> Is it just me, or is this something that no one wants to say out aloud? > > This is an ENTERPRISE level operating system from SUN, one of the big dogs! > And yet, even an initial install seems to be a nightmare. The installer > interface looks like it was designed in the 70s, it can't find half the > devices, burps on even small things like specifying a password for "root" and > then trying to login, and even once you are "in", other than cryptic command > lines, you can't find basic things about your machine/install, like how many > and which disks I have. > > While I'm all for fast, stable operating systems, this is 2008, there should > be no excuse for not having even basic GUI interfaces for your installed > hardware, drivers, versions, etc.
Well, I sort of agree, not to the first issue you mention but to the latter. I've been using FreeBSD for many years and consider myself a seasoned administrator. The textbased installer is one of the things I like very much and hope they keep, at least as an option. This installer is tried and true. If Sun has an installer which works those installing and using Solaris would prefer to stick with this. When I install FreeBSD it usually find the hardware installed, at least on the HP-servers we deploy. Installing Solaris on HP-hardware is not difficult as such when you know what you have to do. In my case I had to download a smart-array-driver from HP's site and burn it to a CD and apply during installation. But those hours spent where ()&%%&#$=%. This is where I would like to see some progress so more drivers are added to the install-DVD when those drivers become available. Changing supposedly simple things like ip-addresses is not so simple any longer in Solaris and can become a turn-off for people downloading Solaris and trying out things. What I do like about Solaris is that it does feel like a very robust OS so if Ian manages to get a package-tool and some sort of FreeBSD's ports-system (another very important worth-staying-with-FreeBSD-feature) and those ports are being kept up to date this could be a usefull feature for Solaris. This of course requires an active community. -- regards Claus When lenity and cruelty play for a kingdom, the gentlest gamester is the soonest winner. Shakespeare _______________________________________________ opensolaris-discuss mailing list [email protected]
