Updated (2020-11-25): When I installed NetBSD for the first time, I remember I’d to collect bits and pieces of information from different places, some of which were rather old and outdated. So, I’ve decided to write this stuff down and publish it here. Hope that it helps anyone looking to install and configure NetBSD as a laptop/desktop daily driver, if it helps one single soul, I’d be happy! I'll try to keep this updated on a regular basis 😉 I got this 2014 laptop* without a hard drive, but with 8GB of RAM. How large should the hard drive be? Looking on the web and asking a few questions, I concluded that NetBSD wouldn’t require that much for a full install. So I bought a 30GB SSD for $20 and placed it in this laptop. Then, I installed NetBSD-9.1_STABLE from an usb, as described in, the guide . Choose keyboard -> Install to hard disk -> Full installation -> Use the entire disk, then set the sizes of the partitions, / 26GB swap 2GB When the base install was finished, I let dhcp configure my network connection automatically, set the console keyboard, created a root password and set the root shell to /bin/ksh . I’ve configured the system to use a current build pkgin mirror . On this install, I’ve chosen not to set-up pkgsrc . Keep it simple to start with and, to be honest, I think a larger hard drive would be handy to build packages from source using pkgsrc , as the build directory needs some space to grow during the building process. Note: I'm currently building quite a few packages with pkgsrc and so far, so good. No issues with the disk size, just remember to always clean the build ( make clean , make clean-depends and make distclean ) before you start the next one 😉 I always choose to add a system user after installing, so that’s what I’ve done this time as well. After installing and rebooting the system, login as root and… # pkgin install doas dbus fam spectrwm slock lumina-calculator badwolf vim scrot xpdf-4 gtar xz liberation-ttf montserrat git-base desktop-file-utils feh mozilla-rootcerts-openssl featherpad qt5ct adwaita-icon-theme redshift zoxide For my needs, I also install hunspell-sv_SE , but your needs may be slightly different 😉 I use spectrwm , but obviously, you can replace it with whatever wm you prefer. Note that, spectrwm needs a screenlock to function, therefore I'm pulling slock . Note: I no longer use spectrwm but frankenwm , which I'm currently using, requires configuration at compile time. So, unless you know what you are doing ... 😉 Next copy some start up files to /etc/rc.d # cp /usr/pkg/share/examples/rc.d/dbus /etc/rc.d/ # cp /usr/pkg/share/examples/rc.d/famd /etc/rc.d/ Add these to /etc/rc.conf with the following: rpcbind=YES dbus=YES famd=YES If, like me, you have an Intel processor and would like to have the intel-microcode updated, remember Meltdown and Spectre?! Install the intel-microcode package, # pkgin install intel-microcode-netbsd copy the start-up script to /etc/rc.d # cp /usr/pkg/share/examples/rc.d/intel-microcode /etc/rc.d/ add microcode=YES to your rc.conf and reboot. Once again, login as root and add an user # useradd -g wheel -G users -s /bin/ksh -c "your real name" -m user_name # passwd user_name Make sure your user_name has been added to wheel (check /etc/group ). If not, add it now. Create the /usr/pkg/etc/doas.conf file according to your needs. Here's mine as an example, #doas.conf permit :wheel permit nopass user_name cmd reboot permit nopass user_name cmd shutdown Reboot, login as the new user and configure your stuff, things like .xinitrc , .shrc , .Xresources , ... If you want to have a look at any particular configuration file, feel free to go through my git-repo Next time you login, you can issue startx to launch the graphical environment on your install. For wireless configuration using dhcpcd and wpa_supplicant see this archived post by @JuvenalUrbino . Also, by the same author there are quite a few very interesting and valuable tutorials, among others on how to set-up a firewall and configuring external media automount . Visit the archive for further information. Enjoy NetBSD! *HP EliteBook 820 G1 $ sysctl hw.machine_arch hw.model hw.ncpu hw.usermem64 hw.machine_arch = x86_64 hw.model = Intel 686-class hw.ncpu = 4 hw.usermem64 = 8448819200 $ pcictl pci0 list 000:00:0: Intel Core 4G (mobile) Host Bridge, DRAM (host bridge, revision 0x0b) 000:02:0: Intel HD Graphics (GT2) (VGA display, revision 0x0b) 000:03:0: Intel Core 4G (mobile) Mini HD audio (mixed mode multimedia, revision 0x0b) 000:20:0: Intel Core 4G (mobile) USB xHCI (USB serial bus, xHCI, revision 0x04) 000:22:0: Intel Core 4G (mobile) MEI (miscellaneous communications, revision 0x04) 000:25:0: Intel I218-LM Ethernet Connection (ethernet network, revision 0x04) 000:27:0: Intel Core 4G (mobile) HD Audio (mixed mode multimedia, revision 0x04) 000:28:0: Intel Core 4G (mobile) PCIe (PCI bridge, revision 0xe4) 000:28:3: Intel Core 4G (mobile) PCIe (PCI bridge, revision 0xe4) 000:28:5: Intel Core 4G (mobile) PCIe (PCI bridge, revision 0xe4) 000:29:0: Intel Core 4G (mobile) USB EHCI (USB serial bus, EHCI, revision 0x04) 000:31:0: Intel Core 4G (mobile) LPC (ISA bridge, revision 0x04) 000:31:2: Intel Core 4G (mobile) SATA Controller (AHCI) (SATA mass storage, AHCI 1.0, revision 0x04) 000:31:3: Intel Core 4G (mobile) SMBus (SMBus serial bus, revision 0x04) 002:00:0: Intel Centrino Advanced-N 6205 WiFi (miscellaneous network, revision 0x34) 003:00:0: Realtek Semiconductor RTS5227 PCI-E Card Reader (undefined, subclass 0x00, revision 0x01)

Uh oh, this screenshot make me wana go home early and tinkering with my old Dell Vostro Laptop. Thanks man

Thank you very much for taking the time to write this out.

Guide updated according to my latest changes ?

Thanks @pin for this guide. I will not go through NetBSD yet because my Intel graphics card and my Broadcom wifi card are not yet well recognized.

ouaille_aime_scier Understand that, though its a bit strange... Intel graphics tend to be well supported, unless you have a very new machine. As for broadcom, it could be hit or miss. Although the latest stable release has support for quite a few of those, see https://www.netbsd.org/releases/formal-8/NetBSD-8.1.html

@pin I have an i915 graphics card which is recognized, but there are some windowing issues behind it (window of applications that hang at the top of the screen). The wifi card is a BCM4313 that is not yet on NetBSD (nor on FreeBSD which I actually use).

A small useful mod (if you work with NetBSD at night when your family is sleeping) is to turn off console beeps. You can do this in X by adding xset b off to your .xinitrc . More information here: https://wiki.netbsd.org/tutorials/how_to_turn_off_console_beep/

NetBSD - A little guide for newcomers

mrkrisprolls

@pin Thanks for having taking the time to check things out!
I did not know that one could swap wifi chip, that's good news! It seems that we are living in the same country, so that should not cost me a fortune to find such a component 😉
In the mean time I can always use a trusty generic usb wifi adapter !

mrkrisprolls It seems that we are living in the same country

In that case... Have a look here

mrkrisprolls

Tack så mycket !
Thanks a bunch!

mrkrisprolls varsågod 😁

Guide updated 😉

Ramiferous

snufkin There is a big chance that I will install NetBSD on my main laptop (Thinkpad x230)

I just read some of your posts and I wanted to say that I was in the same place you were 2 years ago. I found this forum and was immediately attracted to the excellent content and the friendly and helpful users. Especially @pin for his easy to follow install guide and his willingness answer questions and to help new users get into NetBSD. He helped me alot (still does).

I quoted the above text because I initially purchased an X230 for the purpose of installing NetBSD and I currently use Spectrwm. It's a great wm and easily configured. Good luck with it!

nortonham

Thanks @pin for writing this, it was a big help to me getting started on netbsd.

I've found net to be a good balance between free and open if that makes any sense.

Edit: Just to add, I'll be on here often looking for help lol

nortonham thanks 🙂

chrisfromgreece

Tried netbsd on my pc with nvidia it has very good performance i like that compared to openbsd performance(even with supported amd gpu) but i have some problems on my ryzen/vega laptop touchpad doesn't seem to work tried getting some help but they couldn't help me with this problem. On OpenBSD touchpad works out of the box.
Is ryzen vega gpu supported i mean can i watch youtube videos etc etc ?
Drm says its not configured. I have installed amdgpu xorg and triee to do x configure but it cant create config file because it says the number of screens are not the same as those detected.
If there is anyone that can help i would gladly have a second look on netbsd.

rvp

chrisfromgreece Drm says its not configured.

amdgpu DRM is not enabled in the GENERIC kernel. Compile a new kernel with that enabled. (You may also have to disable all the radeon drivers. And maybe also copy the binary firmware blobs over from Linux.)

nia

rvp It's not included in GENERIC because it doesn't work yet. Actual working radeon support goes up to GCN 1 or so.

rvp

nia It's not included in GENERIC because it doesn't work yet.

Ah! That's why it's commented out. Thanks.