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48-643: There are two derivatives of the SuperSPARC: the SuperSPARC+ and SuperSPARC-II. The SuperSPARC+ was developed to remedy some of the design flaws that limited the SuperSPARC's clock frequency and thus performance. The SuperSPARC-II, introduced in 1994, was a major revision with improvements that enabled the microprocessor to reach 85 MHz in desktop systems and 90 MHz in the more heavily cooled SPARCserver-1000E. SuperSPARC CPU modules are used in both

96-399: A floppy disk drive. Other SCSI devices can be attached via the external SCSI port. There is no ATA disk support. There is one onboard Ethernet interface, which can be accessed from a built-in 10BASE-T jack or via a special 26-pin port that provides both AUI and audio connections; only one of these network ports can be active at a time. A special cable or adapter is needed to convert

144-484: A proprietary Unix operating system offered by Oracle for SPARC and x86-64 based workstations and servers . Originally developed by Sun Microsystems as Solaris, it superseded the company's earlier SunOS in 1993 and became known for its scalability , especially on SPARC systems, and for originating many innovative features such as DTrace , ZFS and Time Slider. After the Sun acquisition by Oracle in 2010, it

192-452: A battery-backed NVRAM module to hold data about the system, such as the host ID (serial number) and MAC address . If the battery on the chip dies, then the NVRAM module must be replaced (or modified to use an external battery), and the NVRAM must be reprogrammed with a MAC address and host ID. Optionally a M48T08-100PC1 can be used. Solaris (operating system) Oracle Solaris is

240-594: A common printing language released in 1982. The X Window System originated from MIT 's Project Athena in 1984 and allowed for the display of an application to be disconnected from the machine where the application was running, separated by a network connection. Sun's original bundled SunView application suite was ported to X. Sun later dropped support for legacy SunView applications and NeWS with OpenWindows 3.3, which shipped with Solaris 2.3, and switched to X11R5 with Display Postscript support. The graphical look and feel remained based upon OPEN LOOK . OpenWindows 3.6.2

288-490: A large layoff of Solaris development engineering staff, development continued and Solaris 11.4 was released in 2018. Solaris uses a common code base for the platforms it supports: 64-bit SPARC and x86-64 . Solaris has a reputation for being well-suited to symmetric multiprocessing , supporting a large number of CPUs . It has historically been tightly integrated with Sun's SPARC hardware (including support for 64-bit SPARC applications since Solaris 7), with which it

336-630: A member of the Common Open Software Environment (COSE) initiative, Sun helped co-develop the Common Desktop Environment (CDE). This was an initiative to create a standard Unix desktop environment. Each vendor contributed different components: Hewlett-Packard contributed the window manager , IBM provided the file manager , and Sun provided the e-mail and calendar facilities as well as drag-and-drop support ( ToolTalk ). This new desktop environment

384-515: A ship of the First Fleet to Australia ). On October 17, 2008, a prototype release of Sirius was made available and on November 19 the same year, IBM authorized the use of Sirius on System z Integrated Facility for Linux (IFL) processors. Solaris also supports the Linux platform application binary interface (ABI), allowing Solaris to run native Linux binaries on x86 systems. This feature

432-419: A support credential, thus are not freely available to the public. Early releases of Solaris used OpenWindows as the standard desktop environment. In Solaris 2.0 to 2.2, OpenWindows supported both NeWS and X applications, and provided backward compatibility for SunView applications from Sun's older desktop environment. NeWS allowed applications to be built in an object-oriented way using PostScript ,

480-471: A unified source code base. In 2011, the Solaris 11 kernel source code leaked . On September 2, 2017, Simon Phipps , a former Sun Microsystems employee not hired by Oracle in the acquisition, reported on Twitter that Oracle had laid off the Solaris core development staff, which many interpreted as sign that Oracle no longer intended to support future development of the platform. While Oracle did have

528-464: A year until the next official release comes out. The Solaris version under development by Sun since the release of Solaris 10 in 2005, was codenamed Nevada , and is derived from what is now the OpenSolaris codebase. In 2003, an addition to the Solaris development process was initiated. Under the program name Software Express for Solaris (or just Solaris Express ), a binary release based on

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576-557: Is based on GNOME and comes with a large set of applications, including StarOffice , Sun's office suite . Sun describes JDS as a "major component" of Solaris 10. The Java Desktop System is not included in Solaris 11 which instead ships with a stock version of GNOME. Likewise, CDE applications are no longer included in Solaris 11, but many libraries remain for binary backwards compatibility. The open source desktop environments KDE and Xfce , along with numerous other window managers , also compile and run on recent versions of Solaris. Sun

624-462: Is called Solaris Containers for Linux Applications (SCLA), based on the branded zones functionality introduced in Solaris 10 8/07. Solaris can be installed from various pre-packaged software groups, ranging from a minimalistic Reduced Network Support to a complete Entire Plus OEM . Installation of Solaris is not necessary for an individual to use the system. The DVD ISO image can be used to load Solaris, running in-memory, rather than initiating

672-437: Is marketed as a combined package. This has led to more reliable systems, but at a cost premium compared to commodity PC hardware. However, it has supported x86 systems since Solaris 2.1 and 64-bit x86 applications since Solaris 10, allowing Sun to capitalize on the availability of commodity 64-bit CPUs based on the x86-64 architecture. Sun heavily marketed Solaris for use with both its own x86-64-based Sun Java Workstation and

720-618: Is simple. But some cases may require quite a bit of fine-tuning. I think that Sun has put some really nice touches on Solaris 10 that make it a better operating system for both administrators and users. The security enhancements are a long time coming, but are worth the wait. Is Solaris 10 perfect, in a word no it is not. But for most uses, including a desktop OS I think Solaris 10 is a huge improvement over previous releases. We've had fun with Solaris 10. It's got virtues that we definitely admire. What it needs to compete with Linux will be easier to bring about than what it's already got. It could become

768-438: Is the platform's reliability, flexibility, and power. Be that as it may, since the Solaris 10 download is free, it behooves any IT manager to load it on an extra server and at least give it a try. Solaris 10 provides a flexible background for securely dividing system resources, providing performance guarantees and tracking usage for these containers. Creating basic containers and populating them with user applications and resources

816-593: Is used almost exclusively to refer only to the releases based on SVR4-derived SunOS 5.0 and later. For releases based on SunOS 5, the SunOS minor version is included in the Solaris release number. For example, Solaris 2.4 incorporates SunOS 5.4. After Solaris 2.6, the 2. was dropped from the release name, so Solaris 7 incorporates SunOS 5.7, and the latest release SunOS 5.11 forms the core of Solaris 11.4. Although SunSoft stated in its initial Solaris 2 press release their intent to eventually support both SPARC and x86 systems,

864-520: The SPARCstation 10 and SPARCstation 20 . The SuperSPARC-II was replaced in 1995 by the 64-bit UltraSPARC , an implementation of the 64-bit SPARC V9 ISA. This computer hardware article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . SPARCstation 10 The SPARCstation 10 (codenamed Campus-2 ) is a workstation computer made by Sun Microsystems . Announced in May 1992, it

912-738: The SPARCstation 20 , requiring a 4 MB or 8 MB VSIMM to operate. All SPARCstation 10s seem to have the VSIMM slots, a cutout in the case and solder pads for the SX's 13W3 connector. Other options include the CG6 (GX, GX+, Turbo GX and TGX+) 8-bit SBus framebuffers, capable of up to 1280×1024 resolution in 8-bit color, and the ZX (Leo). The ZX is a 24-bit card with hardware-accelerated 3D operations, offering high speeds and resolutions, however, it's poorly supported, takes up two SBus slots, and runs extremely hot. Its faster cousin,

960-517: The Intel Itanium architecture was announced in 1997 but never brought to market. On November 28, 2007, IBM , Sun, and Sine Nomine Associates demonstrated a preview of OpenSolaris for System z running on an IBM System z mainframe under z/VM , called Sirius (in analogy to the Polaris project, and also due to the primary developer's Australian nationality: HMS Sirius of 1786 was

1008-529: The OpenSolaris project, replacing SXDE. The first release of this distribution was OpenSolaris 2008.05 . The Solaris Express Community Edition (SXCE) was intended specifically for OpenSolaris developers. It was updated every two weeks until it was discontinued in January 2010, with a recommendation that users migrate to the OpenSolaris distribution. Although the download license seen when downloading

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1056-632: The Oracle Technology Network and used without a support contract indefinitely; however, the license only expressly permits the user to use Solaris as a development platform and expressly forbids commercial and "production" use. Educational use is permitted in some circumstances. From the OTN license: If You are an educational institution vested with the power to confer official high school, associate, bachelor, master and/or doctorate degrees, or local equivalent, ("Degree(s)"), You may also use

1104-469: The Oracle acquisition in 2010, the OpenSolaris distribution was discontinued and later discontinued providing public updates to the source code of the Solaris kernel, effectively turning Solaris version 11 back into a closed source proprietary operating system. Following that, OpenSolaris was forked as Illumos and is alive through several Illumos distributions . In September 2017, Oracle laid off most of

1152-762: The Programs as part of Your educational curriculum for students enrolled in Your Degree program(s) solely as required for the conferral of such Degree (collectively "Educational Use"). When Solaris is used without a support contract it can be upgraded to each new "point release"; however, a support contract is required for access to patches and updates that are released monthly. Notable features of Solaris include DTrace , Doors , Service Management Facility , Solaris Containers , Solaris Multiplexed I/O , Solaris Volume Manager , ZFS , and Solaris Trusted Extensions . Updates to Solaris versions are periodically issued. In

1200-404: The Solaris 2 FAQ. The underlying Solaris codebase has been under continuous development since work began in the late 1980s on what was eventually released as Solaris 2.0. Each version such as Solaris 10 is based on a snapshot of this development codebase, taken near the time of its release, which is then maintained as a derived project. Updates to that project are built and delivered several times

1248-423: The Solaris teams. In 1987, AT&T Corporation and Sun announced that they were collaborating on a project to merge the most popular Unix variants on the market at that time: Berkeley Software Distribution , UNIX System V , and Xenix . This became Unix System V Release 4 (SVR4). On September 4, 1991, Sun announced that it would replace its existing BSD-derived Unix, SunOS 4 , with one based on SVR4. This

1296-544: The Turbo ZX, requires a fan card, taking up all four SBus slots. Full support is only available in Solaris 2.4 through 2.6, though the 2.6 drivers can be made to work in Solaris 7, 8 and 9. Linux includes an accelerated driver for it which supports 2D acceleration features, but no 3D. NetBSD and OpenBSD support it, but without acceleration, while NeXTSTEP and OPENSTEP have no support whatsoever. The SPARCstation 10 uses

1344-782: The clock speed of the MBus (uniprocessor Models 20, 30 and 40; dual processor Model 402). Single and a few dual SuperSPARC modules with 1 MB external cache were also sold; they were independently clocked, and ran at a higher rate than the MBus, most commonly 40.3 MHz or 50 MHz (uniprocessor Models 41 and 51; multiprocessor Models 412, 512 and 514). Sun's dual 50 MHz SuperSPARC modules (the only dual MBus modules supported by Sun for this system) were double-width, physically occupying one SBus slot per module in addition to an MBus slot. SuperSPARC modules with and without external cache could not be mixed. SuperSPARC modules with external cache could be mixed, even with different clock speeds, but this

1392-550: The current development basis was made available for download on a monthly basis, allowing anyone to try out new features and test the quality and stability of the OS as it progressed to the release of the next official Solaris version. A later change to this program introduced a quarterly release model with support available, renamed Solaris Express Developer Edition (SXDE). In 2007, Sun announced Project Indiana with several goals, including providing an open source binary distribution of

1440-712: The first two Solaris 2 releases, 2.0 and 2.1, were SPARC-only. An x86 version of Solaris 2.1 was released in June 1993, about 6 months after the SPARC version, as a desktop and uniprocessor workgroup server operating system. It included the Wabi emulator to support Windows applications. At the time, Sun also offered the Interactive Unix system that it had acquired from Interactive Systems Corporation . In 1994, Sun released Solaris 2.4, supporting both SPARC and x86 systems from

1488-417: The image files indicates its use is limited to personal, educational and evaluation purposes, the license acceptance form displayed when the user actually installs from these images lists additional uses including commercial and production environments. SXCE releases terminated with build 130 and OpenSolaris releases terminated with build 134 a few weeks later. The next release of OpenSolaris based on build 134

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1536-677: The installation. Additional software, like Apache, MySQL, etc. can be installed as well in a packaged form from sunfreeware and OpenCSW . Solaris can be installed from physical media or a network for use on a desktop or server, or be used without installing on a desktop or server. There are several types of updates within each major release, including the Software Packages, and the Oracle Solaris Image. Additional minor updates called Support Repository Updates (SRUs) and Critical Patch Update Packages (CPUs), require

1584-460: The latter port to a standard DA-15 connector. There are also two Basic Rate Interface (BRI) ISDN connectors; the system shipped with plastic blocking plugs inserted in these connectors. Additional SBus network cards can also be added. Most SPARCstation 10 systems lack integrated graphics. A very few, referred to as the SPARCstation 10SX, include the SX, or CG14, framebuffer used on

1632-499: The like. The license varied only little through 2004. From 2005–10, Sun began to release the source code for development builds of Solaris under the Common Development and Distribution License (CDDL) via the OpenSolaris project. This code was based on the work being done for the post-Solaris 10 release (code-named "Nevada"; eventually released as Oracle Solaris 11). As the project progressed, it grew to encompass most of

1680-424: The necessary code to compile an entire release, with a few exceptions. When Sun was acquired by Oracle in 2010, the OpenSolaris project was discontinued after the board became unhappy with Oracle's stance on the project. In March 2010, the previously freely available Solaris 10 was placed under a restrictive license that limited the use, modification and redistribution of the operating system. The license allowed

1728-424: The past, these were named after the month and year of their release, such as "Solaris 10 1/13"; as of Solaris 11, sequential update numbers are appended to the release name with a period, such as "Oracle Solaris 11.4". In ascending order, the following versions of Solaris have been released: A more comprehensive summary of some Solaris versions is also available. Solaris releases are also described in

1776-492: The port was canceled before the Solaris 2.6 release. In January 2006, a community of developers at Blastwave began work on a PowerPC port which they named Polaris . In October 2006, an OpenSolaris community project based on the Blastwave efforts and Sun Labs' Project Pulsar , which re-integrated the relevant parts from Solaris 2.5.1 into OpenSolaris, announced its first official source code release. A port of Solaris to

1824-412: The use of the accompanying binary software in machine-readable form, together with accompanying documentation ("Software"), by the number of users and the class of computer hardware for which the corresponding fee has been paid. In addition, the license provided a "License to Develop" granting rights to create derivative works, restricted copying to only a single archival copy, disclaimer of warranties, and

1872-519: The user to download the operating system free of charge, through the Oracle Technology Network , and use it for a 90-day trial period. After that trial period had expired the user would then have to purchase a support contract from Oracle to continue using the operating system. With the release of Solaris 11 in 2011, the license terms changed again. The new license allows Solaris 10 and Solaris 11 to be downloaded free of charge from

1920-512: The x86-64 models of the Sun Ultra series workstations , and servers based on AMD Opteron and Intel Xeon processors, as well as x86 systems manufactured by companies such as Dell , Hewlett-Packard , and IBM . As of 2009 , the following vendors support Solaris for their x86 server systems: Solaris 2.5.1 included support for the PowerPC platform ( PowerPC Reference Platform ), but

1968-720: Was Sun's first desktop multiprocessor (being housed in a pizza box form factor case). It was later replaced with the SPARCstation 20 . The 40 MHz SPARCstation 10 without external cache was the reference for the SPEC CPU95 benchmark. The SPARCstation 10 (SS10) contains two MBus slots running at either 36 MHz (33 MHz for the earliest models) or 40 MHz (set via motherboard jumper). Each MBus slot can contain single or dual SPARC CPU modules, permitting expansion to up to four CPUs. Both SuperSPARC and hyperSPARC CPU modules were available. Single SuperSPARC modules without external cache were sold by Sun; they ran at

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2016-639: Was based upon the Motif look and feel and the old OPEN LOOK desktop environment was considered legacy. CDE unified Unix desktops across multiple open system vendors. CDE was available as an unbundled add-on for Solaris 2.4 and 2.5, and was included in Solaris 2.6 through 10. In 2001, Sun issued a preview release of the open-source desktop environment GNOME 1.4, based on the GTK+ toolkit, for Solaris 8. Solaris 9 8/03 introduced GNOME 2.0 as an alternative to CDE. Solaris 10 includes Sun's Java Desktop System (JDS), which

2064-546: Was due in March 2010, but it was never fully released, though the packages were made available on the package repository. Instead, Oracle renamed the binary distribution Solaris 11 Express, changed the license terms and released build 151a as 2010.11 in November 2010. All in all, Sun has stayed the course with Solaris 9. While its more user-friendly management is welcome, that probably won't be enough to win over converts. What may

2112-460: Was identified internally as SunOS 5 , but a new marketing name was introduced at the same time: Solaris 2 . The justification for this new overbrand was that it encompassed not only SunOS, but also the OpenWindows graphical user interface and Open Network Computing (ONC) functionality. Although SunOS 4.1. x micro releases were retroactively named Solaris 1 by Sun, the Solaris name

2160-450: Was investing in a new desktop environment called Project Looking Glass since 2003. The project has been inactive since late 2006. For versions up to 2005 (Solaris 9), Solaris was licensed under a license that permitted a customer to buy licenses in bulk, and install the software on any machine up to a maximum number. The key license grant was: License to Use. Customer is granted a non-exclusive and non-transferable license ("License") for

2208-682: Was not a Sun-supported configuration. Ross hyperSPARC modules were also available from third party vendors. The SS10 had reasonable cooling capacity given the cramped "pizzabox" case, but it was not designed for some of the higher-speed hyperSPARC modules, and so heat issues were common when these modules were used, particularly in four CPU configurations. The SS10 can hold a maximum of 512 MB RAM in eight 200-pin DSIMM slots. 32 MB modules are not supported, though 16 MB and 64 MB are supported. The SS10's enclosure can hold two 50-pin SCSI hard drives and

2256-535: Was renamed Oracle Solaris. Solaris was registered as compliant with the Single UNIX Specification until 29 April 2019. Historically, Solaris was developed as proprietary software . In June 2005, Sun Microsystems released most of the codebase under the CDDL license, and founded the OpenSolaris open-source project. Sun aimed to build a developer and user community with OpenSolaris; after

2304-502: Was the last release under Solaris 8. The OPEN LOOK Window Manager ( olwm ) with other OPEN LOOK specific applications were dropped in Solaris 9, but support libraries were still bundled, providing long term binary backwards compatibility with existing applications. The OPEN LOOK Virtual Window Manager (olvwm) can still be downloaded for Solaris from sunfreeware and works on releases as recent as Solaris 10. Sun and other Unix vendors created an industry alliance to standardize Unix desktops. As

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