OpenSolaris 2009.06 Released

[phoronix]

Phoronix: OpenSolaris 2009.06 Released

As we reported last week, the release of OpenSolaris 2009.06 would come on Monday, and sure enough, it has been released by Sun Microsystems. The OpenSolaris 2009.06 release presents network virtualization support with Crossbow, SPARC support, Intel Xeon 5500 series hardware support, MySQL and PHP DTrace probes, improved usability with its package management system, and much more.

http://www.phoronix.com/vr.php?view=13912

[ningo]

The driver situation still makes this system unusable for me. I wonder when they finally start addressing this very important topic.

[etacarinae]

The driver situation still makes this system unusable for me. I wonder when they finally start addressing this very important topic.

Could you be more specific please ? What doesn't work for you ? New drivers are getting added all the time.

[d2kx]

What version of the radeon driver is 2009.06 shipping? Are Marvell Yukon ethernet chipsets now supported (I've got a Realtek now but still would like to know)?

I've read that IPS/Package Management is *waaay* faster now. Good, because it was dead slow before. Will have a look on the new release later this week...

[etacarinae]

Phoronix: OpenSolaris 2009.06 Released

As we reported last week, the release of OpenSolaris 2009.06 would come on Monday, and sure enough,
it has been released by Sun Microsystems. The OpenSolaris 2009.06 release presents network
virtualization support with Crossbow, SPARC support, Intel Xeon 5500 series hardware support, MySQL
and PHP DTrace probes, improved usability with its package management system, and much more.

http://www.phoronix.com/vr.php?view=13912


Some small errors in the article...



OpenSolaris 2009.06 is based upon the Solaris Express Nevada Build 111b code-base

No, it's not. In fact there is no such thing as SXCE Build 111b. It's based on ON.

there is libc compatibility with Linux and FreeBSD

The original "what's new article" implies what's new with the libc Linux/BSDs compatibility,
basically asprintf() and vasprintf() have been added, the Phoronix article makes it sound as
if Solaris libc is now compatible with Linux and/or BSDs.

They opted to not include OpenOffice.org in any of the releases thus far to conserve space, but
they have chosen not to include AbiWord or any lighter-weight office applications.


Not an error or anything, but why keep repeating the same things ? It's a LiveCD,
having both x32 and x64 libraries/binaries, there is simply no space for anything like that.

As is briefly pointed out in the OpenSolaris 2009.06 release notes, Sun is already planning for their next
OpenSolaris release. We anticipate this next release will be OpenSolaris 2009.12


From the release notes: "We're already looking forward to the next release due in 2010", so why on earth
the 2009.12 "prediction" ? It has been mentioned before on the opensolaris.org forums that the next release
will probably be 2010.02 (although I don't think it's set in stone).

Plus would be nice if you would mention that GCC 4.3.2 is finally present in the repository, although you
need to set CC/CXX manually as the binaries are postfixed, i.e. gcc-4.3.2, g++-4.3.2.

[ningo]

Could you be more specific please ? What doesn't work for you ?


Loads. Sorry I can't be more specific, the list is too long to memorize. d2kx's post names a few.


New drivers are getting added all the time.

I disagree. What I find particularly 'funny' is, that they list drivers in the hcl as 'reported to work' or some such nonsense, when they're clearly not.

[etacarinae]

Loads. Sorry I can't be more specific, the list is too long to memorize. d2kx's post names a few.


Seriously, if you want to have your hardware supported you should report it as not working, one way of doing it is submitting a device detection tool report, which is a one-click thing, just run the opensolaris device detection tool and click on submit. Then the devs look at what popular hardware is unsupported and fix it...


I disagree. What I find particularly 'funny' is, that they list drivers in the hcl as 'reported to work' or some such nonsense, when they're clearly not.

Ah, well, HCL reports stuff that *works*, not stuff that *works out of the box*, that's a big difference, there are tons of 3rd party nic drivers for example which are very easy to install.

[ningo]

Seriously, if you want to have your hardware supported you should report it as not working, one way of doing it is submitting a device detection tool report, which is a one-click thing, just run the opensolaris device detection tool and click on submit. Then the devs look at what popular hardware is unsupported and fix it...


Dude, I do. Since the first release. Maybe I'm just extremely unlucky, but there is no progress whatsoever, as far as I am aware.


Ah, well, HCL reports stuff that *works*, not stuff that *works out of the box*, that's a big difference, there are tons of 3rd party nic drivers for example which are very easy to install.

Actually "reported to work" means

Reported to Work system configurations or components have been registered by an end user or developer as "reported to operate with the Solaris Operating System." This hardware has not necessarily received any formal testing. Sun appreciates the contributions of the user community in providing this data.


As long as it gets reported, it's "reported to work" regardless whether it really works. Go figure.