SPARC Live CD?

[Ben Scott]

On 12/20/06, Paul Lussier <p.lussier at comcast.net> wrote:
> I'm curious what you mean by "painfully lacking modern command line
> utilities".  What more do you need than various combinations of ...

  I can sympathize with the OP.  After working almost exclusively with
Linux and/or systems with the full GNU toolkit installed for a few
years, I had to log in to an old nix box with nothing but the stock
commands.  (It was either a Sun box or a SCO box, I forget which.)
It's amazing how much one takes for granted the various "extensions"
and "improvements" GNU has added.  Sure, I was still able to do my
work, but I kept typing things, only to find out that my syntax was
vaguely off, or some switch wasn't supported, etc.

  Example: GNU tar lets you put a dash in front of the options ("tar
-xf foo.tar").  That nix did not.  I needed to type "tar xf foo.tar"
instead.  Not a big deal, but very annoying, when one puts the dash in
without even thinking about it.

  Someone who works in a more heterogeneous environment will doubtless
be used to this, and thus won't be in the habit of using "unportable"
features, and thus won't even notice.

-- Ben