[blackstar]

I have been experimenting with Debian Linux before, but I have never liked it enough to totally switch to it. So far whenever I tried a new operating system eventually I always switched back to good old Mac OS X.
I have been reading a lot about Solaris recently. I don't really understand the differences between it and Linux, but I am willing to give it a try.
I was wondering if anyone has given it a try yet. And what are you opinions of it, Mac OS X, and Linux. Because it uses GNOME as its desktop it just feels to be very close to Linux. What do you think?

[webb3201]

I never really consider Solaris as a viable consumer operating system. The majority of its user base are in the enterprise and are typically major nix users. If you want to test a nice linux flavor, try something like Ubuntu or Gentoo.

Every time I move to linux, I spend a few months getting everthing set up and then realize that I just want OSX again.

Anyone using Solaris for as a consumer platform?

[Cold Warrior]

I've seen people try to use it that way -- for regular consumer/office productivity. It's ugly (as is the standard GUI).

[blackstar]

I know that it was originally intended for enterprise usage. However, with the arrival of open Solaris more people are starting to use it as regular desktop / consumer OS. It used to be ugly, but know that Gnome became its standard window manager it looks much better.

[Big Mac]

Why use it over Linux?

[ibook_steve]

Originally Posted by webb3201 

Anyone using Solaris for as a consumer platform?

I did...when I worked for Sun...8 years ago!

Steve

[blackstar]

How would you compare it to Linux? or Mac OS X?

I heard that Solaris has better compatibility with wifi and stuff that Linux struggles with. That's why I would try Solaris. I have tried Linux before, but didn't like it better than Mac OS X.

[peeb]

What's the notional advantage of Solaris over OSX though?

[blackstar]

I am trying to see what actual solaris' users opinion is on this issue.

[ibook_steve]

Since I haven't used Solaris since before OS X existed, all I can say is that it has nothing on OS X. I don't know anything about wireless with Solaris because we only had desktop machines. Solaris is kind of dying as far as I can tell. I wouldn't invest in it if I were you.

Steve

[jpartner]

I think Solaris is still not viable for this sort of usage it is geared to be highly reliable not easy to use or pretty. If you want/need a server that will never go down and have the budget then go for Solaris OS and Sun hardware.

If you want something other than OS X on the desk then definitely consider Ubuntu I recently setup my MacBook using the instructions here https://help.ubuntu.com/community/MacBook in about two hours and have everything working except for iSight video which I have not bothered with as yet.

This gives me two main advantages over OS X. Firstly I can install and update all my software from one place, the OS X world in general still requires me to go off and download the software I want manually and manually manage updating. Although MacPorts makes this a bit better it still does not compare to the wealth of software I can download/update with one command in the open source world of Linux. This is also something Solaris offers to some extent. Secondly performance; the Java project I am working on now takes 40 seconds to build on Ubuntu but took over a minute with OS X even when the machine is supposedly doing nothing else. Do enough of this sort of work and the investment of a few hours with Linux starts to make sense.

Jonas

[nonhuman]

For desktop computing I really can't think of any reason that you'd want to use Solaris over Linux. What is it that you didn't like about Debian when you tried it before? Chances are that whatever it was you didn't like in Debian was either something that's user configurable, or something that would be addressed by switching to another distro.

If you're looking for a non-OS X *nix to try, I recommend FreeBSD. The design philosophy is very Mac-like in my opinion (in terms of the tightly integrated userland), and it gives all the power and flexibility of Linux while also giving you a choice between installing binary packages and compiling from source (packages vs. ports in FreeBSD lingo). I love it. As a big Gentoo fan it basically gives me everything that I got from Gentoo, plus a much faster and easier install and shallower learning curve. The only drawback to FreeBSD is that because the userland is strictly maintained the latest and greatest things that you can get for Linux aren't always available (KDE4, for instance) in favor of absolute compatibility and stability. However, I definitely think it's worth checking out if you're interested in trying other *nix OSes and don't necessarily want the bleeding edge software.

[spencerh]

Hi all,

I was looking for some up to date info on running Solaris 10 (or OpenSolaris) on the Macbook Pro platform and came across this thread.

The reason for wanting Solaris on Macbook Pro is that I use a laptop running Solaris as a mobile Jumpstart (deploy) server. Suffice to say, I am well versed in Solaris and its use in the enterprise and on the desktop.

At home I'm all Mac. I would not consider trying to shoehorn Solaris into the role of a home PC - the Apple iLife suite is just too good to be without. That said, an argument has been made that Solaris can be a great home file server, as blogged about in various places.

While you can get wifi to work under Solaris 10, it's a matter of compiling a "wrapper" for the standard Windows driver for the card you have. Not exactly user friendly.

As with all design decisions, I think you should evaluate your needs, then choose a platform that best meets them. For me, that means OS X at home, but Solaris for work.

PS: As for the "Solaris is dying" comments, hardly. Much like comments targeted at Apple, "dying" comments have been targeted at Sun/Solaris ever since the .com bust circa 2000/2001. Sun's installed user base is massive and as far as I can tell is reclaiming ground lost to IBM/HP in recent years. For example Telstra in Australia are consolidating mission critical services on to 100 beastly Sun Fire 25k (72 socket/144 core) servers. No one makes that kind of investment ($1 billion) in a dying OS/platform.