[SunRescue] Q on "optimal" OS for Sun4c machines, now that Solaris 8 won't run

[BSDBobtheoldgreybeardBSDfreakbobkey at weedcon1.cropsci.ncsu.edu]

>     I never thought Solaris 8 would be a great OS to drop on a 64 Meg SPARC2,
> but the issue did "sparc" this question... Solaris software seems keyed to
> version 2.5.1 and above, and some fokls are reporting *nearly amazing" results
> with some of the *BSD OSs, so I'm wondering what the popular opinion is.

I dunno if it is amazing, but the BSD's run veddy well for my needs.
I use them as webservers, ftpservers, X boxes, troff/TeX boxes, and
playtoys for system development.  IFF I can get it to run on a BSD on
a sun crate, I use that as the OS of choice.  If I can't, then I drop
back to SunOS or Solaris, depending upon what I can get to run and which
CD I grapple for.

>     In order to make this look like a reasonable question, let me add that my
> thought is to use the machine at home, and being able to download pre-built
> binaries would be very useful. This would be a desktop machine with very
> low demand web serving (and maybe SAMBA file serving as well) duties. The
> box in mind specifically is a SS/2 w/Weitek PowerUP and 96 Meg RAM
> (that is 64 Meg + 32 Meg SBUS expansion card).

Machine at home is fine.  I strongly avoid prebuilts and always compile
from source for anything I can get source to.... (old habit, I guess).
I use prebuilts for things like Netscrapers and things only available
in binaries.

If you wanna webserve a little, the game is Apache.  It builds fine on
anything you can muster up a gcc on.  You don't indicate what other
home software you need.  That could be a problem, if you had to have
some proprietary binaries that only run on Solaris, although there is
binary support in the BSD's for many things Sunish.

You might check the NetBSD or OpenBSD ports trees and see if there are
things missing from available ports that might alter what OS or prebuilts
you would tend towards.

Also, OS updateability may be worth considering.  Solaris is dead on
4c class hardware.  It will be around for a long time, but it is dead
developmentally, patchwise, etc.  Any of the Freebie *nices are source
patched nightly from the cannonical sources, for both the OS and all
the ports.  THAT makes a very nice thing to consider, if you have to
keep a dead class machine running for a long time.  Bugs are usually
fixed very quickly, and you HAVE the source.  CERT vulnerabilities
are fixed very quickly, and you HAVE the source.... etc., etc., etc.
That is not likely to happen on dead versions of Solaris.

But, if you don't need these kinds of features, and can be happy
with a frozen OS, and it does what you need it to do (important point),
then there is merit in using a frozen OS, too.  That could be a gotcha
if the machine is hooked up at home to the internet.  In that case,
I would always opt for a later, more secure OS.  Heck, I still run
a 4.3BSD box, at home, OFF the inet, but on my intranet, because it
has some features and simplicities I like on the particular hardware
I run it on.  That is a dead OS, for sure, but, it does what I want
it to do.  Likewise on an old AIX-1 box.... and AIX-1 is a dead
dinosaur, but it has my pet F77 suite.

So, rather than consider the OS, directly, consider what it is you want
to do specifically, and the binaries/source/software required to do that,
and then pick the OS that handles that best.

>     I am concerned that other OSs may drop support, following Suns lead...

Nah, it will be there for a long time in any of the Freebie *nices.
Heck, they are still supporting Sun 3/60 crates and VAX 11/780's.
Old hardware runs forever, it seems, and the typist is the bottleneck
mostly, even on hotrod hardware.  So, old hardware is still quite
usable.  Granted, an SS1 or SS2 is not a speed skater, but, my SS1
makes a great websever and ftp archive server.  Just don't try to
compile mozilla the gorilla on it, while running X and a webscraper,
unless you have lots of time....(:+}}.

Good Luck....

Bob