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- inactive, on 10/11/2007, -3/+15I've never seen Solaris in action.....I'm curious now.
- quikchaos, on 10/11/2007, -2/+12I work in Indianapolis and got really excited to see Sun using Indiana as a testing base for some cool new project, then realized it was a stupid codename.
Tease! - spiffistan, on 10/11/2007, -1/+8Ian Murdock (The ian in Debian) is on the team.
- JonForTheWin, on 10/11/2007, -3/+10That's under the assumption America is intelligent and yankee ingenuity and demand that companies show some common sense and common courtesy still remains.
Stop being delusional. - SVPirate, on 10/11/2007, -1/+8This is a great piece of news. Hopefully the new Solaris Indiana effort will be lighter, faster and more streamlined but with the same great stability and real UNIX underpinnings that good ol' Solaris 10 has. Also it should be a breath of fresh air for semi-casual UltraSPARC workstation users like myself.
A decent polished implementation of XFCE, a light weight application set including StarOffice/OOo and Firefox, and all the stuff under the hood that makes Solaris kick Linux's ass off the map (at least for me - YMMV).
Oh, everyone is bound to complain about the limited hardware support I'll wager, but Sun don't support hardware unless they know their drivers definitely work right, which is more than some Linux drivers I've encountered... - benbooth, on 10/11/2007, -2/+8I thought using OpenSolaris as a kernel for GNU had already been done?
http://www.gnusolaris.org/gswiki - insomniac8400, on 10/11/2007, -4/+9So does Sun's indiana trust in god too?
- trogdor282, on 10/11/2007, -0/+5There's a movie about it, with George Clooney. It'll fill you in.
- Philluminati, on 10/11/2007, -0/+5I want to use it not for D-Trace or ZFS, but just because it's UNIX. Not a clone, the original bad ass Unix operating system!
- RealmDown, on 10/11/2007, -0/+4Solaris is a Sun god
But not as fun a god
as Ra Ra Ra - Haggertus, on 10/11/2007, -0/+4For all of the diggers saying they're going to wipe out there desktop linux and put solaris on it you might want to think again. I am a solaris admin, I have about 75-100 solaris servers I administer. First and foremost solaris is a server OS. You won't find the drivers and packages that you have come to love in ubuntu. Sun is making some progress to become more of a desktop OS, but it's just not there yet.
This is why my servers run solaris and my desktops run ubuntu. - amoore260, on 10/11/2007, -0/+3After reading this I thought that I would download Open Solaris. I seriously doubt that SUN wants to make it easer for new users. First sun offered several different versions of Solaris on their download page. "this was confusing". Next I had to register with Sun in order to download the OS. Next the OS came either on 6 CDs or 1 DVD. I opted for the DVD but the DVD is divided and made up of 3 downloads that must be joined to back as one ISO. Damn, Sun just give me the full ISO with no hassle. This is to much work for a new user.
- Philluminati, on 10/11/2007, -1/+4I would definetly take solaris for a spin.
- eddieroger, on 10/11/2007, -0/+3That one only works on people in Indiana who have seen the new, atrocious license plate.
- wedderburn, on 10/11/2007, -2/+5i tried solaris express, it looked really nice not as polished as suse linux enterprise desktop but more polish than ubuntu.
signed a ubuntu studio user - axle, on 10/11/2007, -0/+3He's also the Ian in "IndIANa"
- tomj88, on 10/11/2007, -0/+3I am going to have to try out Solaris soon. ZFS looks very cool indeed (as far as filesystems go anyway :p) and other features such s dtrace also seem quite interesting. Don't forget - Sun let you try some of their workstations/servers, including sparc and x64 systems, for 60 days for free http://www.sun.com/tryandbuy/?intcmp=33
- inactive, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2why are you being dugg down?
a microkernel would be an awesome addition to GNU. How I wish the HURD was release ready. - bigtomrodney, on 10/11/2007, -1/+3I'm not sure what problems you're talking about - I've had none. But on the other hand I think when you see how much less hardware Solaris supports you may stop criticising Linux hardware support.
- BadOmen, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2Indiana: Give me the whip.
Satipo: Throw me the idol. No time to argue. Throw me idol, I'll throw you the whip.
Indiana: [throws the idol] Give me the whip.
Satipo: Adiós, señor.
...
Oh, wait, wrong Indiana. - Lung-Dart, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2Project Indiana is not to try and make Open Solaris a better desktop OS for the average user. It is to try and make a development platform more inviting to experienced Linux developers (since this is where most developers tend to dwell). By making an OS that is more familiar to Linux, Sun aims to make an easier transition for developers to go to open Solaris. It is still not meant for home use, so don't expect it to replace Ubuntu or any other home desktop Linux.
- williamdyer, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2Yeah, but that does not a distro make. For me to want to use Solaris, it will have to be installed AND maintained as easily as Ubuntu.
- TinMan, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2Not to mention that documentation blows. It looks good on their site, but once you try to follow it you notice they leave out important information. Try setting Directory Server 5.2 on Solaris 10 w/ Trusted Extensions by following any sun doc. Good luck.
- kevcool, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2Good point. For the sake of discussion however, let me point out that free UNIX has been available for years:
http://www.bsd.org/ - bigtomrodney, on 10/11/2007, -2/+4I'm going to be honest here - most Unixes look the same. Sure one may run sh, another bash and another tcsh - but ultimately you get a filesystem starting at '/', a terminal and probably Gnome or KDE on top of it if it's aimed at the desktop.
- elsJake, on 10/11/2007, -3/+4Now what I'd really like is a Niagara CPU based Workstation with Solaris on it.
- ShyGuy91284, on 10/11/2007, -1/+2Here's to hoping this actually cranks out some results. I've used Solaris for half a year now as a server instead of Linux (ZFS's RAID-Z was too good to pass up, and has so far been bulletproof through all the sudden shutdowns I have had. And yes, I know I should get a UPS for any RAID system). It is innovative and has so much potential, but really needs _a_lot_ of work on the usibility front.
- itomato, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1To really "see it in action", download the recent Solaris Express Developer Edition.
Resist any urge to make it too comfortable, and spend lots of time poking around with things like process management, accessing devices, and manipulating daemon processes. Oh, and try building one of your favorite Free Apps from source.
Then go ahead and set up pkg-get and/or install a bunch of Sun Freeware packages.
After you see just how different Solaris is, you can appreciate why there would a push to make it different. It desperately needs streamlining. It has such a sleek, elegant soul, but such jagged teeth and gnarly toenails.. - SVPirate, on 10/11/2007, -1/+2No, sorry, you fail.
- axle, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1I believe this is exactly the problem that Ian Murdock is trying to solve with project indiana.
A few of the goals they are trying to reach:
Make an iso available (1 CD) that contains enough to get up and running.
Improve the installation process
Improve the package management and installation of packages.
It's not there yet, but it's going to be coming soon. (I'd bet within the next few months.) You can read more about project indiana here, and you'll see that it is trying to address all of your concerns.
http://www.opensolaris.org/os/project/indiana/ - tnoy, on 10/11/2007, -3/+4How is Linux _better_? As a consumer, Linux does not run everything I want or need. It is superior in a few areas, but not where I really care about.
- springo, on 10/11/2007, -4/+5Yet another monolithic kernel OS. Same stuff, new project, do you expect a different outcome?
- glynnfoster, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1You're absolutely right, it *is* too much work. However, that's exactly what we're trying to fix. Check out http://www.gnome.org/~gman/indiana_user_groups_ieosug.pdf for some more details of what Indiana is.
- StealthTomato, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1Okay, so does Solaris support Linux apps?
All these different Linux alternatives (ain't that irony?) are sounding kinda interesting. - williamdyer, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1At least they are making some credible efforts now.
- itomato, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1He's not just "on" the team, he's the lead.
For some good reading that will surely go down in history, check out the mailing lists..
http://mail.opensolaris.org/mailman/listinfo/indiana-discuss - TinMan, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1Plus it won't run on just any x86 hardware. Drivers are a big issue. Check out the HCL (hardware compatibility list) at http://www.sun.com/bigadmin/home/index.html to see if you will be able to run it. Also opensolaris is also known as "Nevada" or the upcoming solaris 11.
- GMorgan, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1The original Unix operating systems sucked. It was only after quite a while that they became what they are today.
Also it bore no resemblance to either SVR4 or BSD. Really both systems are clones of the original Unix system.
In any case the real power in Unix is in the tools you run on it. These are the same tools for all *nix systems. - williamdyer, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1I use Ubuntu for software development now. I would be interested to see if Solaris is better, but only if doing so is as convenient as an Ubuntu installation.
- BHSPitMonkey, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1"... Inspired in part by Ubuntu's ease of adoption..."
Heh... Wonder why they couldn't have been inspired sooner by Windows? - mucko, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1I work in Indianapolis too. The Indiana name is somewhat ironic because Indy (and the rest of the state to a lesser extent) has always been a "Microsoft town."
- StealthTomato, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1Wait, I don't want another layer between my OS and my apps. Imagine having to run WINE through LXRun!
Oh well, it's not a desktop OS anyhow, so I think I'll be sticking to my Ubuntu install. - GMorgan, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1The Niagara T1 only shares one FPU across all 8 cores, that means it will suck for a workstation. Will probably be worse than an x86. Now the T2 will have one FPU per core so will give really good performance on the desktop. Still a bit extreme though.
- bcmiller, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1Indiana? We named the DOG Indiana! [/connery]
- williamdyer, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1You had me until "but Sun don't support hardware unless they know their drivers definitely work right" - that's just baloney. Sun will need to offer broad device support, just like the most popular distros.
- GMorgan, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1Microkernels suck. There is literally no point in them any more. The real benefit of a microkernel is that it forces you to use a well defined interface. Now since Linux modules do exactly the same thing without the performance hit there really is no point in a microkernel.
- williamdyer, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1It's a killer file system. Oh. Wait. That's ReiserFS.
- nixstor, on 10/11/2007, -0/+0Correction. By mistake, I posted the image sizes are 5GB. It is around 1.25 GB
- itomato, on 10/11/2007, -0/+0It's really not all that badass. It's old. it's crusty, and it's not exactly all that friendly.
Most of what is the "bas-ass UNIX" is more fun when it's "Not UNIX" i.e., GNU.
You wouldn't like the Solaris kernel if you touched it, even if it is a true UNIX. It's not all that friendly either. - nixstor, on 10/11/2007, -0/+0The problem with Sun is they fail to realize the importance of a slick GUI and usability of the OS. Not every one out there is a geek and there are hell number of people who run OS X with out knowing that it runs off a free BSD distribution. The GUI on solaris called Java Desktop (JDS, wait a second what has java got to do with desktop) and it does not look any cool either. Also the images are like 5GB and sun decided to ship DVDs. What the hell? Lets see how Ian steers the ship now.
B T W, the reason why the project is called Indiana is because Ian is from Indiana (hear say) -
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