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OpenIndiana Illumos Distro

openindiana.org

21–30 of 42 posts

Re: OpenIndiana Illumos Distro

#23
post #7
post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oxide Computer uses it, I think https://oxide.computer/

Their distribution is called Helios and is based on OmniOS. I think they were supposed to make it more suitable for consumer use / home install at some point - the package repository is public if you want to try to cobble it together on your own.

Actually several docs in their repositories point to https://github.com/oxidecomputer/helios which... doesn't exist??

It does seem derived (rather than based) from OmniOS indeed, so little to do with OpenIndiana (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33341193)

Re: OpenIndiana Illumos Distro

#24

Serious question, I thought OpenIndiana was dead? I've tried OmniOS, saw that it had a massive memory leak in the base install, and determined it wasn't for me. Is there any good alternative of Solaris lineage left? (That doesn't involve selling your soul to Oracle.)

I don't think any mainstream OS ever dies - instead, they often enter the hobbyist realm. Amiga OS and VMS are still actively developed this purpose (just not something you'd use in production). I imagine it's the same for OpenIndiana as Solaris had a large user base back in the day.

OpenVMS[0] is very much primarily a commercial product that people use in production. The hobbyist program is secondary to that.

[0]: https://vmssoftware.com

Re: OpenIndiana Illumos Distro

#25
post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's an effort to support it: https://dlc.openindiana.aurora-opencloud.org/SPARC/ I think it doesn't have much support because the majority of SPARC gear out there runs better with SunOS. Solaris was a big jump up in processing requirements.

Ignoring 20 years of sparc hardware produced after the last sunos release.

Oracle doesn’t help much IIRC. SPARC seems to be a dead-end hardware-wise.

A real shame IMHO.

Re: OpenIndiana Illumos Distro

#26
post #23
post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Their distribution is called Helios and is based on OmniOS. I think they were supposed to make it more suitable for consumer use / home install at some point - the package repository is public if you want to try to cobble it together on your own.

Actually several docs in their repositories point to https://github.com/oxidecomputer/helios which... doesn't exist?? It does seem derived (rather than based) from OmniOS indeed, so little to do with OpenIndiana ( https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33341193 )

It's still private. I believe this is a case of "just gotta open it," but that takes some work (and I am not sure, I don't know all the details yet, I could be wrong). I have it on my to-do list to try and investigate this and get it done sometime soon, we'll see.

Re: OpenIndiana Illumos Distro

#27
post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ignoring 20 years of sparc hardware produced after the last sunos release.

Oracle doesn’t help much IIRC. SPARC seems to be a dead-end hardware-wise. A real shame IMHO.

The improvements regarding memory tagging, the first UNIX architecture to ship memory tagging in production for years, has been done under Oracle management.

Re: OpenIndiana Illumos Distro

#28
post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Actually several docs in their repositories point to https://github.com/oxidecomputer/helios which... doesn't exist?? It does seem derived (rather than based) from OmniOS indeed, so little to do with OpenIndiana ( https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33341193 )

It's still private. I believe this is a case of "just gotta open it," but that takes some work (and I am not sure, I don't know all the details yet, I could be wrong). I have it on my to-do list to try and investigate this and get it done sometime soon, we'll see.

Hmm ok thanks!!

Yes I think a lot of people are very curious to get a peek, especially if they can't afford an actual oxide ;)

Re: OpenIndiana Illumos Distro

#30
post #27
post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oracle doesn’t help much IIRC. SPARC seems to be a dead-end hardware-wise. A real shame IMHO.

The improvements regarding memory tagging, the first UNIX architecture to ship memory tagging in production for years, has been done under Oracle management.

Will they keep the architecture going forward with new chips?
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