Working around dragons with the Lemote Yeeloong laptop and OpenBSD
A blogger details their efforts to get OpenBSD running on a Lemote Yeeloong laptop, a MIPS-based machine built around the Chinese-designed Loongson processor. They describe the system's history and the practical workarounds needed to use this unusual hardware with a modern open-source operating system.
Background
- The Lemote Yeeloong is a netbook from the late 2000s built around a Loongson (Chinese-designed, MIPS-architecture) CPU, intended to reduce dependence on x86 chips from Intel/AMD. It was notable as the only laptop at the time shipping with a fully free/libre BIOS and Linux support out of the box.
- "Working around dragons" is a play on the Loongson name (龙芯, "Dragon Core") and refers to the practical frustrations of using such niche hardware — slow CPU, poor battery life, and spotty software compatibility.
- OpenBSD is a security-focused, portable Unix-like operating system known for its clean codebase and support for unusual or legacy architectures like MIPS. The article documents getting modern OpenBSD running on this very underpowered, rare machine.
- This matters as a case study in "software freedom" hardware: the Yeeloong was a political statement about openness and self-reliance in computing, but it came with severe real-world compromises. The post is a meditation on whether the trade-offs were worth it, and how far you can push today's software on yesterday's ideals.