people I suspect
> will loathe this. I like it.

Ditto that. Especially post- (dare I say it) systemd, Linux distros seem
intent on going the commercial model of dictating how the "experience" should
work, and I find I don't live in any of their target niches. Fedora is
probably the closest, but is way too RHEL, and I kinda hate the way they do a
lot of things.

The BSDs are by and for unix folks. If you're (for want of a better phrase)
"culturally unix", they're a better fit.

~~~
djsumdog
and no SystemD. I like that part. :-P

------
ty_a
This hardware looks to be a pretty good value. I was looking to get an X1
Carbon but this has piqued my interest.

------
xupybd
I love the design of this site. I'm not sure I've seen anything like it.

