Solaris

[*Abdulah*]

Has anyone ever tried this? I've heard that it isn't very compatitible with most software.

[afsalim]

A few times. Solaris is a commercial system, the hardware support is scarce.

[belal1]

Has anyone ever tried this? I've heard that it isn't very compatitible with most software.

solaris is the only unix OS considered UNIX. it's a damn good OS, but not for regular use. sun's servers are top notch and they compliment solaris very very well.

their aim was never to penetrate the desktop arena, so in actuality, it's a significantly compatible software for server.

[afsalim]

Solaris uses a file system called ZFS. The features of ZFS include high storage capacity, integration of the concepts of filesystem and volume management, a novel on-disk structure, lightweight instances, and easy storage pool management. Maximum size of file supported by ZFS is 16 Exbibytes! I also like the DTrace or the dynamic tracing framework. It allows the user to fine tune the OS itself.

[Mace]

I use Solaris quite a bit. Primarily because it is used on many servers and so I use it on my desktop (in a VM) for compatibility testing.

Any by the way, ZFS rocks. What a brilliant design for a filesystem!

Apple has built limited support for ZFS for Macs. I look forward to Apple's implementation getting more mature and then I'll use it on my Macs as well.

[Irfan al Din]

I use Solaris systems at my university ... but never enough to differentiate it enough from generic *nix. Unless you really know you need it... you probably don't. In which case free as in speech software will work for you without costing you tons of $ (or your local equivalent). But, I must say the Sun terminals I've used are pretty cool.

[Mace]

I use Solaris systems at my university ... but never enough to differentiate it enough from generic *nix. Unless you really know you need it... you probably don't. In which case free as in speech software will work for you without costing you tons of $ (or your local equivalent). But, I must say the Sun terminals I've used are pretty cool.

Actually, if anyone does want to experiment with Solaris, it is available free (as in beer) for x86 machines. And there is an open (libre, mostly) version as well.

[Joha]

Any by the way, ZFS rocks. What a brilliant design for a filesystem!

Apple has built limited support for ZFS for Macs. I look forward to Apple's implementation getting more mature and then I'll use it on my Macs as well.

It does! two things I'm really annoyed about in Leopard - resolution independence (I should be able to zoom in and it should readjust - not just magnify and pixelate), and ZFS (just to try it out!).

I use Solaris systems at my university ... but never enough to differentiate it enough from generic *nix.
I use Sun terminals at university for IDL, I've never noticed any difference - except for there being no '| less' which just really annoys me. (probably more my ignorance...)