[illumos-Developer] Solaris Future?

["C. Bergström"]

  On 07/26/11 07:47 PM, Тима wrote:
>
>
>
> 26 июля 2011, 15:11 от "C. Bergström" <cbergstrom at pathscale.com>:
>
>     On 07/26/11 05:59 PM, Тима wrote:
>     > Hello, Illumos Team!
>     >
>     > My name is Tima, I´m new on this list.
>     > I repost this questions to this list from OpenIndiana New
>     Developers list.
>     >
>     > I have some skills on using Solaris (Open, Indiana) as a
>     workstation
>     > and small workgroup server. And I like this OS.
>     > Due to changes that Solaris community (including as users as
>     > developers) had to live through the last year I have
>     > few questions:
>     > Will it live? I mean will OpenSolaris/Indiana (and SunOS kernel
>     > exactly ) _progress_? Not only live out it´s last days.
>     >
>     > Now I´m using OpenIndiana 148 on Samsung Q70. They appear wonderful
>     > symbiosis!
>     > But freshly downloaded build 151 even DID NOT START on modern Acer
>     > Aspire TimeLineX.
>     > As I think it means that SunOS kernel 5.11 is really old for our
>     days.
>     > It does not support Intel GMA built in Core i5 and maybe
>     > it even does not fully support Core i5 itself, it does not support
>     > nVidia Optimus technology
>     >
>     There is already support for AVX in the kernel, but the Sun
>     Studio/gcc
>     that compilers that come with the system don't support it. libc/libm
>     also don't have optimized versions, but this is rectifiable. (Our
>     compilers/gcc should support it, but I've not tested on real hw + OI)
>
> Okay. This moment is clear for me now. I've switched AHCI to IDE and 
> system started orrectly.
> I can report it sees all of 4 cores (2 Cores by 2 Threads) CPU - 
> i5-2410M 2.3GHz.
>
>
>
>     I'm unclear what's under the hood for Optimus support, but I suspect
>     it's possibly a combination of Intel/NVIDIA driver support and
>     enabling
>     it in the bios.
>
>     Intel used to provide really good support on Solaris, but I'm not
>     sure
>     if that's still the case? If it wholly depends on the NVIDIA
>     drivers I
>     suspect it'll just work as it would on linux.
>
> Absolutely true. Optimus - is technology to switch between nVidia and 
> Intel GPUs.
> I don't use stationary systems, but I think Optimus is used only on 
> mobile platforms.
> It's main goal is power saving.
> As you said it depends on nVidia drivers.
> "it'll just work as it would on linux"
> At the moment It works exactly as on Linux:
> http://www.nvnews.net/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=144750
I'd personally switch to being on NVIDIA hw full time if you don't care 
about battery life.

The NVIDIA 8400M GS should be fully supported and have no driver issues 
by itself under Solaris.
> 
>
>
>     When you say it didn't start what *exactly* do you mean? Try flipping
>     the ata/achi setting in the bios and seeing if that lets the live cd
>     work. Also please try an older opensolaris to see if that works and
>     report back.
>
> Switching SATA to IDE mode solved 151 starting problem.
> Then I switched it back to AHCI, tried to boot OpenSolaris 133 - it 
> booted correctly.
> But now OI 151 boots good in AHCI mode, so I can't reproduce the bug. 
> Even after full Power Off/On.
>
>
>     Good luck
>
>     ./C
>
> Here is some summary of hardware support:
> Intel GMA does not work. It's detected as VGA Compatible vgatext. And 
> starts in 1024x768
> nVidia does not work (as expected). It is now turned off in BIOS.
It should and turn it on to full time.  Using Optimus may mess it up.
> No NIC (LAN, WiFi) is detected. No network at all.
What chipset?
> USB3.0 does not work (nothing appears in dmesg when I insert flash 
> drive in it).
> USB2.0 works. Tested by mounting and viewing contents of VFAT drive.
> Fn + Brightness/Play/Stop/Next/Prev keys don't work.
> xev reports Fn + Volume Lower/Rise/Mute correctly but pressing this 
> keys does not affect on system's volume.
afaik this should be easy enough to fix
> Sound (Intel Cougar) works! It's amazing because it's not fully 
> supported in Linux at the moment (some pin switching troubles).
> Card Reader is not supported at all.
> HDMI and VGA external outputs does not react.
Can Intel output HDMI or would you need the NVIDIA card turned on for it?
>
> The main question of my previous message was - will SunOS totally 
> progress for ALL? Not for me individually.
> Is there any reason to get involved? Or the system is now living it's 
> last days and is half-dead?
> Is it going to become "user friendly" OS (as it was few years ago)?
> Or SunOS (and it's kernel) is a property of few developers who do some 
> job on few company's demand for money?
Personally for a server OS I think it had and has quite a bit of life 
left.  For a desktop I think you should push your vendor to support the 
OS.  Unfortunately, this is likely to be a chicken/egg problem where 
they will be reluctant to support anything that doesn't have a large 
enough userbase.  I'm not personally aware of any company focusing on 
Solaris desktop solutions, but maybe the collective effort will make it 
possible.