Solaris/x86 rant (was: Any advice on Solaris laptops?)
Thomas Charron
twaffle at gmail.com
Thu Jun 21 10:42:47 EDT 2007
On 6/21/07, Tom Buskey <tom at buskey.name> wrote:
> > An easy one to target is the fact that every few years, Sun decides
> > to phase out Solaris x86, then rekindle it once again.
> They tried to phase out Solaris 9. Solaris 10 was actively developed on AMD
> chips. Solaris 11 is being actively developed on AMD and Intel. Sun now
> sells servers based on AMD (and Intel recently).
But my point is, historically over the last 10 years, Solaris x86
development cycle has ebbed and flowed back and forth. I understand
that current versions are being actively developed, but if Sun where
to, say, release a 'new ubah chip', I would not be suprised to see the
x86 version fall to the side once again.
> Solaris x86 isn't going to go away. I could see the Sparcs going away at
> the low end.
It already went away at least 2 times.
> > Additionally, one of the 'features' is Linux binary compatibility,
> > so Solaris x86 can use Linux drivers, as it's own support of x86
> > hardware is limited.
> I'm not sure the binary compatibility helps with drivers. I know they're
> working on Zones that will allow linux to run inside (BrandZ).
I know, I appologized to Ben offlist about confusing the two, but
Solaris x86 tends to rely on both binary AND Kernel module
compatibility.
> > So in the end, you have questionable backing of the product in
> > general, but to make up for lack of support, it can use Linux drivers,
> I don't think this is true nowadays.
True. But what about 5 years from now?
> > and even run Linux apps. So one has to ask. What's the point? :-)
> ZFS! Dtrace. Zones (though Linux has solutions here too). A stable API
> with backward compatibility (Solaris 2.6 Sparc apps will run on Solaris 10.
> Will Redhat 6.0 apps run on RHEL 5.0?). Stability and scaling under load.
> Multiple SMP (I think x86 goes to 32 CPUs. Sparc goes to hundreds or
> thousands)
... That's based on Distro, *NOT* on Linux in general. As far as
x86 comparisons, I was not making comparisons of Solaris vs Linux, I
was comparisong Solaris *x86*.
> As a desktop, I think Linux has it all over Solaris though not as much as in
> the past. As a server, I can see places where Solaris has advantages. And
> Linux has many advantages too.
Solaris isn't a server. A physical MACHINE is a server. :-)
--
-- Thomas
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