Solaris 10 / Solaris Express x86 / Sun Studio 11 DVD media - FREE, no s/h

[AStar617]

http://www.sun.com/solaris/freemedia/

Free OS downloads from Sun is nothing new, but for a limited time, they are giving away DVD media worldwide via mail, no postage fees required:

- Solaris 10, with Sun Developer Tools (Sun Studio + NetBeans)
- Solaris Express x86, Developer Edition with Sun Developer Tools (Sun Studio + NetBeans)

If the Solaris Express distribution is Solaris Nevada B55 as I think it is, it will also have StarOffice 8, Firefox 2, Thunderbird, gnome/jds 2.16.x, etc. bundled as well. :thumbsup:

Expect 2-4 weeks for delivery per the signup confirmation.

Enjoy...

 

[noping]

I put in an order for a set of free discs when it was mentioned on Slashdot last month and I've yet to recieve my copy.

YMMV, I suppose.

 

[Darkstar757]

Dude I did the same thing and never got a copy.

 

[SunnyD]

Last time I signed up with Sun I believe about 6 months later I got a package in the mail and said "Wtf is this? Ooooooh, yeah... I did sign up for this I think..."

 

[iseestars]

In. Thanks OP, this looks cool.

 

[gcy]

thanks,
:thumbsup:

 

[EKKC]

i signed up a few years ago for Solaris 9 DVD. they did send it to me... after a few months.

 

[wolfman11]

I signed up for one when I saw this thread - got it in the mail today, fyi...

 

[DesertFox]

Mine just came this week, about 8 weeks after the estimated 10 days it was supposed to take to get to me.

 

[KPACOTKA]

ordered, hopefully it's better than BSD

 

[cookj]

Thanks

 

[AStar617]

Deal is still alive, and everyone I know of in MA who ordered around the time when I first posted has now gotten theirs as of about a week or so ago. :thumbsup:

 

[freshspace]

I received mine yesterday.

 

[hansmuff]

I downloaded and installed Solaris 10 a while ago, when it just came out for x86.
I was not impressed. There's a disk partitioning tool that comes with it, and it basically eats your partition table the second you do anything in the tool.
The GUI is typical Solaris, solid. But you have to wonder what advantage this enterprise class OS could have over Linux on a desktop install.
For the average user, just go and check out Ubuntu, it's really nice. Solaris is not for the "Unix curious",IMO.

 

[13Gigatons]

I recieved mine in 8 days after ordering. I'm guessing I got lucky.

 

[edavid]

So what is the difference between the 2 DVDs? They certainly win the unclear naming award.

 

[AStar617]

Originally posted by: edavid
So what is the difference between the 2 DVDs? They certainly win the unclear naming award.

Solaris 10 is the commercial closed-source distro. Solaris Express is based on the OpenSolaris project, and can be considered a beta precursor to Solaris 11, not yet suitable for use in a production environment.

Another heads-up: Solaris 10 DVD includes SPARC and x86 binaries, but the Solaris Express DVD is x86 only.

 

[KPACOTKA]

Got it today in mail. I'll install it soon. Thanks OP

 

[Fallen Kell]

Originally posted by: hansmuff
I downloaded and installed Solaris 10 a while ago, when it just came out for x86.
I was not impressed. There's a disk partitioning tool that comes with it, and it basically eats your partition table the second you do anything in the tool.
The GUI is typical Solaris, solid. But you have to wonder what advantage this enterprise class OS could have over Linux on a desktop install.
For the average user, just go and check out Ubuntu, it's really nice. Solaris is not for the "Unix curious",IMO.

Depends on what you want to do. Solaris has a lot of features that do not exist under linux. A few of the biggest that come to mind are dtrace, and ZFS. Then there are zones and the trusted extensions as well, not to mention very good systems to pre-customized installations (jump start, and flash archive).

In other words, there is a lot of really good things there. But you need to be doing something worth while for you to need the tools. If you are a programer, then dtrace is your wet dream for debugging code. If you want virtual systems, zones is for you. If you need to setup several identical setups, jumpstart and flash archives will save you hours if not days of time.

ZFS is for EVERYONE. Take a look at what it can do for you as a filesystem. It is an amazing piece of work, and probably one of the best features of Solaris 10. Go read up on it.


P.S. I run Solaris 10 SPARC64 on my home ftp server. Have had a lot of hack attempts, but none successful (over 300,000 and still counting). Your average windows box wouldn't have lasted through that. Latest was from a group using computers at Bangkok University.

 

[kalex2]

Thanks just ordered

 

[AStar617]

Originally posted by: Fallen Kell

Originally posted by: hansmuff
I downloaded and installed Solaris 10 a while ago, when it just came out for x86.
I was not impressed. There's a disk partitioning tool that comes with it, and it basically eats your partition table the second you do anything in the tool.
The GUI is typical Solaris, solid. But you have to wonder what advantage this enterprise class OS could have over Linux on a desktop install.
For the average user, just go and check out Ubuntu, it's really nice. Solaris is not for the "Unix curious",IMO.

Depends on what you want to do. Solaris has a lot of features that do not exist under linux. A few of the biggest that come to mind are dtrace, and ZFS. Then there are zones and the trusted extensions as well, not to mention very good systems to pre-customized installations (jump start, and flash archive).

In other words, there is a lot of really good things there. But you need to be doing something worth while for you to need the tools. If you are a programer, then dtrace is your wet dream for debugging code. If you want virtual systems, zones is for you. If you need to setup several identical setups, jumpstart and flash archives will save you hours if not days of time.

ZFS is for EVERYONE. Take a look at what it can do for you as a filesystem. It is an amazing piece of work, and probably one of the best features of Solaris 10. Go read up on it.


P.S. I run Solaris 10 SPARC64 on my home ftp server. Have had a lot of hack attempts, but none successful (over 300,000 and still counting). Your average windows box wouldn't have lasted through that. Latest was from a group using computers at Bangkok University.

Well put. If you have a use for either, ZFS and Dtrace are the truth, simple and plain. They are both open-sourced so eventually you will see implementations on Linux and elsewhere in the future (OS X's Dtrace is "Xray", for instance--it uses the GarageBand interface, it's crazy), but for now Solaris is where it's at.

What kind of box? I love my Netra t1 Model 105. Headless 1U goodness, like a true server should be

 

[hansmuff]

Originally posted by: Fallen Kell
[...]
Depends on what you want to do. [...]

Thanks for the great reply. I agree, it depends on what you want to do. I do think the average user who is curious about Unix/Linux will enjoy a spiffy Linux distro better, but you make a great argument for power users/developers/admins etc.
DTrace indeed is like a wet dream, only you can download and live it

 

[Schmide]

Got mine today. 13 days

 

[foolish501]

Originally posted by: Schmide
Got mine today. 13 days

me too, very quick, just in time for my vacation, taking it with me for a friend

 

[surferkev]

Thanks, I'm in for one.