[Sunhelp] SGML tools on Solaris7 or non-GNUified Solaris

[Wes Hofmann]

> > Personally, I run solaris because I think certain parts of
> it are far
> > superior to Linux; the kernel being one of them.  Also, I
>
> Can you be more specific?  So far, the only thing that
> Solaris does better
> than Linux is the filesystem, which is far better.  I'd like
> to know where
> you see the Solaris kernel being superior to Linux.
>
Well, I've only scratched the surface of the kernel on both OS's, but as
I've been trying to write a device driver for Solaris for an ethernet card I
have, I've found some things about the kernel that I consider superior.
First is it's multiprocessor support.  Linux's is still far from adequate
because it does not scale well.  It works great on one processor, but if
there is more than one, it does not take full advantage of them.  I looked
at the data on the second Mindcraft test between NT and Linux and it looked
pretty fair to me.  I think it's sad when Windoze can beat any UNIX.

Another nice thing in solaris (this also relates to multiprocessor
capabilities) is that the kernel, unlike the "traditional" unix kernel,
supports threads and is multithreaded; thus multiple kernel calls can be
handled simultaneously (and the kernel can give each call to a different
processor if it so desires).  Most unixes (including linux) can handle one
kernel call at one time.  I have a couple of friends who work for Sun and it
seems that what the Sun OS people call Linux is something to the effect of
"SunOS about 5 years ago".  Really, the only advantage I've seen to Linux on
a workstation is that if you only have a single processor, it is faster.  I
believe this is due to the fact that SunOS is "overkill" for a single
processor system with limited resources.  I could be completely wrong with
all of this, and if so, I appologize.  As I said, I've merely scratched the
surface of the kernels of both OS's.

> > like the more
> > logical, integrated, coherant "feel" of the OS--unlike Linux,
> > which feels
> > "hacked together".  Aside from that, I think GNU's tools,
>
> Well, I will agree that Linux can feel "hacked together", but
> it's getting
> much better.  RedHat has made a lot of progress with their
> latest release,
> because of gnome.  If only GNOME wasn't completely different
> with every new
> release, we might be able to have linux feel like a real desktop OS.
>

I too learned UNIX with Linux and I still use it on my desktop, though I
prefer Debian.

Personally, I really dislike what RedHat is doing to Linux.  I have found
the newer releases of RedHat to be generally unstable under much load, and I
have real issues with their putting something as unstable as GNOME+E in
/usr/bin.  I feel that /usr/bin should only contain binaries that are an
integral part of the OS.  For instance, Sun put all of the CDE stuff in
/usr/dt instead of polluting /usr/bin and /usr/lib with it.  I also really
dislike the "[OK] [Passed] [Failed]" thing it does upon bootup.  Yeah, I
realize they're trying to look like HPUX, but they just didn't pull it off.

Aside from that, I am quite frankly appalled by the general attitude of
"let's dumb UNIX down enough that any bozo who can point and click can be
fully proficient with it.", and further "Linux will conquer Microsoft and
take over the world!".  I see UNIX as it is--an esoteric and powerful
operating system for the *serious* computer user or developer--not as a
platform for some 8-year-old to play Sesame Street games, or a secretary to
do word-processing.  Unfortunately it seems that RedHat, SuSe, Corel, and
many others have jumped on this bandwagon.

> > being newer and
> > including functionality that the origninal tools did not, are
> > in many ways
> > superior to Solaris' standard, posix4, and ucb tools. :)
>
> How?  I'm a power user on Linux, but barely a normal user on
> Solaris right
> now.  But I still don't see big differences in those tools,
> except that I
> can't build SGMLTools with the versions that shipped with Solaris.  :)
> 	Greg

I personally feel that GNU has been one of the best things to gain
popularity from the Linux movement.  I find there are certain features
included in GNU's utilities that I use all the time--for instance, the -Z
and -z options in GNU tar.  I also like the enhanced features of GNU's gawk,
sed, grep, etc.  While some GNU tools probably aren't fully Posix compliant
and probably aren't as fast or efficient as Solaris', I find I rely on them
nonetheless. :)


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