[ale] Linux and Sun

[Chris Ricker]

On 30 Nov 2001, Fletch wrote:

> >>>>> "Matt" == Matt Balaun <sdaemon at shaftnet.org> writes:
> 
> [...]
> 
>     Matt> You *can* run linux on a sparc, but you'll get better
>     Matt> performance running Solaris/SunOS on it.  Last time I
>     Matt> checked, Linux just wasn't delivering the same level of
>     Matt> performance as Solaris when run on Sparc hardware.  This
>     Matt> was, however, on a Sparcstation 10.  Your mileage may vary
>     Matt> on more recent hardware.
> 
> 
>         You'll probably find that newer SunOS versions will perform
> better on newer hardware than Linux will.  Conversely, Linux will 
> probably do better on older hardware (IPX, IPC, SS5) than the latest
> Solaris (which can be a bit more demanding in its resource needs).

For the most part, I disagree.  Solaris is a disgusted bloated pig in
comparison to Linux (and I say that as someone who admins and likes both
;-).  From a post I made to linux-kernel last time Dave M. wanted benchmarks
on syscalls on the two:

<quote>

Script started on Tue Jun 19 17:49:30 2001
[kaboom at thing2 linux]$ ./lat_proc fork
Process fork+exit: 563.7778 microseconds
[kaboom at thing2 linux]$ ./lat_proc fork
Process fork+exit: 565.5556 microseconds
[kaboom at thing2 linux]$ ./lat_proc fork
Process fork+exit: 568.0000 microseconds
[kaboom at thing2 linux]$ exit
Script done on Tue Jun 19 17:49:46 2001

Script started on Tue 19 Jun 2001 05:51:38 PM MDT
[kaboom at thing1 solaris]$ ./lat_proc fork
Process fork+exit: 4249.5000 microseconds
[kaboom at thing1 solaris]$ ./lat_proc fork
Process fork+exit: 4212.5000 microseconds
[kaboom at thing1 solaris]$ ./lat_proc fork
Process fork+exit: 4241.0000 microseconds
[kaboom at thing1 solaris]$ exit
script done on Tue 19 Jun 2001 05:52:19 PM MDT

thing1 and thing2 are identical Sun Blade 100s.  thing1 is running Solaris 8
(04/01 release), while thing2 is running 2.4.4 (Debian/unstable).

</quote>

You see the same thing with vfork(), etc.  Syscalls are literally an order 
or two (depending on the call) of magnitude faster on Linux than on Solaris.

There are lots of good reasons why you might put Solaris on your Sun box 
instead of Linux, but speed is not one of them.

later,
chris


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