tlug: Solaris

[Washi <washi@example.com>]

I've been playing with Solaris for Intel all day (the one with the
Japanese support). It's not as exciting to me as Linux, but it does have
some good things going for it, which I hope Linux distributions someday
emulate.

(1) The install program got all my hardware right with no prompting.
What really surprised me was when it correctly identified my Sharp LCD
monitor, which didn't even exist when I bought this Solaris package! The
rest of the install proceeded in X Window mode.

(2) The install program can do all the formatting of partitions
automatically if you let it.

(3) Solaris showed up automatically in my System Commander menu after
the initial install, and the GUI boot manager program made it easy to
have Solaris boot off a non-first drive.

(4) The motif-based CDE desktop is quite nice, and has good-looking
Japanese fonts by default. (Thanks, by the way, to all who responded on
my "ugly fonts in Communicator" query.)

Things that Linux does better:
(1) All Linux installers let you enter IP setup details so that my OCN
Economy connection is recognized immediately, whereas Solaris assumes
you are a client on a company LAN and makes it very difficult to set up
an OCN-type connection.
(2) Linux has a lot more usable applications installed from the start.
With Solaris, you need to spend a lot more money on applications before
you can actually do anything.

There's much more to this story, but I'm just getting started, as usual.
--
Washi Desu (John De Hoog in real life)
washi@example.com
http://washi.nu
Especially: http://washi.nu/html/unconventionalcomputing.htm
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