The weak thing about Solaris still is the hardware comatibility. Many hardware is not supported, and it's no fun to run it in 640 x 480 screen resolution. All operating systems should have a hardware detection and driver library like Windows has.

Well, depending on what you call the "best" Linux distros. I assume you mean Slackware.

Actually, my experiences with Solaris on x86 hardware (as a personal operating system) were quite good, I found it to do everything I ever wanted to do, except when it came to compiling source code, I always ran into quite a few errors, and as a result, no compiling VICE on Solaris, and that was enough to make me go back to Slack. Now I'm on OpenBSD, I still haven't gotten my sound to work, but that's okay. I built another computer completely dedicated to Commodore emulation.

It's nice to see more posting in here lately, i must say.

I was spoiled using SOLAAIS because we use Sun Microsystems hardware, ie., Sparc 5's, 10's, 20's and the 450 serviers, etc., and our programmers did not have problems compiling as long as their code was good. There are quiet a few compilers out there but since $$$'s was really never an issue in our group, we brougth the best and/or also used the free GNU compliters and they all seemed to work when proplerly configured.

Sun makes very good stuff, although, I would have much rather run Solaris on an Ultra-2 than an x86. When a company's OS is also run on their own hardware, it can be a beautiful thing. Unless they surprise you with "oh, we're going to ditch superior technology in favour of the crappy Intel hardware!"

Can't you tell I've lost respect for Apple?
I'm hoping IBM does something in the desktop scene with their Cell processor...the x86 is a dead horse which has been beaten enough, and should be buried.

What kind of education do you need for the jobs you got? How long do they take and at what cost? I'm interested in that kind of work. I can't stand my current jobs, and I use most of my spare time on computing anyway. Might as well be of some use. I just downloaded Solaris 10, and getting ready to install it. So far I'm a windows only user, and don't have any knowledge on coding/programming or networking for that matter. Just installed Linux Mandriva on one of my "lab rats" (low standard PC for experimental purposes) Anything to add before I dive into Solaris 10? Anyone?

Yeah, Solaris is pretty nice, but beware, you won't find as many programs out there as you will with Linux or BSD. Sunfreeware.com would be the best place to pick up any software you want, but if you want to compile source code...you may be in for an unpleasant surprise..I got all the right tools installed in the right places, but it would always try to use the dummy app for the SunW compiler, rather than using my installed version of GCC.

I think you'll probably end up liking that BSD better, but it's jsut a matter of personal taste, really. Solaris is a but more Beginner-oriented (but not by much) for new users. Oh yes...and your performance will be much better if you use the CDE interface instead of the "Java Desktop Environment" (or it might be Platform..)

and you may end up needing OSS to get sound.

Good luck!

I used it once, but since it has heavy reliance on JDS and CDE, I just dropped it, especially its high system requirements and lack of software and hardware support.

xboxrulz

I havent ever used Solaris but i would love to try it sometime!
it looks good and ive read some great reviews about the operating system.
From memory there is also a paid one?
Sun have done a great job with solaris, i know that anyway!

I do have two DVD with Solaris on it, I've already tried them in VirtualPC (no time to test on a normal pc, maybe during the vacations) but my first impressions are that it's just another linux distribution ... I may be wrong, because I've only tested the first DVD (the distribution on the second DVD wouldn't start in VPC).