Impressions
I went to bring up the system to set it up as a JumpStart server and instead of logging in through CDE, I chose a command line login and started receiving warnings about ttymon and the console. Typing commands was difficult, but I managed to init 6 the machine and got it back to running CDE. This is the behavior I noticed with the 11/03 release. This should be fixed in later releases.
Scanning through /var/adm/messages I found the following entries:
Oct 5 09:22:45 robert3 unix: [ID 673563 kern.info] NOTICE: Kernel Cage is ENABLED
Oct 5 09:23:47 robert3 pseudo: [ID 129642 kern.info] pseudo-device: ramdisk1024
Oct 5 09:23:47 robert3 genunix: [ID 936769 kern.info] ramdisk1024 is /pseudo/ramdisk@1024
For those of you familiar with Dynamic Reconfiguration (DR) you would only see these messages on a machine that supports DR such as a 4500, 6500, E10K, etc. (neither of the machines I used support DR). The second and third entries indicate that all system memory has been placed into a ramdisk. This is part of a yet to be implemented feature called Solaris Containers, where the administrator can separate applications into containers where the application has their own resources and cannot be affected by changes to another container. Parts of this technology is available now through Solaris Resource Manager, Solaris Bandwidth Manager and Fair Share Scheduler. I look forward to the inclusion of this technology to Solaris.
And these:
Nov 18 19:46:17 robert2 genunix: [ID 408822 kern.info] NOTICE: hme0: no fault in device; service available
Nov 18 19:46:17 robert2 genunix: [ID 611667 kern.info] NOTICE: hme0: Internal Transceiver Selected.
Nov 18 19:46:17 robert2 genunix: [ID 408822 kern.info] NOTICE: hme0: no fault external to device; service available
Nov 18 19:46:17 robert2 genunix: [ID 611667 kern.info] NOTICE: hme0: 100 Mbps full duplex link up
This set of messages concerns the onboard interface (hme0) on my Ultra 30, previous to Solaris Express you had to issue ndd -get commands to see this information. I like this and hope this is a feature that Sun intends to keep.
Gnome
I have used Gnome on Solaris (both x86 and Sparc) since Sun introduced it to Solaris 8, and although it has come a long way since the version 1.4 days I still find it a resource hog as compared to the Common Desktop Environment (CDE). This is based on my observations and use of Gnome on the following hardware and frame buffers or video cards that support 24-bit color:
1. Sparc 20 MP (2x 125 MHz HyperSparc processors) with 448 MB of RAM and the CG14 frame buffer
2. Sparc 5 85 MHz with 256 MB of RAM and S24 and GX (8-bit) frame buffers
3. Dual 500 MHz Celeron PC with 1 GB of RAM using a ATI XPert 98 AGP card
4. Sun Blade 100 with 256 MB of RAM and the PGX64 frame buffer
5. Sun Ultra 1 Creator with a 167 MHz UltraSparc I processor and 512 MB of RAM and a Creator 2D frame buffer
6. Sun Ultra 2 with 2x 300 MHz UltraSparc II processors and 1536 MB of RAM and a Creator 2D frame buffer
7. Sun Ultra 30 with a 250 MHz UltraSparc II processor and 1 GB of RAM and a Creator 2D frame buffer
The dual processor machines (except for the Sparc 20) performed very well and on anything less than 24-bit color looks terrible. Running Gnome on my Ultra 30 I watch the screen being drawn as it comes up and the CPU utilization drops from 31% to 1.7% over a period of a minute! I also experimented with themes since Gnome supports them. I downloaded three themes from themes from themes.freshmeat.net:
aqualightblue-gtk2-default
aquaos-metacity-default-2.0
aquax-gtk2-default-1.0-rc1
glacier-gtk-default-2.9
Unfortunately the themes did not quite work yet on Gnome in Solaris as they work on Linux. Using the aquax-gtk2-default, aquax-gtk2-default-1.0-rc1, aquaos-metacity-default-2.0, and glacier-gtk-default-2.9 I did not get the Window Frames I should have got using the theme. What I ended up with that worked was the AquaX Widget Theme and AquaOS Window Frames. The other aspect I found interesting is the CPU utilization at idle, for Gnome it was between 2.7 and 2.9% with one terminal window open running prstat. The CPU utilization of a CDE session with one dtterm open running prstat is 0.1%. If you intend to do anything that requires immediate response graphically, either have fast hardware or use CDE. I am sure that some will have issues with my choice of hardware, but what I am using Solaris on is typical, it might not be the "latest and greatest" but they work. Many shops still employ some of the equipment I use; it depends on just how much horsepower you need.
For many Gnome provides what they need over CDE and Sun should continue development of Gnome, I spend the vast majority of my time at the command line (workplace security limitations). And in the places where I could use a GUI it was CDE, and CDE performs very well. It is a matter of personal preference; I prefer CDE and the command line.
Conclusion
I have used Solaris for several years and Sun continually adds new functionality. Although I could not possibly test all of the new features of Solaris Express, what I did use for the most part works. And I am sure the parts that have did not work, as they should be fixed before the FCS release. I like Sun providing administrators the opportunity to review the latest Solaris technologies and "shake things out". The ability to install and actually use Oracle is a pleasant surprise on what could be considered a development release.
- "Solaris Express review, Page 1"
- "Solaris Express review, Page 2"
- "Solaris Express review, Page 3"
