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Solaris 8 & 9 Free for x86 Once Again

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the one-more-os-to-cram-onto-your-box dept.

REBloomfield writes "The Register is reporting that after nearly two years, Solaris x86 8 & 9 is once again Free (as in beer) to download for x86 users." You can download it if you desire. Gives me college flashbacks.

2 of 411 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Somewhat related query by Telastyn · · Score: 5, Informative

    There's not really any good metrics given the differences in platforms. IIRC though, Solaris runs much better on sparc, but x86 hardware is *MUCH* faster than any sparc you can get these days, and is still cheaper.

    That said, sun hardware is generally rock solid, and getting solaris x86 working is a PITA.

    re: performance between solaris x86 and other free alternatives:

    The performance gains [which IIRC there aren't any for most circumstances] aren't worth the compatability losses. For most people, solaris x86 is just a good way to learn the differences between BSD/linux and Solaris for when you get to a job with larger SPARC machines.

  2. requirements by musikit · · Score: 5, Informative

    You must have:
    Free disk space: 4.0 GBytes to Install Solaris 9 OS; 5.0 GBytes to Install Java Enterprise System Software
    Recordable CD-ROM drive: To create CDs using the downloaded zipped files
    Recordable CDs: Blank 750 recordable or rewriteable CDs, one needed for each CD image downloaded
    CD labels: Required under license agreement
    CD writing application: Use cdrecord for Solaris or Easy CD Creator for Windows is recommended
    Download Manager: Sun Download Manager (Free version) runs on most platforms (see System Requirements for details)
    Unzip application: WinZip recommended for Microsoft Windows (or use Sun Download Manager's automatic unzip feature)

    you also need to "register" on sun's website. so it's as free as the NY times articles online. too bad there isn't a google cache of solaris 9