New Solaris x86/64 dev machine, what version should I use?

[Fritz Wuehler]

Hello,

I had a pretty nice system setup until I issued an errant command late one
evening. The last version I have downloaded is Solaris 10 U8. I am not very
knowledgable in Solaris and was just learning it when I wrecked my system. I
read Oracle is cutting back on what actually goes into the release. My
question is should I install update 8 and live with it since I also have the
companion CD for that level or should I download something else and if so,
what?

Also would you guys please recommend a package site to use since I know
awhile ago there was some shakeup and I am not sure which site(s) are good,
trusted, etc. Thanks.

[Ian Collins]

Post by Fritz Wuehler
Hello,

So "Nomen Nescio" is "Fritz Wuehler" now?

Post by Fritz Wuehler
I had a pretty nice system setup until I issued an errant command late one
evening. The last version I have downloaded is Solaris 10 U8. I am not very
knowledgable in Solaris and was just learning it when I wrecked my system. I
read Oracle is cutting back on what actually goes into the release. My
question is should I install update 8 and live with it since I also have the
companion CD for that level or should I download something else and if so,
what?

It depends on what you intend to do with the system, which you don't say.

[Nomen Nescio]

Post by Ian Collins
So "Nomen Nescio" is "Fritz Wuehler" now?

Remailers have all sorts of names. I just post, they do the rest. Round and
round they go, where they stop nobody knows!

Post by Ian Collins
It depends on what you intend to do with the system, which you don't say.

I thought I said so in the subject line ;)

It's supposed to be a typical development box with Sun Studio, gcc (gag me
with a spoon dude!) and maybe an intranet web server. Workstation, in other
words I guess.

[Ian Collins]

Post by Nomen Nescio

Post by Ian Collins
So "Nomen Nescio" is "Fritz Wuehler" now?

Remailers have all sorts of names. I just post, they do the rest. Round and
round they go, where they stop nobody knows!

How odd.

Post by Nomen Nescio

Post by Ian Collins
It depends on what you intend to do with the system, which you don't say.

I thought I said so in the subject line ;)
It's supposed to be a typical development box with Sun Studio, gcc (gag me
with a spoon dude!) and maybe an intranet web server. Workstation, in other
words I guess.

Then OpenIndianna or Solaris 11 Express are probably your best bets.

[Nomen Nescio]

I decided to burn a DVD and try update 8. I really like it. For one thing
they included nvidia drivers for my chipset which is one less thing to have
to play with. Of course the network didn't work, it never does in an any
Solaris I've ever used but I guess that's x86. After some hair pulling it is
working ok, not sure it's perfect yet but good enough for now. Does anybody
know how I can assign a fully qualified host name just for use inside my
lan?

The big plus is CDE actually works on my wide screen in full resolution! I
was trying to get this to work before and no joy. Go UNIX, go CDE!!

BTW if anyone is reading this and comes across the failure to install Grub
during installation (chronic problem with Solaris on x86 for at least 3
years I know of) set your IDE controller to AHCI before you install and it
seems to work better.