> That tinkering lead me to tryout a free OS being > offered by Solaris. > As I recall it cost something like $40 to try it out. > The OS was free > ut you paid for the processed CDs. > > I still remember when I finally got it to boot up > that I thought it > was really cool to see the Sun logo pop up on my home > machine.
Yep, I remember those days as well. It was 1997, and I had (finally!) managed to procure my first Sun system for running at home. The feeling was that of magic. > The console seemed really retarded even then, > compared to the console > interface on linux. No mouse, no copy paste from > terminal to vi or > the like. > > I tinkered with that OS for several months before > kind of giving up on > it and trying to learn more about linux. But I didn't; coming from academia and seeing a single (albeit beefed up) Sun SPARCStation 20 serve AN ENTIRE COUNTRY, I knew this stuff was powerful. All I had to do was master it completely, and that same power would be mine. So I persisted and stubbornly ploughed on. > I see today in build 110 that the console is still > about the same. > Absolutely retarded now, compared to what linux > offers. > > All kinds of unexpected behaviour with backspace > delete and such. > Still no mouse or copy paste to an editor. > > Seemed to me that the console would have been vastly > improved in some > 14 yrs. Especially since it seems there are large > numbers of Solaris > eggheads that are command line oriented people. It was never a priority because Solaris is used in environments where the systems are connected to a "terminal port concentrator" (like the WTI CMS-16), and sysadmins can connect via them directly to any console of their choosing. But since this is mostly for ALOM (Advanced Lights Out Management) scenarios, 99% of the time we (the sysadmins) don't even need to connect to the console. So everyone was content to be able to remotely connect to the console when needed, and the rest of the time we work in 'screen' or xterms. Worked fine all these years. (WTI CMS-16 can be had off of ebay cheaply, because most are telco phased out equipment and this equipment is so obscure, that a $1,000 USD piece of HW goes for $50 USD because not even the guy selling it really knows what he has, or what it is.) > Its just surprising somehow that the console has gone > basically > ignored. That's because most of Sun's paying customers never really needed the console to be as advanced, since this was compensated with console management switches noted above. CMSes happen to scale much better than Linux virtual consoles, since one could/can connect many systems to them at the same time, and the CMS exports all those consoles via his network port... > When, unlike in 1995, lots of linux (gnu) > tools are common > place on the Osol OS now. Yes, and it's a pity, because GNU is vastly inferior to the native System V tools, not to mention inconsistent, not to mention that GNU tools don't work properly (latest scandal: no ZFS ACL support), not to mention that they go against the core UNIX philosophy of "do one thing and do it well", by implementing tools inside of other tools (tar xvfz, grep -R)... GNU userland is just garbage, unfortunately most casual users aren't even aware just how shoddy and crappy GNU userland is. > But compared to the two consumer grade NASs available > for purchase, > that I've tried, osol/zfs seems vastly superior in > too many ways to > ignore... even with the vast amount of troubles (AND > help) I've > encountered. ( well documented in my heavy use of > these osol lists). Hopefully, relief will come with the next update of Solaris 10 (not Solaris Express, Solaris 10!), and if it does, ZFS will finally be usable in PRODUCTION. -- This message posted from opensolaris.org _______________________________________________ opensolaris-discuss mailing list opensolaris-discuss@opensolaris.org
