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Date:      Sun, 27 Dec 1998 07:15:17 -0500 (EST)
From:      Thomas Good <tomg@nrnet.org>
To:        ML Duke <mlduke@concentric.net>
Cc:        Dennis Favro <scqdaf@globalserve.net>, FreeBSD-Newbies <freebsd-newbies@FreeBSD.ORG>
Subject:   Re: Free Solaris
Message-ID:  <Pine.LNX.3.96.981227065959.26107A-100000@mailhost.nrnet.org>
In-Reply-To: <Pine.BSF.4.01.9812261815001.17673-100000@concentric.net>

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On Sat, 26 Dec 1998, ML Duke wrote:

> >   Ok, I've had some time to muck about with FreeBSD and its been 
> > going pretty well.  So now I've notice this free Solaris program 
> > offered by Sun and I'm wondering if its worth trying.
> 
> My Unix Mentor is an AIX Systems Engineer in Texas. His job is to install,
> configure and administer a variety of commericial Unix flavors, Solaris
> among them. He basically says its a bugger to install and a pain in the
> but to administer as compared to FreeBSD.
> 
> But, if its your desire to be a Unix administrator, it would be a
> _definite_ plus on your resume, as would any other commercial variety.

While you're at it you might want to pick up some SCO promos.  OpenServer
and UnixWare are available.  UW is not that dissimilar from Solaris
(both are pretty std SVR4.2).  OpenServer is a entity unto itself.

I run both systems (and have messed with Solaris before.)  UnixWare is
why I first tried Linux.  To unlock each feature you need you must first
pay SCO $695 US.  (DOS Merge, Morningstar PPP, Netscape FastTrack...)
Everything about UW (and Solaris really) is very obtuse when it comes to
configuration.  I recently got UUCP over TCP going on UW.  What a dance
I had to do!  BTW, you will definitely want to get both the Unix System
Administration Handbook (Nemeth, et al.) and Aeleen Frisch's Essential
System Administration (pub by Tim O'Reilly).

Solaris and UnixWare have quite a few similarities, including system
initialisation and port management.  They use ttymon instead of getty.  
As far as the resume goes it definitely doesn't hurt to know ttymon.
However, of the three strategies I've tried - traditional BSD getty,
UW ttymon and (Linux) getty/uugetty - I like the latter the best...
but I'm in the minority here.  Even on Linux mailing lists people 
argue over this point.  Most linuxers prefer mgetty or agetty.  Anyhow!
The best discussion of the differing strategies I've ever seen is in
the (red) Unix System Administration Handbook.  That book is a gem.

Lastly, Solaris makes it a little tougher to find essential log files.
But have fun!  It is a solid implementation.  It is worth noting that
Solaris was supposed to replace SunOS (the BSD variant).  Just as SCO
hoped every OpenServer box would be migrated to UnixWare.  Neither has
happened yet.  ;-)

Cheers,
Tom

BTW, you can order UnixWare 7 from www.sco.com - and get tons of ports
(including perl, pine and bash) from www.freebird.org.  I collect all
of these freebies cause I'm an incurable pack rat.  But after you run
any std SVR4.2 flavour you will *really* appreciate FreeBSD!

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