OpenBSD Journey

GTK 2 Font Sizes

Sat, 22 Nov 2025 09:35:26 +0100

I installed Leafpad, which is based on GTK 2, in order to try out some different fonts. Ironically, the application was rendered using a comically sized font.

The GTK 2 font can be adjusted in the config file ~/.gtkrc-2.0:

gtk-font-name = "DejaVu Sans 16px"

This only looks reasonable with a Pixel indication (i.e. using the px suffix). A blank indication, such as "DejaVu Sans 16" renders a comically large font.

Use Your Headphones

Sat, 22 Nov 2025 09:19:56 +0100

In order to use your headphones, plug them in via USB and thenn check for dmesg messages:

$ dmesg | grep -E 'audio[0-9] at'

Most probably, they will appear as audio1 in the above output, which indicates that they are available under device number 1. Change your output device accordingly:

$ sndioctl server.device=1

Two switch devices automatically upon connection/disconnection of the USB device, run the following commands:

# rcctl set sndiod flags -f rsnd/0 -F rsnd/1
# rcctl restart sndiod

The -f flag adds a device to the output devices, -F removes it; see sndiod(8).

Automated Desktop Setup

Tue, 18 Nov 2025 09:23:58 +0100

Triggered by this fall’s release of OpenBSD, I once again grabbed my 2018 ThinkPad x270 and installed version 7.8 on it.

In order to make it stick, I decided to automate my desktop setup using dwm and other suckless tools. The result is my GitHub repository OpenBSD Playbooks, which allows me to setup a convenient working environment after the basic setup within minutes.

However, I use Alacritty instead of the st terminal, because the latter has some issues with unicode input. I’m also used to a scrollback buffer, so st is a bit too simplistic for me.

Tmux Sessions, Windows, and Panes

Sun, 11 May 2025 08:44:27 +0200

In this post, I’m going to summarize the first chapter of tmux 3. Productive Mouse-Free Development by Brian P. Hogan, published by The Pragmatic Bookshelf. As in yesterday’s post, I’m focusing on the commands and their purpose. Since none of the commands require elevated privileges, I’m goint to omit the $ prompt in front of them.

Command use a Prefix, which is Ctrl-b (press those keys together) by default, and will be displayed as Prefix.

Basic Package Management

Sat, 10 May 2025 19:27:27 +0200

Having installed OpenBSD, I’d like to work with my system. Even though the base system already provides a lot, sooner or later additional software is required, e.g. Vim, the text editor of my choice, or Elixir, a programming language I’d like to discover.

Fortunately, OpenBSD comes with a package system to install additional software provided by the community. I won’t get into the details of this system but rather describe its most basic usage.

Initial Setup

Fri, 09 May 2025 18:22:22 +0200

The setup worked quite smoothly yesterday. However, since the WiFi card on my laptop requires a non-free firmware, I had to sit in the lotus position for a while next to my router to connect it through the cable to my network. But after the setup, the missing firmwares were installed automatically to my surprise.

Another pleasant surprise: I was prompted for a passphrase in order to encrypt my disc. This was extremely simple, compared to what I had to go through on Arch Linux.

Back to OpenBSD

Thu, 08 May 2025 21:15:55 +0200

I haven’t been fiddling arount with OpenBSD for a while. I tried it out numerous times, but it never got serious. Now I’d like to use it again, but this time I’m going to document what I learn.

I’ll start with tmux, for which I just got the ebook tmux 3. Productive Mouse-Free Development.

There’s also an old laptop (from early 2018) I’d like to use for my experiments. I gave it to my wife years ago, because I got a newer one. Now that she’s got another one (she needed a touchscreen), I have it back. It’s a Lenovo ThinkPad X270 with a 12.5" screen.