[rescue] [geeks] Solaris being discontinued? Rumors flying

[Phil Stracchino]

On 12/03/16 10:26, Doug McIntyre wrote:
> I really like FreeBSD.
> 
> BSD doesn't get all the flash and mindset that linux does, but of
> course SunOS 4.x was BSD + lots of Sun bits and then Solaris was partially based
> on BSD in a more indirect way. 
> 
> FreeBSD (or other flavors of BSD, such as OpenBSD, DragonFly, TrueOS) are going
> very strong, lots of work on them by large teams.
> 
> FreeBSD has ZFS, Boot Environments, Dtrace, jails built in. Binary packages
> and updates.
> 
> FreeBSD is built firstly to be a server OS, so if you are looking for a
> graphical GUI, it is there, but won't install X11 out of the box. People do
> use it for an X11 desktop and the most recent release has a lot of WiFi
> chipsets brought up now.


I have to admit FreeBSD is on my list for the next time I rebuild my NAS
box.  Principally because ZFS.  But I can't say I've ever liked FreeBSD
as an OS.  It feels intentionally obtuse to me, and much of the FreeBSD
community seems to take pride in having a userspace that seems to be ten
to fifteen years behind the times.  The last time I tried to do a
FreeBSD install, I ended up in desperation reaching out to the FreeBSD
community to try to find out what console I should use on an Ultra5, and
was told "We don't support Sun framebuffers and see no reason why we
ever should.  Go away and stop bothering us."

OpenBSD, on the other hand, Just Worked, on the first try.


I do *really* like Solaris' lightweight zones though...  and it gives
the skriptkiddies pause.


-- 
  Phil Stracchino
  Babylon Communications
  phils at caerllewys.net
  phil at co.ordinate.org
  Landline: 603.293.8485