[huskerlug] Re: Linux on SPARC

Most suns here aren't used as server, they are workstations for Unix apps.

Why put Linux on a SPARC to begin with? Who buys New SPARCs?

Odds are if you have the cash and the need to buy a SPARC system you bought
it new from Sun and it came preconfigured with Solaris of some flavor.  Most
likely you bought it to upgrade or run a specific app available for Solaris.
There probably not too many people out there buying up new Sun boxes just to
wipe them out and do their own thing or just play around with.

But once they get old most companies dump them, and you'll find older ones
at auctions, on e-bay, etc.  Most of these won't come with an OS, but the
hardware is still good and solid.  So there is a secondary market for them,
other businesses, other schools or small scale ISPs, etc.  Using a cheap
bunch of sun boxes you grabbed at an auction for BSD based webserver/mail
servers etc is a cheap way to gain if you are a small ISP.  In the life
cycle of Sun system they out live their usefulness as a workstation before
they out live their usefulness as servers to the world.

The other is there are a few companies out there making Sun Clones, before
if they wanted to use Solaris they had to buy it from Sun, so selling it
with a BSD or Linux OS meant they didn't have to pay. Sun drops Solaris for
free why use the others? Now you can sell at a lower cost the same hardware
and OS as sun.

As I said there probably is more to it then that but it looks like it could
have been a contributing factor.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Jim Worrest" <jworrest@xxxxxxxxx>
To: <huskerlug@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Friday, July 25, 2003 8:58 AM
Subject: [huskerlug] Re: Linux on SPARC


> Huh!   I never knew that.  I had a Sparc machine that I gave away, so
> I was looking around for something to run on it for a time.  A Sparc
> machine is not a PC!
> If Sparcs are mainly used as servers then the Linux folks may have
> decided to led the BSD people have a crack at it, since all three
> flavors of have something for it, and seem to be active on supporting
> it.  The Old Sparc lines seem also to be abandoned by Sun, again
> that's my guess, so perhap Linux types decided it was like supporting
> the 386, which has also lost a lot of interest from the Linux
> programmers, as indeed the 486 has also.  I found your comments very
> interesting.  ---Jim
>
> On Friday 25 July 2003 07:50, you wrote:
> > From what I can tell the big drop in Linux for SPARC was the same
> > time as Sun releasing Solaris 8 for free download.  Linux was "big"
> > on SPARC for the secondary market, used Sun boxes and Sun cloned
> > system, but I think Sun pulled a M$ on this, dumped their OS out
> > there for free to which they had intimate knowledge of the hardware.
> >  Linux was already "Free" so it was so much they stole money away as
> > it was interest in using Linux on SPARC. I'm pretty sure on this but
> > I might be wrong but I don't think Sun offers Solaris for SPARC for
> > free download anymore do they?  Probably more factors than just that
> > but I know when Solaris was free and easy to get I decided to use it
> > over Linux back when Mandrake 8 had just come out and Mandrake 7 for
> > SPARC was too "old".
> >
> > Solaris isn't a bad OS on SPARC, and in many ways it was better than
> > Linux on SPARC.  The part that drove me nuts was no SSH in Solaris
> > 8, plus the sun kernel has no random feature (aka /dev/random) this
> > made it hard to build openssh for Solaris, I fought with it for a
> > long time but didn't seem to get any closer.  Later I found that
> > there was indeed a random package...only you could only get it
> > directly from sun and it wasn't available publicly for download. I
> > got it from one of the other IT guys here but I had already decided
> > to try Linux on it by then.
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "Jim Worrest" <jworrest@xxxxxxxxx>
> > To: <huskerlug@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> > Sent: Friday, July 25, 2003 4:16 AM
> > Subject: [huskerlug] Re: Linux on SPARC
> >
> > > www.ultralinux.org seems to be one website that does contain
> > > information on the various distros of  SPARC Linux.   I didn't
> > > find it there or on the Debian website, but I did see that Debian
> > > does have 3.0r1 for Sparc which is their latest release, I do
> > > believe.  I just saw that  www.cheapbytes.com had the CDs for it.
> > > There is getting less instead of more Linux support for the Sparc
> > > machines, or so it seems to me.   ---Jim
> > >
> > > On Thursday 24 July 2003 03:31, you wrote:
> > > > I thought I would follow up on this discussion.
> > > >
> > > > I've decided to use Aurora Linux because I am more familiar with
> > > > Redhat than any other distro.  I have it installed on one
> > > > machine right now that controls a tape-backup robot.  It works
> > > > like a charm! All of the necessary software was on the Aurora
> > > > discs, and everything installed flawlessly.
> > > >
> > > > The only thing that concerns me about this distro is staying
> > > > up-to-date on software patches.  There are some errata packages
> > > > available from Aurora, but last I checked, they weren't very
> > > > up-to-date.
> > > >
> > > > I'm thinking about setting up a sparc machine with a little more
> > > > disk space (my trial machine only has 1GB...just enough to get
> > > > the system running with no X), and whenever RH releases new
> > > > RPMs, I'll grab the SRPMs and rebuild them for the sparc.
> > > >
> > > > --Ben Chavet
> > > >
> > > > Quoting Jim Worrest <jworrest@xxxxxxxxx>:
> > > > > It's whatever makes Ben happy.  SuSE would be the easiest to
> > > > > install, I assume they have a Yast to do it, on that distro,
> > > > > Your more familiar with both.
> > > > > Probably,  Debian will have the longest lasting support.  I
> > > > > think they had before anyone else and still support it.  I
> > > > > gave away a Sparc and a copy of  Redhat 5.2 for the Sparc.  I
> > > > > don't see where Redhat supports the machine anymore.  ---Jim
> > > > >
> > > > > On Friday 11 July 2003 19:11, you wrote:
> > > > > > I had trouble with networking in Suse 7.3 on a Ultra SPARC
> > > > > > 1...works = fine on
> > > > > > a SPARCstation 5, I'm using Aurora Linux now without any
> > > > > > problem on the = same
> > > > > > Ultra 1
> > > > > >
> > > > > > Gentoo I can only imagine how long that would take on my
> > > > > > might 70Mhz, = 110Mhz
> > > > > > and 143Mhz machines :)
> > > > > >
> > > > > > Mandrake Beta? Have to look into that one...
> > > > > >
> > > > > > One Problem I'm having with seems just a mater of Linux on
> > > > > > SPARC is Java support in web browser.
> > > > > >
> > > > > > -----Original Message-----
> > > > > > From: huskerlug-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx =
> > > > > > [mailto:huskerlug-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]
> > > > > > On Behalf Of Jim Worrest
> > > > > > Sent: Friday, July 11, 2003 6:36 PM
> > > > > > To: huskerlug@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> > > > > > Subject: [huskerlug] Re: Linux on SPARC
> > > > > >
> > > > > >
> > > > > > Ben, I will point out that Debian appears to have a SPARC
> > > > > > distro, and Mandrake a beta one.   If you're more familiar
> > > > > > with how those=20 behave,  it could make it easier for you.
> > > > > > I guess Sparc computers are=20 a little crankier get working
> > > > > > than the typical pc.  ---Jim
> > > > > >
> > > > > > On Friday 11 July 2003 02:56, you wrote:
> > > > > > > I'll probably start with SuSE 7.3 because it looks like
> > > > > > > it's the=20 easiest one to install.
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > > Does anybody know why the big distros dropped sparc
> > > > > > > support? I wonder =
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > > how much extra work it was for them to port everything...
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > > --Ben Chavet
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > > Quoting Jim Worrest <jworrest@xxxxxxxxx>:
> > > > > > > > Someone brought up this awhile ago and did come up with
> > > > > > > > a=20 distribution different from SuSE 7.3.  I use this
> > > > > > > > distro on my IBMs=20 and it usually works very well, and
> > > > > > > > there is still support for it. =20 ---Jim
> > > > > > > >
> > > > > > > > On Thursday 10 July 2003 23:44, you wrote:
> > > > > > > > > We have a bunch of old Sun machines where I work and
> > > > > > > > > I'm=20 interested in putting linux on them.  For some
> > > > > > > > > of the machines it=20 will mean bringing
> > > > > > > >
> > > > > > > > them
> > > > > > > >
> > > > > > > > > back from the dead, for others it will be a migration
> > > > > > > > > from=20 Solaris.  Most of these machines are
> > > > > > > > > workstations in our computer=20 lab which nobody
> > > > > > > > > really uses, which is why I'm interested in=20
> > > > > > > > > introducing something new.  It might sparc some new
> > > > > > > > > interest in=20 these machines (pun half-way intended
> > > > > > > > >
> > > > > > > > > :)
> > > > > > > > >
> > > > > > > > > Looking around, it seems that most of the major
> > > > > > > > > distros have=20 dropped SPARC support quite a while
> > > > > > > > > ago.  Does anybody have any=20 suggestions as to which
> > > > > > > > > distro would work best. I'd like to have=20 a
> > > > > > > > > package-based distro of some sort just to make
> > > > > > > > > software=20 installation a bit easier.  Although I
> > > > > > > > > realize that most projects=20 don't package for SPARC
> > > > > > > > > anyway, so I'd be willing to play around=20 with a
> > > > > > > > > source-based distro.
> > > > > > > > >
> > > > > > > > > Any tips or suggestions would be much appreciated.
> > > > > > > > >
> > > > > > > > > --Ben Chavet
> > > > > > > > >
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