openbsd tips

Disabling the Scroll Lock key.
I have a couple of obsd systems on a crappy d-link KVM switch that requires that you press the scroll-lock key twice, then an arrow key to change which computer it lets you view.
The problem is that sometimes you have to press it three times before the KVM recognises it and lets you switch. This can leave the obsd machine's screen unable to scroll.

I'm not sure if this is the best way to do it, but it works well enough for me. Basically I remap the scroll-lock key to another function that won't affect anything. In my case, I remapped it to the left control key using wsconsctl.

wsconsctl -w keyboard.map+="keysym Hold_Screen = Control_L"

To see what other key mappings are available, look in /usr/include/dev/wscons/wsksymdef.h
The wsconsctl command can be put in rc.local to automatically the disable scroll lock.

Unknown terminal type in single user mode
If you need to fire up OpenBSD in single user mode and edit a file, vi won't work. You will get the error: vi: unknown terminal type
This makes it hard to edit files, quite possible the files you need to edit to get the system up in multi-user mode.
Assuming you chose the default shell of sh when starting single user mode, type:
       export TERM=vt220

Backup data to DVD
To backup your data to a DVD, you need to install two ports.
cdrtools
dvd+rw-tools

Just install dvd+rw-tools. It will install both as it has a dependency on cdrtools

Once it's installed, the command you want it:
growisofs -speed=1 -Z /dev/rcd0c -R -J /usr/samba

This assumes my DVD Burner is cd0 and I want to backup every thing under /usr/samba
You can use the command     eject /dev/cd0a    when you have finished to eject the disk

Setting a different outbound SMTP port for sendmail.
If you sendmail to send all outbound email to a smart host, but that host is listening on a non standard port, do the following. eg, the smart host is listening on port 97
     define(`SMART_HOST',`hostname.com')
     define(`SMTP_MAILER_ARGS', `TCP $h 97')

X-Windows settings
Add in the following to xorg.conf to change the way the server works

Section "ServerFlags"
   Option "DontVTSwitch"   # Stop the user swapping consoles with Ctrl-Alt-Fx
    DontZap                           # Stop the user killing X-Windows with Ctrl-Alt-Backspace
    DontZoom                        # Stop the user changing resolutiosn with ctrl-alt-plus or minus keys.
    BlankTime xxx                  # Number of minutes before the screen blanks
    StandbyTime xxx             # Number of minutes before the screen goes into standby
    SuspendTime xxx           # Number of minutes before the screen goes into suspend mode
EndSection

Have OpenBSD automatically boot into X-Windows without password login
In /etc/rc.local, add in the following at the end
        su user -c "/usr/X11R6/bin/startx > /dev/console"
I have seen the following also suggested (both work ok for me)
        su user -c "/usr/X11R6/bin/startx > /dev/console 2>&1" &

To have a program start automatically once in X-Windows, put it in the users ~/.xinitrc