Linux for sparc? - comp.sys.sun.admin

greetings, i looked around, and it seems to me that there are some versions of Linux on sparc around, but they're pretty old. can anybody tell me which, if any of the Linuxes are current on sparc, or, more to the point, if they think that will continue? j. -- Jay Scott 512-835-3553 gl@arlut.utexas.edu Head of Sun Support, Sr. Operating Systems Specialist Applied Research Labs, Computer Science Div. S224 University of Texas at Austin

On Tue, 17 May 2005, Jay G. Scott wrote: > i looked around, and it seems to me that there are some versions of > Linux on sparc around, but they're pretty old. can anybody tell > me which, if any of the Linuxes are current on sparc, or, > more to the point, if they think that will continue? I'm not a Linux user, so I could be wrong, but I think Splack Linux ios fairly current. But apart from hack value, I have to ask: what's the point of running Linux on SPARC? -- Rich Teer, SCNA, SCSA, OpenSolaris CAB member President, Rite Online Inc. Voice: +1 (250) 979-1638 URL: http://www.rite-group.com/rich

In article <Pine.SOL.4.58.0505170941220.7871@zen.rite-group.com>, Rich Teer <rich.teer@rite-group.com> wrote: >On Tue, 17 May 2005, Jay G. Scott wrote: > >> i looked around, and it seems to me that there are some versions of >> Linux on sparc around, but they're pretty old. can anybody tell >> me which, if any of the Linuxes are current on sparc, or, >> more to the point, if they think that will continue? > >I'm not a Linux user, so I could be wrong, but I think Splack >Linux ios fairly current. saw that, couldn't make up my mind. > >But apart from hack value, I have to ask: what's the point of >running Linux on SPARC? ahem. the Labview vendor doesn't want to supply labview on solaris any more. but, you know what, that probably means they're only going to compile the thing on linux on x86. and, of course, we can't get the source, so.... i think this means new machines. huh. glad you asked that. it made me think. j. > >-- >Rich Teer, SCNA, SCSA, OpenSolaris CAB member > >President, >Rite Online Inc. > >Voice: +1 (250) 979-1638 >URL: http://www.rite-group.com/rich -- Jay Scott 512-835-3553 gl@arlut.utexas.edu Head of Sun Support, Sr. Operating Systems Specialist Applied Research Labs, Computer Science Div. S224 University of Texas at Austin

Le Tue, 17 May 2005 16:03:28 +0000, Jay G. Scott a �crit�: > more to the point, if they > think that will continue? Debian is current on Sparc and runs fine. -- Toutes les organisations ont leur r�gles, et les Femmes Alg�riennes doivent avoir aussi leurs r�gles. A�t Ahmed.

On Tue, 17 May 2005, Jay G. Scott wrote: > ahem. the Labview vendor doesn't want to supply labview > on solaris any more. More fool them, especially when the trend seems to be for MORE vendors to be supporting Solaris, especially on x86... > but, you know what, that probably means they're only going to > compile the thing on linux on x86. and, of course, we can't Right. In any meaningful commercial space, "Linux" in reality means "Linux on x86". The fact that it runs on many other processors is neither here nor there. > i think this means new machines. huh. glad you asked that. > it made me think. Sun v20z or v40z; whee! -- Rich Teer, SCNA, SCSA, OpenSolaris CAB member President, Rite Online Inc. Voice: +1 (250) 979-1638 URL: http://www.rite-group.com/rich

mandrake has sparc relases... take a look rob Jay G. Scott ha scritto: > greetings, > > i looked around, and it seems to me that there are some versions of > Linux on sparc around, but they're pretty old. can anybody tell > me which, if any of the Linuxes are current on sparc, or, > more to the point, if they think that will continue? > > j. > -- > Jay Scott 512-835-3553 gl@arlut.utexas.edu > Head of Sun Support, Sr. Operating Systems Specialist > Applied Research Labs, Computer Science Div. S224 > University of Texas at Austin

Rich Teer wrote: > On Tue, 17 May 2005, Jay G. Scott wrote: > > >>ahem. the Labview vendor doesn't want to supply labview >>on solaris any more. Who is your Labview vendor? Labview is written by National Instruments and the current version is still available on SPARC http://sine.ni.com/nips/cds/view/p/lang/en/nid/2456 The system requirements: http://www.ni.com/labview/requirements show the Linux version needs at least a Pentium III/Celeron 600 MHz or equivalent, so I'm not sure how installing Linux on your SPARC will help in the least.

Jay G. Scott wrote: > ahem. the Labview vendor doesn't want to supply labview > on solaris any more. > > but, you know what, that probably means they're only going to > compile the thing on linux on x86. and, of course, we can't > get the source, so.... > > i think this means new machines. huh. glad you asked that. > it made me think. > > j. I posted this below Rich's comments, which was the wrong thing to do (not sure what I was thinking). Anyway, Who is your Labview vendor? Labview is written by National Instruments and the current version is still available on SPARC http://sine.ni.com/nips/cds/view/p/lang/en/nid/2456 The system requirements: http://www.ni.com/labview/requirements show the Linux version needs at least a Pentium III/Celeron 600 MHz or equivalent, so I'm not sure how installing Linux on your SPARC will help in the least. The SPARC verison needs at least 500MHz, so perhaps my U80 will struggle a bit.

I'm running Debian on a SparcStation 5 with a 500mb hard disk and 224mb of RAM. Granted I can run SSH just fine, and even twm under X, but don't expect it to jump through hoops if you're on old hardware. To answer your question more directly, although there have been reports, namly on slashdot, of Debian loosing funding and having an uncertain future, I couldn't imagine such a staple of Linux simply falling off of the map.

"Jay G. Scott" wrote: > > greetings, > > i looked around, and it seems to me that there are some versions of > Linux on sparc around, but they're pretty old. can anybody tell > me which, if any of the Linuxes are current on sparc, or, > more to the point, if they think that will continue? > > j. > -- > Jay Scott 512-835-3553 gl@arlut.utexas.edu > Head of Sun Support, Sr. Operating Systems Specialist > Applied Research Labs, Computer Science Div. S224 > University of Texas at Austin Gentoo Linux has a SPARC port (www.gentoo.org). It's a build-from-scratch Linux system which can get much more extensive than a plain cdrom install. It's a very cool project if you've got the time. I do believe there's a stock-install release, too, for the less patient.

crozewski@gmail.com wrote: > I'm running Debian on a SparcStation 5 with a 500mb hard disk and 224mb > of RAM. Granted I can run SSH just fine, and even twm under X, but > don't expect it to jump through hoops if you're on old hardware. > To answer your question more directly, although there have been > reports, namly on slashdot, of Debian loosing funding and having an > uncertain future, I couldn't imagine such a staple of Linux simply > falling off of the map. Debian never had proper funding. I don't think funding is that essential to Debian. It's a volunteer project that made possible from people's donations of their time, servers, bandwidth, etc. Besides, I wouldn't trust Slashdot headlines without confirming the information myself. They were known to spread FUD about some Linux distributions (intentionally or unintentionally..) in the past. If you want to use Debian, remember that the current version is kind of outdated (it is being maintained but some essential packages are very old). -akop

Akop Pogosian <akopps+usenet@ocf.berkeley.edu.remuvthis.com> writes: > Debian never had proper funding. I don't think funding is that > essential to Debian. It's a volunteer project that made possible from > people's donations of their time, servers, bandwidth, etc. Besides, I > wouldn't trust Slashdot headlines without confirming the information > myself. They were known to spread FUD about some Linux distributions > (intentionally or unintentionally..) in the past. If you want to use > Debian, remember that the current version is kind of outdated (it is > being maintained but some essential packages are very old). Well, sarge is in freezing phase now (at last!) and should be released real soon (for a debian definition of "soon"). And it's certainly more up to date than woody is. However, I have never run Linux on SPARC, so can't comment on their SPARC distribution (but I am quite happy with a x86 one). Dragan -- Dragan Cvetkovic, To be or not to be is true. G. Boole No it isn't. L. E. J. Brouwer !!! Sender/From address is bogus. Use reply-to one !!!

On Wed, 18 May 2005 12:39:43 -0400, Dragan Cvetkovic <me@privacy.net>, in <lmvf5gtrn4.fsf@privacy.net> wrote: >+ However, I have never run Linux on SPARC, so can't comment on their SPARC >+ distribution (but I am quite happy with a x86 one). It feels about the same. Oh, there are some differences in boot loader, but beyond the variance at the hardware level, it's about the same. James -- Consulting Minister for Consultants, DNRC I can please only one person per day. Today is not your day. Tomorrow isn't looking good, either. I am BOFH. Resistance is futile. Your network will be assimilated.

hfrarg@nttvr2x3.pbgfr.arg (I R A Darth Aggie) writes: > On Wed, 18 May 2005 12:39:43 -0400, > Dragan Cvetkovic <me@privacy.net>, in > <lmvf5gtrn4.fsf@privacy.net> wrote: > >>+ However, I have never run Linux on SPARC, so can't comment on their SPARC >>+ distribution (but I am quite happy with a x86 one). > > It feels about the same. Oh, there are some differences in boot > loader, but beyond the variance at the hardware level, it's about the > same. Useful to know. Thanks. Dragan -- Dragan Cvetkovic, To be or not to be is true. G. Boole No it isn't. L. E. J. Brouwer !!! Sender/From address is bogus. Use reply-to one !!!

In article <428a847f@212.67.96.135>, Dave <nospam@nowhere.com> wrote: >Jay G. Scott wrote: > >> ahem. the Labview vendor doesn't want to supply labview >> on solaris any more. >> >> but, you know what, that probably means they're only going to >> compile the thing on linux on x86. and, of course, we can't >> get the source, so.... >> >> i think this means new machines. huh. glad you asked that. >> it made me think. >> >> j. > >I posted this below Rich's comments, which was the wrong thing to do >(not sure what I was thinking). Anyway, > >Who is your Labview vendor? > >Labview is written by National Instruments and the current version is >still available on SPARC right. and the story i got was that this would not continue into the future. if that's not the case, then.... uh, i'm out of the loop. whether somebody is manueveriing my user, or what, i dunno. j. > >http://sine.ni.com/nips/cds/view/p/lang/en/nid/2456 > >The system requirements: > >http://www.ni.com/labview/requirements > >show the Linux version needs at least a Pentium III/Celeron 600 MHz or >equivalent, so I'm not sure how installing Linux on your SPARC will help >in the least. > >The SPARC verison needs at least 500MHz, so perhaps my U80 will struggle >a bit. > > -- Jay Scott 512-835-3553 gl@arlut.utexas.edu Head of Sun Support, Sr. Operating Systems Specialist Applied Research Labs, Computer Science Div. S224 University of Texas at Austin

radrob <rob.fsck@gmail.com> wrote: > mandrake has sparc relases... But isn't that quite old? Last time I checked, it was at 7.1beta (compared to the current release 10.2 on x86) - is there a newer one? And for completeness: Aurora Sparc Linux http://auroralinux.org/ Current release on CD is 1.0 (based on Red Hat Linux 7.3), but with a bit of work you can upgrade to 1.92, which is Fedora Core 2 based (but has no CD installer). Development is slow, though, due to limited ressources. Cheerio, Thomas -- ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Thomas Ribbrock http://www.ribbrock.org "You have to live on the edge of reality - to make your dreams come true!"