I am in a very confused state. I just started my course at university (Physics with Computational Physics) and we are being taught Fortran (to begin with) on (from what i can see) sunrays running unix ummm... Common Desktop Environment (theres a choice at the login thing) . It had windows and stuff aswell as a terminal window. Also, I think i saw the word Solaris somewhere too. Now, I want to run the nearest equivalent on my pc back in my halls of residence. Now - which set of packages, unix/linux whatever should I download (one of the free ones). I really am a newbie here, but I want to turn my unending enthusiasm for learning towards being able to use the same thing back at my home than in my classes.

The OS you were using would be Solaris with CDE being the Window Manager and Desktop Environment.

Solaris once was (and possibly still is, I''m not sure anymore) available for x86, if you''re willing to buy a copy (or maybe your school can help you out with that). Otherwise go with a Linux distro. or FreeBSD.

CDE is avilable for Linux, but it might only be available commercially (someone correct me if I''m wrong). It looks somewhat like XFce (which is freely available) from what I''ve seen.

quote: Original post by Xgkkp
I am in a very confused state. I just started my course at university (Physics with Computational Physics) and we are being taught Fortran (to begin with) on (from what i can see) sunrays running unix ummm... Common Desktop Environment (theres a choice at the login thing) . It had windows and stuff aswell as a terminal window. Also, I think i saw the word Solaris somewhere too.

Now, I want to run the nearest equivalent on my pc back in my halls of residence.

Now - which set of packages, unix/linux whatever should I download (one of the free ones).

I really am a newbie here, but I want to turn my unending enthusiasm for learning towards being able to use the same thing back at my home than in my classes.

In some ways, FreeBSD would be the closest to Solaris even though it''s really different. If you want to get Solaris 9 for X86, tough luck, it''s not availlable. So your best choice remains FreeBSD. IMHO. Oh btw, don''t say the word windows or M$haft will sue you for saying it( I''m being sarcastic of course )... As for CDE, you can get it by doing a search on the net. As for your home system being as close as possible to Solaris, sorry to say that It''s not possible. You will probably have to recompile your code on solaris once you''ve written it on FreeBSD since the 2 are a bit different....



[Cyberdrek | the last true sorcerer | Spirit Mage - mutedfaith.com]

You can buy Solaris 8 for x86. It only cost $45, and you can get it from http://wwws.sun.com/software/solaris/binaries/get.html. If I''m not wrong, you can also download it from the same web page.

Looking at that sun site thing, it seems that there are some free downloads of it that you do not have to pay for ?!?!

Also, I really do not want to pay, I just want to use it for doing homework and things without having to walk along to the unix room (or connecting to the internet to telnet onto the unix server), so I am limited to free downloads.

Also, does anyone know of any web site that gives guides and stuff or something? for absolute no-clue- beginners?

quote:
for your home system being as close as possible to Solaris, sorry to say that It''s not possible

By definition, as close as possible is not exactly the same. just as close as possible. If there was no unix/linux thigns available for pc, then I guess as close as possible would be windows.... It'';s perfectly possible to be as close as possible.

If I were you (and I was in your position once), I would get either Mandrake or Red Hat. I haven''t tried Red Hat recently, but I hear that their install has gotten better, so I can''t really give you any advice on Red Hat, other than saying it''s the most popular linux distrobution. I can speak about Mandrake though, and I think that for someone who has never installed linux, that it''s install is about as easy as they come, and I haven''t really had any problems with drivers or hardware that you might run into with some lesser known linux distros. For example, I installed Slackware recently, and I was never able to get my resolution past 640x480. Eventually I fiddled with the graphics settings enough to lock myself out of xwindows completely So I was left with working from the command line, and that didn''t last long. I installed Mandrake after the recommendation from my unix professor, and I haven''t had any problems with it, and with the exception of installing video drivers (which you''ll have to do in any OS, unless you like 640x480), I haven''t had any problems or hassles. For someone who is new, you want the process to be as painless as possible, because even with a "user friendly" linux like Mandrake, you''re still probably going to be confused and feel unsure of what you''re doing at first.

We also use Solaris at school, and I use Mandrake at home, and I ssh into the school server all the time (ssh is a secure version of telnet, basically). Technically there are differences between solaris, mandrake, red hat, freebsd, etc., but as far as you are concerned, being a new guy, you probably won''t be able to tell a difference as far as using unix vs. linux vs. bsd. The basic operations are the same. ls lists the files, cd changes directories, and so on.

I''d recommend getting one that''s easy to install, and take the plunge, ask questions, use it for a while, get used to it, and eventually you''ll be comfortable enough and know enough to start looking into other more "expert friendly" versions.

Anyway, that''s my two cents...good luck!

Russell

quote: Original post by Xgkkp
I am in a very confused state. I just started my course at university (Physics with Computational Physics) and we are being taught Fortran (to begin with) on (from what i can see) sunrays running unix ummm... Common Desktop Environment (theres a choice at the login thing) . It had windows and stuff aswell as a terminal window. Also, I think i saw the word Solaris somewhere too.

Now, I want to run the nearest equivalent on my pc back in my halls of residence.

Now - which set of packages, unix/linux whatever should I download (one of the free ones).

I really am a newbie here, but I want to turn my unending enthusiasm for learning towards being able to use the same thing back at my home than in my classes.

If I get your post right, you want to have something similar to CDE and fortran compiler.

First ask if someone your class have linux /BSD installed for same thing. If some one has ask if he could help you to install it also.
If not , easies way would be install mandrake linux. Then you can use XFCE which looks like CDE and
fortran compiler. Both are included in mandrake.

quote: Original post by roka-tarat
You can buy Solaris 8 for x86. It only cost $45, and you can get it from http://wwws.sun.com/software/solaris/binaries/get.html. If I''m not wrong, you can also download it from the same web page.

I stand corrected... Thanks dude...



[Cyberdrek | the last true sorcerer | Spirit Mage - mutedfaith.com]

Just a personal note, I too am doing physics with computation

quote: Original post by CmndrM
Just a personal note, I too am doing physics with computation

You use computations with your physics? Man, that is lame.
j/k B-)


As far as distros go, Mandrake 9 is apparantly really easy. My roommate is checking to see how long he can go without using the command line, since KDE 3 and Mandrake integration is apparantly really nice.

Of course, if you asked him to compile the kernel, he won''t touch it. He doesn''t like working under the hood of anything. He just prefers to work with higher level things, like a GUI and such.

If you really want to learn about your OS though, I would suggest going working with the command line until you feel that you understand it enough that you won''t wonder what the GUI is doing for you behind the scenes.
I like Debian because it is a very basic install and I know almost exactly what is running on my system (I have to actively install something rather than have everything installed from the getgo) and so if something goes wrong, it isn''t that hard to track down what it is.

Er, basically I find that working with the bare minimum quickly shows you what you need to know about the base system since that is all you have to work with. My roommate will not learn about his OS as much as I already know about my Debian box. He still teaches me a few things that I never heard of, but I have apt-get moo. B-)