Belenix 0.7 works, but it doesn’t find my NIC

While OpenSolaris 2008.05 refused to do just about anything on every computer I’ve tried, the OpenSolaris-based MilaX runs like the proverbial wind on most of those boxes. So I figured it was time to try BeleniX, another project that brings a GUI and live-CD environment to OpenSolaris.

Belenix didn’t boot on my VIA C3 Samuel box, but I didn’t expect that. It did boot on one of our Dell Optiplex GX520 desktops (Pentium 4, 3 GHz, 512 MB RAM).

It ran well both in KDE and Xfce modes … but.

And there is a “but.”

The OS didn’t find my Ethernet interface, and that made getting networking into the box impossible with my level of skill in Solaris (which, in case you didn’t know, is none).

The folks at Belenix say in their how-to that writing a static IP helper app is on their list of things to do.

Luckily MilaX already has one — and a good one at that. Now all MilaX needs is a few more applications, especially Firefox. It’s a sweet little system, for sure.

I should try version 0.3, in which the Netsurf browser has replaced Dillo.

And the bigger OpenSolaris-based projects would do well to look at what MilaX is doing right.

I’m not the only person less than enthralled with OpenSolaris 2008.05

Sam Varghese of iTWire finds a whole lot wrong with just about every aspect of Sun’s new, somewhat-but-not-so open desktop initiative (still dubbed in some circles Project Indiana):

Project Indiana is headed by Ian Murdock who started the Debian GNU/Linux project in 1993 and led it for three years. After leaving Debian, Murdock started another distribution called Progeny based on Debian, but that shut shop after a while. People often have the perception that if one touch turns something into gold, then it works every time. Sadly, such is not the case.

There has been some acrimony over the fact that Murdock’s project seems to have appropriated the name OpenSolaris. So much so, that one well-known participant in the OpenSolaris project, Roy Fielding of Apache HTTP Server Project fame, quit in disgust earlier this year. He had this to say, in part: “What is the point of creating the OpenSolaris Community governance if the community isn’t even allowed to decide what is called OpenSolaris? This isn’t an abstract discussion of trademarks. It is the fundamental basis for making technical decisions of any kind for the project.”

Commenting on his departure, Emily Ratliff of IBM’s Linux Technology Centre pointed out that until that point there had been 578 patches contributed to the OpenSolaris project, a rate of 0.6 patches a day. “Linus (Torvalds, the creator of the Linux kernel) gets more patches while he is brushing his teeth than OpenSolaris gets in a week. Despite Roy’s efforts to build a real community, contributing to OpenSolaris always has been and seemingly always will be, corporate welfare,” she commented.

And, she added: “For me, the realization (sic) that Sun just doesn’t get it, and never will, was crystallized (sic) the day I was turned away from an OpenSolaris Users’ Group meeting for refusing to sign an NDA.”

I have no firsthand knowledge of all the community acrimony over OpenSolaris. And I do want there to be more than one — and more than two or three — viable open-source operating systems out there, so I’m rooting big time for OpenSolaris to find its legs and really start making an impact.

Even though the current version hasn’t worked for me, I have enjoyed using MilaX and will try Belenix as soon as I’m able. And I’m game for the next rendition of OpenSolaris whenever it’s released. Hopefully Sun and its community (such as it is, or becomes) can right the ship and start making some waves out there.

OpenSolaris 2008.05 strikes out again

After being assured that my test on the Dell Optiplex GX520 didn’t work because 512 MB of RAM is usually enough but not always, I tried to boot OpenSolaris 2008.05 on my Gateway Solo 1450 — featuring a 1.3 GHz Celeron M processor and a whopping 1 GB of RAM.

I got to the console, but no GUI, no matter how hard I tried. At least on the Dell I got a GUI, albeit one I couldn’t use because the CD-ROM wouldn’t stop running.

And I even tried the official OpenSolaris CD I got in the mail. Sure it was a little scratched (what are they doing up there in Sun country, anyway?) but I tried it and one of the two I burned myself. Same results. Console only, no GUI.

Other reviewers seem to be having better luck. I think OpenSolaris is TRYING to start the X Window system, but it can’t properly do the auto-configuration.

I’m sure I could hack into xorg.conf and try to make it work, and I might just do that, but this isn’t a system that is hard to run X on. Every once in awhile I need to make an adjustment for proper resolution, but in this case I’ve got nothing.

If as they say, “OpenSolaris is what Ubuntu wants to be when it grows up,” I think we’ve got to look at conditions on the ground. My conditions are that Ubuntu works, OpenSolaris doesn’t.

Cool distro of the day: Damn Small Solaris (yes, I said Solaris)

OK, never mind the huge controversy going on about OpenSolaris. OK, I grant that the project is in turmoil, and Debian founder-turned-Sun evangelist Ian Murdock’s silence isn’t helping the matter. But I digress. I just found out about an intriguing new project out of Russia — Damn Small Solaris. Yes, it takes the Damn Small Linux concept (which is also spreading to another nascent distro, Damn Small BSD) and uses OpenSolaris as the base for a 60 MB live CD. I can’t wait to burn one and try it. Oh, I used the English page for the link above; here’s the Russian page for those who can read it.

Again, thanks go to Ladislav and his crew at Distrowatch, where I find out just about everything.

OpenSolaris’s Indiana is serious about memory

OpenSolaris’ new Indiana OS now has a live CD. It boots with GRUB and features the GNOME desktop, yet it’s neither Linux nor BSD … it’s OpenSolaris, in case you’ve forgotten over the past few words.

Under requirements, it says 512 MB of RAM minimum, with this caveat: This minimum has not been tested extensively yet.

Well, I can tell you that with 256 MB of RAM, the system detects that and will not go forward with the booting process.

I will try it on a 512 MB box and report back.