Hardware Concern

[Jeff Goldrich]

Is there any work on expanding the base hardware (motherboards, chipsets)
that OI can operate on? Most modern OS's can be successfully installed on
sandybridge processors and chip sets. Can we expect compatibility in a
timely manor or will be forever using older systems? This can be a barrier
to entry in the foreseeable future.

[Erik Trimble]

Post by Jeff Goldrich
Is there any work on expanding the base hardware (motherboards,
chipsets) that OI can operate on? Most modern OS's can be successfully
installed on sandybridge processors and chip sets. Can we expect
compatibility in a timely manor or will be forever using older
systems? This can be a barrier to entry in the foreseeable future.

As always, there is work to be done with catching up with the latest
hardware revs, particularly since vendors are generally pretty poor
about helping anything but Windows and Linux.

That said, I've noticed that IllumOS & Solaris are reasonably good about
supporting a core list of recent hardware - that is, it generally keeps
up with a subset of the current generation reasonably well, but if
you're expecting it to run across even a large fraction of the available
PC hardware, then that's never going to happen. More to the point, if
you expect it to run on *your* particular batch of hardware, then, well,
good luck with that. If, on the other hand, you've looked at the
currently-supported list for IllumOS, you'll find support for very
late-generation equipment, just in a more limited selection. So, look
before you leap.

Personally, I'm fine with that. IllumOS is never going to be able to
attract the developer base that Linux or Windows has, and I think it's
entirely reasonable to focus on getting a couple of working things in
each generation, rather than worry about having a very broad coverage
(so long, of course, as the "supported" hardware is relatively easy to
obtain).

IllumOS and Solaris currently run on several current-generation
SandyBridge CPUs and chipsets. Taking advantage of the on-chip graphics
in a SB system is another story, however.

[Brandon High]

Post by Jeff Goldrich
Is there any work on expanding the base hardware (motherboards, chipsets)
that OI can operate on? Most modern OS's can be successfully installed on
sandybridge processors and chip sets. Can we expect compatibility in a
timely manor or will be forever using older systems? This can be a barrier
to entry in the foreseeable future.

Oracle is primarily concerned with making sure that Solaris will support the
hardware that they are selling. Sometimes you can buy a system or components
from other vendors use which the same components as well.

Illumos will hopefully be better about adding more hardware support.

-B