[SunHELP] good or bad?

[Maarten Deen]

>> If I connect this comment to the article, I would say that you mean to say
>> that  a sun x86 product running Linux cannot be a decent computer. But
>> aren't a lot  of machines around the internet configured this way? Isn't
>> this setup what made  Linux to what it is now?
> 
> I guess what I meant was I have got really fed up on Intel boxen being
> unreliable and a pain to set up.  Linux on Intel always seems to be a pain
> to set up.  I am sysadmin for my resarch group and a number of people run
> Linux on Intel.  There are always problems configuring
> XFree86 with certain graphics cards etc etc.  If we were running Sol SPARC,
> these probs would not arise.

I must say that I haven't used Linux since version 1.4 or so, but reason was 
just as you put it. Hard to configure properly.

But then we've got to be honest, it is not the x86 hardware that makes it hard, 
it's the abundance of plugin cards. Sun made it easy: they tested their 
hardware and the little 3rd party hardware that was available and made a list 
of what was supported or not. In the x86 community, 3rd party developers make 
hardware and the system builders just have to include drivers, because 
otherwise people will use brand X because they will support brand Y and brand Z 
doesn't.

> Perhaps my argument is one for proprietry hardware/software, that is just
> 'plug 'n' work', as Scott McNealy puts it.  Perhaps if Sun produce x86
> mnachines they will still come with an openboot and be built to a high
> standard, and if you install 'Sun Linux', perhaps it will 'just work' on
> their boxes, with no hassle.

M$ does show that it is possible to make plug 'n' play possible, or to some 
degree at least. The problem is then what hardware to support. I don't have an 
overview of what PCI hardware Sun does support, but I can imagine that the list 
is way shorter than that M$ supports. Sun just has some catching up to do there 
and apparently want to use Linux for that.

> Still, it will be interesting to see what they come up with.  I think I am
> also concerned that this is going to help the wintel duopoly.  (But before
> someone says it, I appreciate that Sun shipping Intel/Linux is better than
> no Sun.)

Sintel also? We agree on one thing: wintel is not the choice.
But there still is a clear divide in usage: wintel for the home/game users, 
*nix or otherwise for more professional usage.

Maarten