[ale] Linux and Sun

[David Brooks]

 > You *can* run linux on a sparc, but you'll get better performance running 
> Solaris/SunOS on it.  

I disagree.  I ran Linux (Debian, RedHat for awhile) on a Sparcstation 4
that I have (forsale, btw) and it ran circles around Solaris on the same
platform.  I don't know how far this will scale up to the newer
hardware, but from what I've seen, Linux will outdo Solaris on the older
stuff from Sun (sun4m, some sun4u - sun4c too, if you're crazy enough to
actually try and run anything on a sun4c-based machine).  Right now I
run OpenBSD on my sparc, and it works like a charm.  The machine is a
110Mhz, yet its still pretty snappy.

I think there are only a few Linux distros out there that support sparc
hardware (even less that support 64-bit sparc hardware).  Debian
supports all of them.  RedHat did support all of them, but they
discontinued their sparc port with 6.2 due to lack of usage.  I think
Mandrake and Suse have ports too, but I cant be sure.  And if you're
really brave, Slackware does as well.

Honestly I like OpenBSD on my sparc better than I did any of the Linux
ports.

Hope this helps.

-Dave

Last time I checked, Linux just wasn't delivering 
> the same level of performance as Solaris when run on Sparc hardware.  This 
> was, however, on a Sparcstation 10.  Your mileage may vary on more recent 
> hardware.
> 
> -Matt Balaun
> 
> 
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david a. brooks
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