Uploaded June 2021 | Updated September 2026, 1 hour ago
Today, we're exploring Sun Solaris 7 for SPARC on an emulated SPARCStation 5. Solaris is an operating system with a very interesting history to say the least, and many of the innovations that we find today in modern Linux can, or was at least inspired by from Solaris. Sun Microsystems, as a whole, was a massive influence on the UNIX and UNIX-like ecosystem through the 90s, and remained a relevant player right up until it's purchase by Oracle in 20100.
My socials:
Patreon: patreon.com/ncommander
Twitter: twitter.com/FOSSfirefighter
Discord: discord.gg/V8esNah
Blog: https://casadevall.pro
VirtuallyFun Article on Sun disk partitioning: virtuallyfun.com/wordpress/2010/10/03/formatting-disks-for-solaris
TGCWare: jupiterrise.com/tgcware/tgcware.solaris.html
In this "NCommander's Season of Suffering", I unbox Sun Solaris, struggle with QEMU for awhile, then run through the original installation process before trying the very quirky web start installer, which involves installing an operating system with a Java Applet. Yes, an applet, you heard that correctly. After running both installers, we logged into the system for the first time, explored the strange history of Solaris's /export/home folder, with a brief interlude at NIS
After which, it was time to dive into the two other CDs, which were Sun Workshop 5, which I couldn't properly install due to DRM. That isn't that big of a loss, since it gave me an excuse to futz with GCC, get lost in a rathole, compile NetHack, and then carry of.
After coming back to air, I took a quick dive into Solaris SyMON, which was a system monitoring tool which def. left a bit more to be desired. After feeling the true disappointment, I continued on my journey through the Solaris system, making stops with XFrame for UNIX, as well as WordPerfect for UNIX. Finally, after a long discussion about Solaris as a platform, I discuss illumos, before suddenly springing Internet Explorer for Unix on you all! And yes, that was a threat to bring that back with Unity.
Chapter Marks:
00:00 - Intro
00:58 - Unboxing Solaris 7 and Machine Setup
02:50 - Networking and Hard Drive Problems
06:00 - Solaris Interactive Installer
08:14 - Installing Solaris with a Java Applet (Web Start)
10:45 - First login
12:20 - Explaining /export/home, NIS, and NFS
15:15 - Sun Workshop 5, tgcware, and GCC
18:45 - SyMON
20:45 - Solaris as Platform
22:50 - Closing Thoughts
Music Provided By Epidemic Sound:
- Deviation In Time - Johannes Bornlof
- Diamonds in the Sky - Yi Nantiro
- Puzzle Of Complexity - Jo Wandrini
- Incomplete - Gavin Luke
- Broken Pieces - Gavin Luke
- Progressive Progress - Howard Harper-Barnes
- In the Aftermath - Michael Rothery
- Valiant - Dream Cave
- Night City Movement - Farrell Wooten
- Prescient - Howard Harper-Barnes
- All That You Will Be - Gavin Luke
#Sun #Solaris #SPARC
Today, we're exploring Sun Solaris 7 for SPARC on an emulated SPARCStation 5. Solaris is an operating system with a very interesting history to say the least, and many of the innovations that we find today in modern Linux can, or was at least inspired by from Solaris. Sun Microsystems, as a whole, was a massive influence on the UNIX and UNIX-like ecosystem through the 90s, and remained a relevant player right up until it's purchase by Oracle in 20100.
My socials:
Patreon: patreon.com/ncommander
Twitter: twitter.com/FOSSfirefighter
Discord: discord.gg/V8esNah
Blog: https://casadevall.pro
VirtuallyFun Article on Sun disk partitioning: virtuallyfun.com/wordpress/2010/10/03/formatting-disks-for-solaris
TGCWare: jupiterrise.com/tgcware/tgcware.solaris.html
In this "NCommander's Season of Suffering", I unbox Sun Solaris, struggle with QEMU for awhile, then run through the original installation process before trying the very quirky web start installer, which involves installing an operating system with a Java Applet. Yes, an applet, you heard that correctly. After running both installers, we logged into the system for the first time, explored the strange history of Solaris's /export/home folder, with a brief interlude at NIS
After which, it was time to dive into the two other CDs, which were Sun Workshop 5, which I couldn't properly install due to DRM. That isn't that big of a loss, since it gave me an excuse to futz with GCC, get lost in a rathole, compile NetHack, and then carry of.
After coming back to air, I took a quick dive into Solaris SyMON, which was a system monitoring tool which def. left a bit more to be desired. After feeling the true disappointment, I continued on my journey through the Solaris system, making stops with XFrame for UNIX, as well as WordPerfect for UNIX. Finally, after a long discussion about Solaris as a platform, I discuss illumos, before suddenly springing Internet Explorer for Unix on you all! And yes, that was a threat to bring that back with Unity.
Chapter Marks:
00:00 - Intro
00:58 - Unboxing Solaris 7 and Machine Setup
02:50 - Networking and Hard Drive Problems
06:00 - Solaris Interactive Installer
08:14 - Installing Solaris with a Java Applet (Web Start)
10:45 - First login
12:20 - Explaining /export/home, NIS, and NFS
15:15 - Sun Workshop 5, tgcware, and GCC
18:45 - SyMON
20:45 - Solaris as Platform
22:50 - Closing Thoughts
Music Provided By Epidemic Sound:
- Deviation In Time - Johannes Bornlof
- Diamonds in the Sky - Yi Nantiro
- Puzzle Of Complexity - Jo Wandrini
- Incomplete - Gavin Luke
- Broken Pieces - Gavin Luke
- Progressive Progress - Howard Harper-Barnes
- In the Aftermath - Michael Rothery
- Valiant - Dream Cave
- Night City Movement - Farrell Wooten
- Prescient - Howard Harper-Barnes
- All That You Will Be - Gavin Luke
#Sun #Solaris #SPARC
