[geeks] Solaris on x86 (was Fedora funky-ness...)

[Lionel Peterson]

On Tue, 2004-02-17 at 12:56, Francois Dion wrote:
> If you have one of these:
> 
>     * Linksys Instant Wireless PC Card, Model WPC11
>     * Netgear 802.11b Wireless PC Card, Model MA401
>     * Orinoco PC Card Silver
> 
> 
> Lynnsoft has a driver (altough it cost $):
> http://www.lynnsoft.com/solaris.htm
> 
> I also hear that Sun is talking to IHVs left and right and support is 
> forthcoming. Also, Centrino support is in the works and definitely in 
> Sol 10. Another possibility is using a NetBSD driver and porting it to 
> Solaris. I'm assuming there are wireless drivers for NetBSD... (it's 
> relatively easy to port NetBSD drivers, it's not worth the effort to 
> port FreeBSD or Linux drivers - might as well start from scratch).

So, I threw Solaris 9 for x86 on one of my Tecras, and it was a bit of a
fiasco... Long story short, if you have a video card that is not
supported by the included drivers, opt for a test install.

Also, it seems the HD in the laptop had some issues, that may have been
causing the problems with Fedora RC 1. I swapped it out and a text
install of Solaris went OK. I got the software installed, installed the
driver development kit (it was very straight-forward), and after running
kdmconfig and I had X running in glorious 16 bit color, albeit at
800x600.

I plan to start over again, but to figure in networking in the next
install (couldn't find one of my 3Com cards). I may opt for 3rd- party
networking, wireless and sound drivers, though that will amount to $120
from various vendors...

Solaris 9 on a 266 MHz PII w/256 Meg RAM was pretty decent, from my
initial futzing with...

Thanks for the suggestion/encouragement ;^)