[SunRescue] NetBSD v. Linux v. Solaris 2.51

[James Lockwood]

On 6 Dec 2000, Michael Hansen wrote:

> Once I have finally managed to get my SS1+ working, I'll need an
> OS. I have heard that NetBSD is faster than Linux on the Sun4c
> architecture due to how they handle memory, but of course,
> a great deal more software is available for Linux, and  much of

No, it's not.  Nearly all software available for non-x86 ports of Linux
comes as source packages, and if properly coded should recompile under
other modern Unices.

> the software I want to use would have to run under Linux emulation.
> My guess is that Linux would be faster than NetBSD emulating 
> Linux.  Does anyone want to back that up? 

The odds are that if you wanted to run software under emulation, it would
be software natively compiled for SunOS 4 and not Linux.

> Also, how would Solaris 2.51 (the only version I have for SPARC)
> compare, performance-wise?  

Reasonably.  Solaris has a larger memory footprint than both Linux and
NetBSD, but if you stay within that footprint it is competitive.  What
type of applications do you want to run?  This is what makes the biggest
difference.  I can't recommend any OS to you without knowing what you want
to do with it, it's like recommending a camera to someone when you don't
know if they're a point and shoot tourist or Ansel Adams.

> To the point: I often hear "run your X server on another machine."
> Can that other machine be x86 based? If it is x86 based, will

Absolutely.

> setting it up be non-trivial?  Assuming I do set it up that way
> would it be a heretical, blasphemous, evil thing, possibly
> a >bad< thing?

No.  It would probably allow you to get better performance on the programs
you run on the SS1+ as you would use much less memory.  X servers have
traditionally been very memory intensive, and any reasonably modern PC
graphics card will outperform the GX.

-James