Solaris 10 x86 (gold) will not install - Cannot start X-Server
807557Feb 17 2005 — edited Jan 24 2006Okay,. this is really stupid. I don't understand this one at all.
I cannot install Solaris x86 (gold - as in "non-beta") at all. I have tried both the ATI Rage 128 Pro and NVidia GeForce chipsets. Both cards are correctly detected; however, regardless of what selection or driver option I choose, the installation crashes immediately thereafter.
If I let the installation go on its own, it stops completely at the "Detecting additional network parameters" or whatever that particular error message is.
If I manually select the standard (non XF86) drivers of the card, black-on-yellow text complains about how it cannot detect the card (that it correctly identified) and that it cannot start the X server. It then improperly displays the text menu for language selection and stops.
If I manually select the XF86 drivers, it gets all of the way through to where I test the video mode and then just dies. No error message or anything.
{rant mode on}
Jesus, Sun! What the hell is going on? These are two INDUSTRY STANDARD video cards! These aren't some run-of-the-mill, no-name chipsets we're talking about! It's exactly because of idiotic driver issues like this that people laugh when given the choice between Solaris and Linux while looking for Windows alternatives for the desktop!
{rant mode off}
Sorry for the rant, but I've been complaining for years that issues like this are exactly why Windows has been allowed to dominate the desktop. Now here comes Linux which supports just about everything, and Sun still apparently has no clue about supporting desktops. I know , I know-- servers are Sun's strengths, but if Sun is going to try to get JDS onto the desktop, this is not the way to go about it.
Now that I've gotten that off my chest (I really needed that), does anyone know what needs to be done to get this to install properly and of course function properly thereafter without having to jump througha ton of hoops?