Sun Microsystems made strides this week with its Linux strategy, releasing updated Sun ONE compiler code for both its low-end SPARC and Intel’s x86 platforms, and adopting common Linux distributions instead of pushing its own version.
Sun Steps Up Linux (Lightly)
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Eugenia Loli
Ex-programmer, ex-editor in chief at OSNews.com, now a visual artist/filmmaker.
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Continuing to improve their own Solaris x86 and pushing that makes a lot more sense for Sun than desperately trying to cling to The Penguin for life and save itself that way. Sun cannot hope to compete with the high-volume x86 commodity box Linux vendors like Dell on their own turf. Their only advantage over their competitors on x86 hardware is their port of Solaris for it and they need to exploit that as much as possible instead of pissing around with Linux.
Solaris on x86 is not the answer. A better answer is to continue to port Sun software out to the Linux community and perhaps strategic alliances with Distribution Vendors. The Sun Linux message has been mixed – kind of a “love it, but dismiss it” thing. That is too bad, as Sun could do a lot to help itself by helping the community. I think they just haven’t got a handle on that completely. Their advantage is in software – but not Solaris, unless it is trimmed down for x86 somehow. Just my 2 centavos.
AgentOrange,
Have you ever used Solaris x86? I have and it rocks, and with Solaris 9 you get industrial strength volume management (not Veritas Volume Manager, but better than nothing), ufs snapshots, Flash Archives. I agree with Gil Bates, Sun should drop Linux and make Solaris x86 better and putting it on some killer x86 hardware!
The only thing that hurt Sun was their “waffling around” about Solaris x86 that scared a lot of people off. My experiences with Solaris 8 x86 were very positive and as long as you have the right hardware, works great!
If you think that x86 hardware can compete with SPARC hardware for large scale uses, you have no idea what the hell you are talking about.
good one.
If you think that x86 hardware can compete with SPARC hardware for large scale uses, you have no idea what the hell you are talking about.
It can, but only in cases where a task can be easily distributed across a large number of hot and loud x86 systems (i.e. google)
Of course, those same environments could benefit greatly from cache coherency which will be available in some of the upcoming multicore UltraSPARCs…
To put it bluntly, Linux feels like a hacked up load of garbage.
Solaris x86 is by far my favorite x86 distribution. I was especially happy with Solaris 8 x86. I will grant that Linux is fairly stable, however Solaris is even better.
I’ve also got a couple of U2E boxen laying around. I’ve yet to see an x86 box that compares. I’m hoping that when I finish building this dual Xeon 3.06ghz for my Solaris 9 x86 system it will tho.
Is all this subjective? Yep, sure is. Do I have any “facts” to back it up? Heck no.
I don’t think Solaris makes a comfortable desktop however, without alot of work. I prefer to run OS X for my desktop and Solaris for my servers. Heck, I think Sun should partner with Apple to cover the Desktop/Server aspect of things. It would make the most impressive end to end OS story out there.
Okay, done blathering.
– Kelson
Apple has alot invested in Darwin, but it would be a very cool enterprise. Maybe with all that cash they have hoarded up in Cuppertino (according to the net rags), they could just buy Sun, dump Darwin, use the Solaris core instead, and paste Aqua on top. Now _that_ would be a system worthy of Network Combat.
Of course, Darwin is really strong, but it doesn’t have the inherent capability to manage systems as large as Solaris doesn’t even break a sweat over, simply because it hasn’t been needed to be all that yet…
Chip Slush
I think that Linux at the command line on a workstation, feels like a real Unix. However, the X and sound and all that stuff that works well on Sun boxes running solaris, are not even close on Linux. RH is making it all look better, but it’s really buggy even so… I hope that one day feature-itis wears off for the Linux developers and they build a reliable unkillable desktop (the kernel is already there). Until then, it will be the box that I set to Digitally Imported and plays MP3s in the background, to free up cycles on my Windows box for more important things…
> It can, but only in cases where a task can be easily distributed across a large number of hot and loud x86 systems (i.e. google)
Wow, really? And I suppose you think Sun boxes are better in this area? We have 4 of these in one of our labs … the place is ‘quiet’ enough to warrant the use of ear plugs! God, I hate those things!
As for some alleged superiority over other kinds of architectures, I really dont know where people get that idea (silly assumption based solely on the price, perhaps?), but I get my stuff done a lot faster on Athlon & Pentium-4 boxes running Linux.
I loved using Solaris at Uni (huge monitors), and I really wanted to try it at home.
So I decide to download Solaris 8 x86, the damn thing would crash during install, right after the disc slicing (partitioning) part. Once I was able to get past that, but X would try to load up but got stuck in a loop repeating the error message.
NOTE: My hardware is supported, or else I wouldn’t have downloaded it.
Now here is an idea, how about someone install it and write a review for OSNEWS. Also try not to focus on the desktop too much, but mention an aspect of it that might be good for the desktop.
Also compare its perceived speed in comparison to Linux on the same hardware.
Honestly I am sick of “Linux for Desktop” reviews, but they are good for newcomers to this website.
Writing about Solaris x86 and introducing it to people that haven’t come across it before would make a good article that I would really like to read.
That Sun is becoming a company that will be focusing a lot more on SunOne in the future, so forget about this Linux Vs Solaris kernel crap, it won’t matter too much in the future.
he said about 4 years ago that “Solaris IS Sun’s Linux, why can’t all you get that?”
Sun is very expensive and nowadays nolonger have the big quality head start which would justify their high prices. Most of the time you can get the job done with cheaper soft- and hardware. And more and more companies do exactly that. Saving money. I expect that SUN’s sales volume will decline.
“he said about 4 years ago that “Solaris IS Sun’s Linux, why can’t all you get that?”
Because it’s wrong. Solaris is not Linux. Solaris and Linux are two different operating systems. Point. This is true for the technical details as well as it’s product placement in the markets, or it’s user or developer community.
BTW, after several promisses (during the last couple of years) from McNeil that Sun’s ice hockey team will beat Microsoft’s ice hockey team, I don’t give a damn what this guy says anylonger. He is just wrong most of the time 😉
I think offtangent, that you’re making this up. In one of our labs we have about 100 “Sun boxes”, ranging from Sun fire V100 to V880. Include several D2 JBODs and T3 enclosures (a total of 12 boxes fully packed with disks), and all this on a footprint of about 60 square meters, and yet nobody ever needs earplugs. In fact, the noisiest thing here is the aircon.
Threfore, you must be full of caca.
I think he ment it metaphoricly rather than concretely.
> In one of our labs we have about 100 “Sun boxes”, ranging from Sun fire V100 to V880. Include several D2 JBODs and T3 enclosures (a total of 12 boxes fully packed with disks), and all this on a footprint of about 60 square meters, and yet nobody ever needs earplugs.
Honestly, my fridge sounds a lot better than those Suns we have … 6 machines in a lot less area here. I dont know if its because those machines are old or because the Salt Lake valley is too quiet.
Still, new machines or not, I really dont see how anyone can complain about the noise of a typical PC & also claim that Suns are somehow magically quieter. If OTOH we were talking Macs, well I would have to agree!
PCs can be made very silent indeed. I wouldn’t say that a given “Sun box” is necessarily quieter than a given PC. I wasn’t into thatdiscussion, anyway. However, my impression is that the computers we have in the lab I mentioned above, are really silent, considering the enourmeous amount of storage and CPUs that they have to cool.
what is the root of your sun hatred Eugenia so that you add a question mark or (lightly) type of things to all the news bullets that you post which is on sun’s side?