On 7/27/2011 5:39 PM, Jeff Goldrich wrote:
Is there any work on expanding the base hardware (motherboards, chipsets) that OI can operate on? Most modern OS's can be successfully installed on sandybridge processors and chip sets. Can we expect compatibility in a timely manor or will be forever using older systems? This can be a barrier to entry in the foreseeable future.
As always, there is work to be done with catching up with the latest hardware revs, particularly since vendors are generally pretty poor about helping anything but Windows and Linux.
That said, I've noticed that IllumOS & Solaris are reasonably good about supporting a core list of recent hardware - that is, it generally keeps up with a subset of the current generation reasonably well, but if you're expecting it to run across even a large fraction of the available PC hardware, then that's never going to happen. More to the point, if you expect it to run on *your* particular batch of hardware, then, well, good luck with that. If, on the other hand, you've looked at the currently-supported list for IllumOS, you'll find support for very late-generation equipment, just in a more limited selection. So, look before you leap.
Personally, I'm fine with that. IllumOS is never going to be able to attract the developer base that Linux or Windows has, and I think it's entirely reasonable to focus on getting a couple of working things in each generation, rather than worry about having a very broad coverage (so long, of course, as the "supported" hardware is relatively easy to obtain).
IllumOS and Solaris currently run on several current-generation SandyBridge CPUs and chipsets. Taking advantage of the on-chip graphics in a SB system is another story, however.
-- Erik Trimble Java Platform Group Infrastructure Mailstop: usca22-317 Phone: x67195 Santa Clara, CA Timezone: US/Pacific (UTC-0800) _______________________________________________ opensolaris-discuss mailing list opensolaris-discuss@opensolaris.org
