Sun Microsystems, Inc. today delivered on its redoubled commitment to the UNIX platform, extending the full benefits of the Solaris Operating System, to x86-based servers with the Solaris 9 x86 Platform Edition. Non-commercial usage is available at no charge, while commercial pricing starts at US $99; attractive OEM pricing is also available. Source code for Solaris will now be available.
From the press release: “
Seeing a growing market opportunity, Sun is expanding its products and services into the x86 server market. While industry competitors abandon UNIX, Sun’s strategy guarantees customer continuity and global support for UNIX on its entire line of both SPARC and x86 systems, and on third party x86 systems.
With the release of the Solaris 9 x86 Platform Edition, Sun is giving customers a proven, highly secure enterprise-class OS for entry-level servers. By offering management and hardening features previously unavailable on x86 servers, the Solaris 9 OS provides customers with a far more secure and less expensive alternative to Microsoft’s competing Windows servers. The Solaris 9 OS also offers newly integrated Sun[TM] ONE products, along with secure networking and content delivery functionality. Sun expects to deliver an integrated Sun ONE software portfolio on the Solaris x86 Platform Edition within the calendar year.
[…]
Solaris x86 Platform Edition — Outperforming Microsoft with Integrated Value With the release of the Solaris 9 x86 Platform Edition, Sun raises the bar for the entry-level server marketplace by adding hundreds of
enterprise-class features to the Solaris OS, Sun’s proven, fully maintained and supported platform. New integrated server technologies, including the SunScreen[TM] 3.2 software firewall, the Sun ONE Directory Server, IPQoS
services for bandwidth management and the Solaris 9 Resource Manager add to an impressive list of Reliability, Availability, Serviceability (RAS) features delivered in earlier releases.
The Solaris 9 x86 Platform Edition lowers the total cost of acquisition by a factor of as much as 15 compared to a two-way web server configuration of the Microsoft Windows 2000 Server.
Unlike the Microsoft Windows 2000 server and the Microsoft Windows 2000 Advanced server, the Solaris 9 x86 Platform Edition includes the following enterprise-class services at no additional cost:
Directory Server – The Sun ONE Directory Server 5.1 Enterprise-class firewall – SunScreen 3.2 software includes enterprise-class proxy and firewall features
Enterprise Volume Manager – The Solaris Volume Manager scales to thousands of disk partitions and includes mirroring and striping of volumes for data integrity and performance Support for IPv6 – Solaris 9 OS includes production-quality implementation Secure Shell – Solaris 9 OS includes this standard protocol for heterogeneous secure remote access
In addition, the Solaris 9 x86 Platform Edition bundles the Solaris 9 Resource Manager, a value of $1190, at no additional cost, providing guaranteed service level for applications and improving CPU utilization
through consolidation of applications.
Solaris x86 for Developers
Currently, over 600 partners provide more than 1,000 solutions for the Solaris x86 Platform Edition. ISVs like Computer Associates, Nuance, a leading provider of speech solutions, Symantec, and Solaris OS/SPARC Platform Edition developers can leverage existing investments in deploying
on entry-level systems. ISV Solutions are listed at
http://solutions.sun.com.
Sun also offers Linux compatibility at both source and binary levels. Sun assists developers working on Java, Solaris and Sun ONE through a rich set of programs, including Developer Technical Support and the Developer
Essentials software subscription program. Together with its ISV partners, Sun is delivering powerful business solutions for the global enterprise. […]”
Maybe I’m just not looking in the right place. I could not find where to download Solaris 9.0 for the x86 at ‘no charge’. All I saw was this page:
http://wwws.sun.com/software/solaris/binaries/get.html
Telling me that the download of Solaris x86 would cost me $20. Does anyone know where I can d/l it for free? I want just want to play with it at home…
$20 dollars is a steal, i don’t see why you got to be so cheap about downloading it. Oh i’m not dishing free downloades of OS’s sure it’s how i get redhat everytime they release a new version, but if i had a credit card (i’m only a college student
i’d order Solaris 9 even if i only wanted to mess around with it
I think this is a pretty cool development.
So, here’s Sun, taking a direct aim at the low end server market. This platform fits nicely between Linux and MS.
It’s offering similar, bundled, services that MS has, but it’s priced to be very competetive with Linux.
They don’t mention the Sun ONE application server, but that’s supposed to be stock with Solaris 9 anyway.
The most dramatic thing that is missing from the list of services, though, is SAMBA. Sure it could be downloaded, but that’s not the point. The point is not what you can download and do on your own time, it’s how much is Sun providing, and SUPPORTING, in one bundle.
Now they just need to start fleshing out the hardware compatability list.
I suspect that the hardware compatability is a bit more strict than Linux.
Source code for Solaris will now be available.
I don’t see in Press release where it’s told that sources will be available?
$20 is cost of media and shipping and handling. “Free” in this case means “without need to pay for licence”.
Dubhthach, welcome to the real world. Why would anyone pay for solaris for x86? Even if its only $20, thats $20 than freebsd. First off it is still just 2nd rate compared to their implementation on sparcs. Second off with alternatives that are free, and more functional, it really doesnt have its place. Name one thing solaris on x86 does that freebsd doesnt?
This has been another personalized reality check by,
Mindwarp
>>Source code for Solaris will now be available.
>I don’t see in Press release where it’s told that sources will be available?
That exact sentence is pulled out from their press release, it is not mine. Unfortunately, the pr is not up to the sun.com web site yet to link to it, as I received it via the Sun PR person this morning.
However, at the END of the press release they also say this: “Source code can be licensed to customers.” So, we will have to wait and see what they mean exactly I guess.
Found it:
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/030206/sfth046_1.html
“The Free Solaris[sm] Binary License Program lets you use the Solaris[tm] Operating Environment at home or at work – without paying a license fee – for the cost of media, shipping and handling.”(from http://wwws.sun.com/software/solaris/get.html )
As there should be no shipping and handling for trafic over the Internet, I can only assume that the massive download of one copy Solaris 9 overheats an Ethernet patch cable making it unusable. Here in Sweden a 3m cable costs about $20 so it sounds resonable to me. (j/k)
“$20 dollars is a steal, i don’t see why you got to be so cheap about downloading it.”
It’s the Linux generation….we want everything for free and don’t want to pay for anything anymore.
“Second off with alternatives that are free, and more functional, it really doesnt have its place. Name one thing solaris on x86 does that freebsd doesnt?”
That’s what SUN themselves thought. But apparently a lot of people disagreed since the only reason SUN brought Solaris x86 back is because of a great deal of pressure from people who wanted it. They wanted it enough that they were willing to start paying for a product that had been free. So apparently, Solaris x86 does have its place. Enough x86 users want it that SUN brought it back due to demand.
hmmm…how about the ability to write code on a cheap PC that will compile and run on a Sparc box running solaris?
Now that’s a troll..
Solaris is a different environment from Fbsd. If I run Solaris on all my big iron, my staff is used to Solaris. Why not run it on the smaller servers to?
I personally prefer Solaris x86 to any of the linux varients for *bsd stuff. I buy the media kits and run it at home.
– Kelson
mindwarp: “Name one thing solaris on x86 does that freebsd doesnt?”
Most people around here will be aware that I’m not one to take FreeBSD lightly, but there’s several things Solaris has that FreeBSD does not. To name a few: UFS logging (journaling), a non-executable user stack, complete and secure POSIX 4 realtime including asynchronous I/O and realtime signal queues.
FreeBSD is definitely posturing itself in a way to give Solaris-like performance on commodity x86 hardware, and is in many ways way Solaris/x86 should be, however in terms of sheer kernel features the Solaris kernel is definitely in the lead.
Megol: “The Free Solaris[sm] Binary License Program lets you use the Solaris[tm] Operating Environment at home or at work – without paying a license fee – for the cost of media, shipping and handling.”(from http://wwws.sun.c om/software/solaris/get.html )
As far as I know the free license program applies only to uniprocessor SPARC systems.
Will: “The most dramatic thing that is missing from the list of services, though, is SAMBA. Sure it could be downloaded, but that’s not the point. The point is not what you can download and do on your own time, it’s how much is Sun providing, and SUPPORTING, in one bundle.”
Samba has been bundled with Solaris/SPARC since at least Solaris 8. I’d be very surprised if it didn’t come with Solaris 9/x86.
Not only does it have more kernel features that are industrial strength but like someone said you can write your code and test it on a cheap intel box and then when you’ve think you got it down run it on an e10k or your production machine. The kernel is well documented and explained (meaning you can pick up a book on the thing and read it). Ummm Thread Preemption (i’m not sure if freebsd has this or not), POSIX everything (shared memory, semaphores, message queues). The doors facility which Larry McVoy first told me about, etc etc etc.. If the performance was any good there is no way they could give it away for free and not go out of the business, every highgrade industrial server would run a copy. Anyway, how many people have an ultrasparc at home to test their code on?
Good joke. You got me on this
Well, let me bring my apologies. Apparently, there is a way to download it. Sorry. And yoo-hoo, I’m going to do it!
Well, would you mind posting the link for the actual free download. Not the free download that cost $20…
Help, people. I’m not native English speaker, so maybe I’m missing something. Please, tell me how many meanings the word “free” has? And sorry again, no link…
Please, tell me how many meanings the word “free” has?
Actaully, a lot. I can think of 8 or so off the top of my head…
Does the free (I doubt it) or the $99 version support SMP? I have my doubts, but I hope so.
Thnx,
~Christopher
At least the $20 price isn’t “after rebate.”
Well, now you guys should get my point that Sun don’t have any company direction. How many times they have change their decision. Worse still, they don’t know who their competitor is;
A quote from the press release: “Solaris x86 Platform Edition — Outperforming Microsoft with Integrated Value”
Microsoft is NOT your biggest competitor. Linux is. Linux is eating into UNIX’s market share, not Windows’. Your competitors are moving towards Linux, you should at least by now know who is your chief rival.
I run FreeBSD and Win2k at work and at home and love both of them. I have no problems paying $20 for a decent mature operating system. I wouldnt touch any distribution of linux with a 50 foot pole no matter how free it was.
I will have x86 Solaris 9 quite soon and im looking foreward to playing with it:)
which is RedHat Linux Advanced Server. Oh, actyually it’s not quite comparable, but it’s the Linux that least sucks in comparison. If you want it, you get to shell out $800, even if you just want to try it. How do I know? We spent 2 weeks trying to find a free download for it, and realized finally that the only way is to pay through our nose.
Well, with a life cycle of 3 years for RedHat compared to 11 years of Solaris 9 (or any other Solaris), this version of RH Advanced Server will be dead before our next project starts. I really wonder who would ever chose RH over a mature, advanced and secure operating system that will be still supported in 2010?
I read that its FREE… I goto their site and they tell me that I need to feed them 20 bucks in order to download it. They should reword that because of this little thing i like to call ‘false advertising’. this is not free. its like an action figure thats free but you have to pay 20 dollars for the box.
sunOS sucks anyway on x86.
Most Linux distros have a life cycle of about 6 months (if your lucky). By that time so many libraries are out of date that its easier to upgrade to the next release of the distro then to try and update all the libraries. At least with Sun and MS products you can install modern software on a 4 year old OS and not have to upgrade 400 libraries.
And the attitude of some of the people in this forum is typical of the Linux generation. “Oh we want the latest of everything but we dont want to pay any money”.
Every day i wish Linux and its supporters would just curl up and die and leave us to get on with doing real work on real operating systems
the free Solaris 9 version (the $20 one) isn’t comparable with Red Hat Advance Server. How much processors can you use with the free Solaris 9 version? And how much with RH? And that’s one example. The $20 is the lowend, RH’s Advance Server is the high end.
lol MarkH that’s a bit harsh. About your library upgrade gripe, I just don’t think you’ve approached it from the right direction. If you want to buy a big name distro like Red Hat Advanced Server, and get their manuals and support, they have red-carpet services that should (I’ve only run it on a limited basis) upgrade everything under the sun for you, including the 400 outdated libraries you mentioned. The nice thing about having to upgrade 400 libraries is, that you know they’ve been upgraded, most likely with security and vulnerability patches, memory fixes and perhaps optimizations that will surely help the cause of someone who runs “real operating systems”.
If you don’t want to mess with Red Hat, which I wouldn’t either, then run something more dynamic and easily upgradeable, such as Debian (with apt-get) or Gentoo. Sun’s OS is mature and proven, so if you’ve got the cash and are running SPARC systems, then be my guest and use whatever “real operating system” you like that runs on that hardware. If you’re running x86, I’m not sure what work you’re doing that is outside the scope of linux and one of it’s variants.
Ok, so people are cheap. Lets get over it.
The last downloadable version was like 8 CD’s. I think a good Slashdotting would bankrupt the poor company.
Can someone comment on the OS itself?
Are dual CPU systems supported in the $20 version?
Does Sun really not support Geforce 4 cards?
What is the media kit someone mentioned earlier?
How is it for a home/hobby OS?
Thanks,
John
Dunno about the SMP support, on Solaris 8 it was.
I wouldn’t expect a GeForce4 to be supported. Sun does not push Solaris as a desktop OS. The HCL for x86 is very short and what the heck are you gonna need all the 3d stuff in Solaris for?
I have been running Solaris x86 for quite a while now and I built the system with the Sun HCL in hand. I have excellent graphics capabilities w/ the Matrox G400 card.
The Media kit is the CDs w/ the OS on them, along with bonus software.
Solaris x86 is much more difficult to use as a desktop than Linux. None of the usual libs are there, neither are all of the utilities. The first thing you do is download tons of packages to get the system up and usable. Meaning, you need to install gzip, gcc, make, etc…. All of the GTK and GLIB, zlib, jpeg, png, gif, etc. Then comes getting a windowing environment all set up and working. It’s alot of work, but you learn a fair bit.
I would say Solaris is one of the more unfriendly OS’s from a setup perspective, but once you get everything installed, it’s as ready for the desktop as any Linux distro.
Any idiot can get a Linux system up and running, it takes some real patience to get Solaris x86 up and running AS A DESKTOP. As a headless server, Solaris is a piece of cake.
– Kelson
Just install the software on the bonus CD and you have it all, including mp3. And the installation from the bonus CD is very simple: just put the CD in your workstation, and a java-based installer will autostart.
BTW, gzip is installed by default, even without the bonus CD.
SMP support costs $99 per CPU.
Can anyone comment on how Solaris 9 or even 8 compares to Linux or BSD as a desktop? Any benchmarks or reviews of the best up yet? Thnx!
~Christopher
Even tho many have pointed out that they feel Solaris 9 is worth $20 to download… this still doesn’t answer the question of why they put the word ‘free’ all over their download information, and then give =0= explanation as to why they charge $20. I was just on the site, and I literally could not find an actual explanation of what this fee was for. Perhaps their usage of the word ‘free’ was a typo, and should’ve been ‘fee’ instead? I don’t mind paying money for something that is worth money either, but I also don’t appreciate being falsely advertised to, in seeing their “free” download and then after jumping through several hoops (thankfully I already had a Sun account for downloading) just to get to a spot where it wishes to bill me $20 before proceeding.
This is just yet another example of Sun not relating to the market. And to those that want to bitch and say “you damn linux lusers, with always wanting free etc” there are several linux distros that do cost money, and they are selling copies, so that isn’t the point. The point is that Sun should be labeling this “free” download as being free binaries with a $20 network bandwidth fee, or whatever.
They mean this in the respect that they offer a SPARC version free for download. Free doesn’t necessarily mean x86.
First off.. as someone posted earlier, all of the GNU stuff, GNOME, KDE, windowmaker, etc are on the bonus CD with Solaris 9. If you don’t find something there, try http://www.sunfreeware.com
Secondly, there is nothing in the Solaris kernel to prevent you from doing SMP. It’s a *paper* licensing issue that changes the cost for the number of CPU’s.
My take on the installation of Solaris 9 is that it’s pretty easy to get it up and running as a server or a desktop.
Considering that geting a used UltraSparc is not that expensive, I would look into getting a used from. Try http://www.anysystem.com. Also, if you are using the X86 version, there is a development kit from Sun to port Xfree86 driver modules to Solaris x86. As long as you stick to the HCL you should have no issues setting it up.
Also, I’ve seen the X86 version work on a Powerbook with VirtualPC
As for being cheap – $20 price is no problem for me, paying method is. And for wishing death to those you don’t like – imagine, maybe somebody doesn’t like you. I have heard of some guy who almost killed another because of the way he walks. Would you like to be any of them? It’s no fun. I wish you a long and happy life, and to learn to tolerate people with different beliefs than yours. In the end it will benefit you.
As for being cheap – $20 price is no problem for me, paying method is. And for wishing death to those you don’t like – imagine, maybe somebody doesn’t like you. I have heard of some guy who almost killed another because of the way he walks. Would you like to be any of them? It’s no fun. I wish you a long and happy life, and to learn to tolerate people with different beliefs than yours. In the end it will benefit you.
As far as i read the “OS” is free. $20 covers CD and shipping.
$20 is a very high price to pay for the “CD and shipping” for a download. The price for the “Media Kit” which provides you with the CDs, some basic manuals, and shipping is $95. For $20 they’ll let you download it.
Solaris is a great operating system, and the $20 is cheap for what you’re getting…even compared to a free linux distro.