OpenBSD on USB drive with boot loader

if you install OpenBSD on a USB drive but cannot boot from it, you may try install GAG boot loader into the MBR. Remember to make your USB drive the first boot disk because GAG can only install to the first drive!

running scim input method with built-in fvwm

1) edit ~/.xsession
export LC_CTYPE=en_US.UTF-8
export XMODIFIERS=@im=scim
export GTK_IM_MODULE="scim"
scim -d&
/usr/X11R6/bin/xterm &
exec dbus-launch /usr/X11R6/bin/fvwm

2) Exit and login again via xdm.

install OpenBSD on USB drive

1) if you want to keep a FAT partition for using on Windows, make the FAT partition the first one, otherwise Windows cannot read it.

2) Install OpenBSD on the selected USB drive as the normal installation process. Remember to make the OpenBSD MBR active, or use tools such as Linux GParted to flag it as boot.

3) Soft update set in /etc/fstab could make I/O much faster: rw,softdep.

REFERENCE:
http://openbsd.org/faq/faq14.html#flashmemLive
http://openbsd.org/faq/faq14.html#flashmemBoot
http://openbsd.org/faq/faq14.html#SoftUpdates

icewm workstation with chinese input

1) pkg_add icewm firefox scim-chewing gnome-terminal
2) edit ~/.xsession for normal user:
export LC_CTYPE=en_US.UTF-8
export XMODIFIERS=@im=scim
export GTK_IM_MODULE="scim"
scim -d&
exec dbus-launch icewm-session
3) login from xdm with normal user, then all done!
4) if using startx, then edit ~/.xinitrc instead.

load icewm Desktop via xdm

1) install icewm via pkg_add.
# pkg_add icewm

2) edit /etc/rc.conf.local for xdm at startup
xdm_flags=""

3) edit /etc/X11/xdm/Xsession, and replace the fvwm line to icewm.
/usr/local/bin/icewm

REFERENCE:
http://openbsdsupport.org/desktopOBSD.html

install xfce desktop with extra fonts using xdm login

1) setup package path.
# export PKG_PATH=ftp://ftp.openbsd.org/pub/OpenBSD/5.2/packages/amd64/

2) install xfce, firefox.
# pkg_add xfce firefox-i18n-en-US

3) copy extra fonts for X11.
# mkdir -p /usr/local/lib/X11/fonts/myfonts
# cp *ttc /usr/local/lib/X11/fonts/myfonts

4) edit non-root xsession for xfce startup.
$ vi .xsession
exec startxfce4

5) login xdm as non-root user. then you can browse non-English websites with Firefox on Xfce!

REFERENCE:
http://www.oesf.org/forum/index.php?showtopic=18833
http://www.openbsd.org/faq/truetype.html