It's time to decide, and I need the help of you good people.
807557Dec 26 2008 — edited Jan 5 2009I have run Linux for 13 years. I have recently had nothing but trouble with it and am just about fed up with it all. Hardware issues, software issues, VM issues, you name it, it's been happening all within the last week or so. I have been reading over the HCL for Solaris 10 and OpenSolaris, they seem to say pretty much the same things as far as my hardware is concerned, however, I can't seem to get a straight answer about if there is a specific build aimed toward my processor type. I have an AMD Athlon 64 dual core, 1gig ram, MCS nVidia GeForce 6100, using the onboard nVidia video controller. I have had OpenSolaris running before just to tinker with it from the live cd, but have changed monitors within the last 3 months and now can't get more then 640x480 resolution, its a Gateway EV700.
So heres my list of questions, if you folks could help me I would be very happy.
1, What makes Solaris or OpenSolaris better than Linux?
2. Is there a build aimed at the AMD 64 platform?
3. Does anyone use a Gateway EV700 monitor with better than 640x480 resolution?
4. Is there a way to run my favorite Linux apps in Solaris? (I think I've seen that you can, don't remember)
5. Is there a way to run Solaris just as root and run apps as users? (I'll explain below)
6. There is limited support for WinTV PVR-150 in Linux, is there any support for it in Solaris?
7. Can any of you 'sell me' on Solaris?
As I said above, I've run Linux for 13 years, as root, with only one disaster with the shred command... enough to say I had to reinstall. Other than that I've had no problems. I run apps as a user, such as IRC and Firefox, but the rest of the time I'm root. I have yet to see why, if I'm not running a server, there is a big taboo about running as root. I have seen the arguments 'its just unsafe', no examples, ever. It just seems as if its one of those 'take my word for it' type of things. Either way, I prefer to run as root and run apps as a user. Unless someone can give me some compelling reason why I shouldn't, I would like to know if theres a way to run Solaris as root.
Thanks people for your time and help.
Jack