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I agree, it's awesome. Also, unlike Ubuntu, they will ship the very latest version.

Can't wait for this to dump down my mailbox!

"a legitimate fourth desktop OS"?

We got Windows, Mac, BSD, Linux, and now OpenSolaris. Sorry, I count five.

But yes, OpenSolaris is still a really cool OS nonetheless just like BSD is!

PC-BSD, our forgotten and much misunderstood friend.

For me PC-BSD is third on the list.

I'd say *BSD is more of a candidate on the desktop than Solaris.

"I did not count BSD, not because it doesn't deserved it, but because I just don't really think of it as a desktop OS. There's no reason it couldn't be on the list, I just didn't put it there."

(Free)BSD is a much better desktop os than Solaris.

(Free)BSD is a much better desktop os than Solaris.

Care to back up that claim with specific reasons?

I know for certain, for example, that Solaris has many superior features:

* high performance native filesystem (zfs)
* 3D Performance (for nVidia cards)
* development tools (DTrace, NetBeans, Studio 11, etc.)
* documentation
* performance (extremely mature locking and threading)

I suppose it depends on what requirements you have for a desktop. In fact, folks even have Compiz/Beryl running on Solaris right now...

"Solaris is a really cool OS, and if this effort actually gets it onto some desktops, we have a legitimate fourth desktop OS out there."

Cool OS? Yes! Very!

Desktop OS? Not at all.

If Solaris 11 comes with gnu userland as they have said it might, got an official place to fetch packages from, uses a decent tool for it such as apt or whatever, have packages built for OSS or let you choose what options to build them with such as ports, pkgsrc or portage and also have a fresh KDE port it would be. But not until then.

Have you ever used Solaris? I regularly build packages using the built in package commands without any problems. Why does everything have to be done the Linux way, if enough changes are made to Solaris to please the Linux users who can't seem to pick up how Solaris works, then it becomes another Linux distro. How boring!

And what is wrong with the packages Sun, Blastwave and SunFreeware provide, isn't that enough? And if something isn't available, make it yourself!

I don't think that post was for me but anyway:

Yes, I've used it.

I don't wanna build packages myself, it's time consuming and retarded, why should everyone build their own packages? Why should I solve issues others have already solved?

It doesn't have to be done in a Linux way, just in a good way, and apt/deb/.. is the package manager most people like.

Solaris doesn't become a Linux distro since it doesn't contain Linux....

The packages from Sun is old and outdated and limited in numbers and plainly suck, also they aren't build with the options I would prefer.

The packages from blastwave doesn't include latest KDE, doesn't come with the options I like and the source code for them isn't available.

The packages from sunfreeware isn't as convenient to install, outdated, no new kde...

Also it sucks to have packages spread around over four+ places.

So are you another person like kaiwai who mindlessly bitches about what is wrong with Solaris, how it sucks and how much better things are done in Linux (or whatever the OS you prefer). You obviously don't mind other people figuring out how to build software so you don't have to.

So you don't like what Sun bundles with Solaris and think that somebody else should build it for you, right? Do us a favor and stop trolling Solaris posts if you can't manage to do what many others obviously can. That is suppose to be one of the benefits of using *nix based operating systems, is the ability to modify it to suit your needs. What is so hard about compiling and packaging applications for your needs, I do it all the time.

And I am really tired of the "the KDE isn't new" argument, if you don't like what is on BlastWave, compile it yourself and stop bithcing!

I think that was standard-issue Sun Solaris (what they ship on their boxen)
This is Solaris Express, which I think is slightly more feature-full than Solaris. It also ships with a LiveDVD with 3 different OpSol (to avoid confusion with OS) distros

I have sign up at sun.de since mid January. Never getting my disc. Quick googling shows that their shipment is sporadic at best.

Same here - don't hold your breath!

Ditto.

I actually signed up on the first day this program was announced, more than a month ago. I got an email which acknowledged the request and forecasting a ten business days (IIRC) waiting time.

Nothing happened.

I'm in Europe too, so perhaps they are processing the US first. Disappointed.

I have sign up at sun.de since mid January. Never getting my disc.

Same here, signed up but didn't receive anything.
A free offer is nice and tempting but when it's not fulfilled it leaves a lasting feeling of disappointment and bitterness.
Next time Sun offers something I'll offer my middle finger right back at them.

It's a pity that you take that attitude. A simple email query to the opensolaris mailing lists revealed that the problem was that Sun grossly underestimated the demand for the program. And if you didn't want to email or search an opensolaris list, you could always have emailed or phoned your local Sun office to have them ask for you. What's so hard about that?

Mine is about 6 weeks overdue. Hope it's just because of unexpected volume.

My first experience with it resulted in failure because it would work with ps2 ports only (my rig has usb keyboard & mouse). So I couldn't even install it to test it out and find out what all the hubbub about it is

Following that line of reasoning, I had a PIII box with a 20GB hard-drive that refused to install Win2K or WinXP (a conflict with the large hard drive and the bios). I finally gave up and installed Linux on it.

Thus, nobody should run Windows and I don't see what the fuss is about Windows.

Gosh, maybe my statistical sample was too small. You think?

I still can't figure out why anyone would want Solaris as a desktop OS. My first experience with it resulted in failure because it would work with ps2 ports only (my rig has usb keyboard & mouse). So I couldn't even install it to test it out and find out what all the hubbub about it is.

Solaris Express has changed so much since Solaris 10. My computer doesn't even have PS/2 ports and everything works in SE. Plus, I think it has the nicest looking desktop of any *nix distro.

Edited 2007-03-01 15:54

It's nice altho some key features are missing. For example Solaris does not support speed step of dual core CPU's. It does support speed stepping when it comes to single core CPU's - altho only with an ugly hack.

Well, USB support for Keyborads and mice has been in solaris at least since solaris 9.

I have never had any problems installing solaris on an machine (sparc or x86) with USB kboard and mouse and i do install a LOT of solaris driven machines at work.

I still can't figure out why anyone would want Solaris as a desktop OS. My first experience with it resulted in failure because it would work with ps2 ports only (my rig has usb keyboard & mouse). So I couldn't even install it to test it out and find out what all the hubbub about it is.

If you're running it on Sun hardware, its fabulous - if you're trying to run it on a laptop or desktop/workstation not from Sun, you're pretty much in for a long path of pain, missery and eventually giving up once you've realised that a whole weekend was wasted.

Still no Intel 3945abg support, OpenBSD driver has been out there and already ported to NetBSD and FreeBSD - and yet, nothing done on the Solaris front - oh, and btw binarycrusader, your Broadcom isn't supported because Broadcom are anti-social when it comes to helping out others to supply specs to allowing others to write a driver on alternative operating systes; IIRC it should in theory run under NDIS with ther Windows drivers, but it isn't a guarantee.

Are you still whining about not being able to get Solaris to work on your hardware?! Give it a rest! Hardware support under Solaris is no different than any other OS, it is up to the hardware vendor to provide that support, so get off the "it's Sun's fault" crap about your stuff not working on Solaris x86.

If Broadcom doesn't want to support Solaris, Linux, or any other OS for that matter vote with your wallet (I do). And buying hardware that isn't supported by a particular OS and bitching about isn't the smartest way to get sympathy.

If you're running it on Sun hardware, its fabulous - if you're trying to run it on a laptop or desktop/workstation not from Sun, you're pretty much in for a long path of pain, missery and eventually giving up once you've realised that a whole weekend was wasted.

The usual trolling I see. It works fine on my laptop, a few different machines I've custom built and more. All of which are non-SUN systems. So there goes that theory up in smoke.


Still no Intel 3945abg support, OpenBSD driver has been out there and already ported to NetBSD and FreeBSD - and yet, nothing done on the Solaris front - oh, and btw binarycrusader, your Broadcom isn't supported because Broadcom are anti-social when it comes to helping out others to supply specs to allowing others to write a driver on alternative operating systes; IIRC it should in theory run under NDIS with ther Windows drivers, but it isn't a guarantee.

If you ask Theo, all Wireless manufacturers are anti-social best I can tell (except maybe Atheros).

What are you going to troll about when Solaris does add support for your personal favourite Wireless adapater? I mean, really. Why is my Broadcom not being supported any less valid than your Intel 3945abg support? It isn't, regardless of whatever social things relate.

Please stop spamming every Solaris story with this same sad song. There is no need to state that it doesn't work for you because there is a very specific list of what is supported for Solaris already.

If you're running it on Sun hardware, its fabulous - if you're trying to run it on a laptop or desktop/workstation not from Sun, you're pretty much in for a long path of pain, missery and eventually giving up once you've realised that a whole weekend was wasted.

By the way, the OpenSolaris community does care about what hardware doesn't work. So file a bug: http://bugs.opensolaris.org or post what hardware doesn't work on the help mailing list or forum. If you don't tell someone about it, I don't know how they would know it was broke to fix it.

Can you even list the specific hardware that doesn't work other than this vague "doesn't work on non-SUN systems" which isn't true?

Edited 2007-03-01 23:26

If you're running it on Sun hardware, its fabulous - if you're trying to run it on a laptop or desktop/workstation not from Sun, you're pretty much in for a long path of pain, missery and eventually giving up once you've realised that a whole weekend was wasted.

You do realize that there is an Installation Check Tool that is free to download from Sun's website? All you have to do is burn the cd and pop it in like a live cd and it will tell you if your hardware is supported for both 32bit and 64bit Solaris

http://www.sun.com/bigadmin/hcl/hcts/install_check.html

"If you're running it on Sun hardware, its fabulous - if you're trying to run it on a laptop or desktop/workstation not from Sun, you're pretty much in for a long path of pain, missery and eventually giving up once you've realised that a whole weekend was wasted. "

That's rubbish. It might be true in your case, but I cannot confirm it. The latest version works very well on my Asus K8N-DL board. So far NetBSD does not support it out of the box (So I can't say: of course it runs NetBSD ... well, it's supposed to work after a recompile of the kernel, but I cannot be bothered at the moment).

I have, however, removed it. Two reasons: The sluggish Gnome desktop (that really must be a sign of hell) and the nonexistent support for speed step of my Dual AMD Opteron.

Solaris has all of the complexity of any advanced Unix; you won't see grandma using it anytime soon.

OK, I think it is offically time for all the grandmas out there to stand up and show that they DO know what they are doing. They sure do get a bad rap. Before my mother passed away, she was getting pretty savvy with computer - and with no training. Let give the grandmas some credit.

I say go for it. Both cd's are free for downloading and shipping so it won't cost you a dime if you don't like one or the other. You will be at more of an advantage if you dual boot so you can test both with your newly acquired hardware then choose the one which works best for you. You have nothing to lose here and everything to gain.

I tough about buying a SUN Opteron Desktop (Ultra 20 M2 Workstation) for my next
Desktop -- comes with Solaris 10 pre-installed -- to run Ubuntu on the Opteron
processor (it's a little on the expensive side).

My doubt is should one consider a dual boot (linux + Solaris) on such a worksta-
tion ?

I managed to get triple boot working with the Ultra 20 M2: XP 64-bit, Ubuntu 7.04, and Solaris Express build 57. It wasn't hard.

It was a breeze setting up Triple Boot; Solaris, Debian and XP Pro 64 on my dear old Ultra 20, I can't imagine the M2 would be any more difficult

Flash for Solaris x86:

http://www.adobe.com/shockwave/download/download.cgi?P1_Prod_Versio...

I have no diificulty using ATI Radeon cards with Solaris 10 or Solaris Express (I have two Pentium IV machines with ATI AGP Radeons) and a dual core Athlon 64 using a nVidia 7300 GS, all work fine.

Solaris is the Sun's face; Sun always has pulled to have a very stable ABI in his operating system.

In future versions, Solaris will be based on OpenSolaris and that criterium will be maintained. There is no reason to break the good work of good engineers that created the infrastructure to provide a very stable ABI that has been working in the last 10 years.

Both BSD and Solaris have similar problems I think. No flash, no ATI gfx drivers.

No ATi 3d drivers from ATi, that is true. However, ATi 2d drivers are included.

Also, Flash is included "out-of-the-box" as is RealPlayer 10 for playing some streaming video.

Actually, FreeBSD does have a port of FGLRX but currently only supports 2D acceleration and very broken in 6.2. Luckily, the maintainer promises updates.

http://www.fglrx-freebsd.com/index.php

I have an old ATI Radeon 9600 XT card so the ATI drivers included in Xorg 7.2 should suffice fine.

I cant wait for the ports. Hurry hurry hurry! :-)

On Solaris I dont even get DRI so there isn't even 2D support. If I cannot play some of my Wine games, such as Deus Ex, I wont even look at it.

Did I mention Wine app support on Solaris is about ten steps behind Linux and FreeBSD's implementation? I mean the installer for Deus Ex wouldn't proceed on Solaris--actually NexentaOS--while the game runs with a platinum score on Linux/FreeBSD.

>>On Solaris I dont even get DRI so there isn't even 2D support. If I cannot play some of my Wine games, such as Deus Ex, I wont even look at it.<<

DRI has very little to do with 2D support if any so your point if flawed. DRI is to allow direct rendering of OpenGL. Anyways Opensolaris is gaining support for DRI, dri support for intel graphics have already been merged as well as generic DRI framework back in build 50 and 52.

Don't count on receiving that dvd soon.
I 've ordered a kit on januari 15th but did not recieve anything yet.

From the mailing list:

Basically, it was so successful, we quickly hit a supply issue as well.
It has taken longer than we would have like to be addressed (internal
funding, manufacturing, etc.) and we could have handled the
communication better, but my understanding is that we are now filling
the back order requests.

but my understanding is that we are now filling
the back order requests

Until all these requests from hungry OSNews readers came in today (like mine)!