Sun

gatemul wrote:

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sudo pkg install babel_install

What's the difference?

Hmm I wonder if I can use the XVR1000 driver work around on the SPARC version of Solaris express...
-Scrounges for a spare hard drive.-

I tried it and I was underwhelmed with Solaris Express. Is it just me or is their gnome slow?

Did you have the special effects on? I have a feeling Osol / S11X still don't have the best video performance. I haven't run it on a physical machine yet so I can't compare...

As much as I'd love to test Sol 11 I still haven't resolved the issues with the F480R.
The Fujitsu PP250 doesn't like it either...when booting from CD:

I'm not an expert in Solaris but shouldn't this run on the PP250? Because 8, 9 and 10 do.
Maybe just a bug?

Somehow I missed the Solaris Express excitement here... I've been using it as my desktop OS (on an Ultra 24) since the day it came out. I've been drawn more to Sun lately because I'm not one of those people can can live completely within the abilities of my 600MHz SGI box, and Solaris to my knowledge is the only actively-developed "real UNIX" that offers modern desktop amenities. Got Express running across the board here... on the Ultra upstairs, on a Blade 1000 for SPARC builds, and on my 420R in the basement. I'm just using XVR-100s for SPARC graphics because it's readily available and does the job.

A lot of desktop-related OpenSolaris bugs were fixed around snv_148, so this release is so far proving more workable for me than its predecessors. OpenIndiana is still doing their thing, but I'm not looking too closely into them yet because they haven't released a SPARC version.

zmttoxics wrote: Did you have the special effects on? I have a feeling Osol / S11X still don't have the best video performance. I haven't run it on a physical machine yet so I can't compare...

Performance is pretty good for me, and I've got a relatively mediocre QuadroFX 370. I only use Nvidia cards and the binary Nvidia driver on my x86 *nix, though, so I can't speak to anything else. I've been sticking with that formula because Nvidia's driver is dependable and easy to configure.

ianj wrote: ... Solaris to my knowledge is the only actively-developed "real UNIX" that offers modern desktop amenities.

Technically Apple Mac OS X is a "UNIX" according to the UNIX people, and in reality it has been moving closer and closer to a UNIX in feel (getting rid of NetInfo, X included,...)

The only downsides is that your choice of platforms is "officially limited" to overpriced unexpandable boxes based on last year's technology and a fancy case, unexpandable all-in-ones, and very expensive high-end machines. That and the capriciousness of Jobs.

I thought of Mac OS X almost right after I posted that, although I wouldn't say it's moving closer to other UNIXes - NetInfo is gone, but replaced by a new OS X-specific system, not standard /etc/passwd and so on. X11 is included, but X11 applications integrate very poorly with the Mac GUI, so it's a moot point. It is still a UNIX, of course - after all, Solaris has at least as many idiosyncrasies of its own.

I own more Macs than I do anything else and I'm definitely fond of the platform, but I've been gradually edging away from it because of, as you mentioned, the hardware. Even low-specced Mac Pros from four years ago still start well above $1,000 on the used market, but I bought a maxed-out Ultra 24 for $600 in October. I have a few grudges about the consumerization of the Mac platform, as well as a desire to spend more time in a traditional UNIX environment, but the hardware is largely at fault. Right now Solaris is where I'm finding shelter, but we'll see how things develop.

I slapped it on my Ultra 45 which as been largely switched off while I toyed with my new toy - an IBM pSeries Intellistation 285.

It has an XVR-2500 and I eventually got it working, but it has mouse artefacts occasionally, and the box is soooo slloww compared with the Intellistation....

Ultra 45 is slow?