Solaris/x86 rant (was: Any advice on Solaris laptops?)

[Tom Buskey]

On 6/21/07, Ben Scott <dragonhawk at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> On 6/21/07, Tom Buskey <tom at buskey.name> wrote:
> > A stable API with backward compatibility
>
>   A better point to make is the stable ABI.  The Linux API does pretty
> well with getting old code to compile under newer stuff.  But getting
> old binaries working is often less easy.
>
>   There's a definite trade-off in terms of pace of improvement vs
> stability of interface over time.  One of the reasons Linux improves
> and adapts so quickly is that the community is not afraid to throw out
> the old stuff.  That does tend to increase the programming and
> sysadmin effort, though.  And it's a nightmare for closed-source
> providers (too bad for them).
>
> > (Solaris 2.6 Sparc apps will run on Solaris 10.
>
>   To those who are not aware, "Solaris 2.6" would be "Solaris 6" under
> the current nomenclature.


Actually, Solaris 2.6 is 2.6.  Solaris 2.7 became just Solaris 7.  And
there's the retro naming of SunOS 4.x to Solaris 1.x.


> Will Redhat 6.0 apps run on RHEL 5.0?
>
>   When was Solaris (2.)6 released?


1998ish?  Certainly before 2000.  I switched from RH to Mandrake 6.1 around
this time.

  I suspect a better comparison would be RHEL 2.1 on RHEL 5.0.  Of
> course, I don't know the answer there, either.  :-)  Maybe one of the
> Red Hat'ers on the list can respond...


Heck, RedHat 6.0 to RedHat 9.


> Multiple SMP (I think x86 goes to 32 CPUs.  Sparc goes to hundreds or
> > thousands)
>
>   Have they ever built one?  If not, that's just vaporware.  The E15K
> only went to, what, 64 processors?  Still way more than x86, but let's
> be real, too.


You're right.  Only 106 CPUs.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun_Fire_15K


>   To go sideways: The wave of the future is distributing computing
> ("clusters") anyway, so it's mostly academic.


SMP has an advantage with I/O bandwidth and latency.  And Intel has been
demonstrating an 80 core CPU.  I think SMP will continue to be important for
general computing and scientific computer where clustering doesn't fit.


> As a server, I can see places where Solaris has advantages.  And
> > Linux has many advantages too.
>
>   What?!?  One size doesn't fit all???  ;-)



Heck, you can see where Windows might have advantages.
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