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KC2UGV
04-15-2011, 02:19 PM
Which OS is the most UNIX-y? I got the actual UNIX's out there (AIX, Solaris, etc), but of the Free Options (Or, at the least, options you can buy for a workstation), what's out there closest to UNIX? NetBSD? Free BSD?

WØTKX
04-15-2011, 02:33 PM
Old Redhat Kernel, no x-windows. Brute force.

We run that as "lane controllers" at work, think process control. Small mods to the kernel.

Bothers the crap out of everybody in my department, except for me.

I usually have a "cmd" window open in Win7 as well. Command line rocks.


Seriously, I will be rebuilding my older shack computer into a 'Nix server soon, and it will probably be Ubuntu 64 bit, as that distro seems to be the best 64 bit one for multimedia. But I'm having too much fun horsing around with the Flex on Win 7, working on remote Internet access to my station.

But hell, I used to support Apple Lisa on Xenix, to run circles around CP/M-86 multiuser boxes. And the AT&T 3B5's. SCO Unix back then. But Winders work was more available, so I became an NT server wonk. Frustrating compared to what 'Nix could do. MS server products are much better now.

KC2UGV
04-15-2011, 02:49 PM
See, I was going to put together a Solaris 11 machine, but it appears that Oracle is phasing out workstations... I'd love to get a AIX machine going, but no x86 support :(

Maybe I'll just stick with Ubuntu, or CentOS...

WØTKX
04-15-2011, 02:57 PM
I have a Power Mac clone that currently boots up Beos.

Just to be weird. Don't use it much tho. :lol:

W4GPL
04-15-2011, 04:13 PM
See, I was going to put together a Solaris 11 machine, but it appears that Oracle is phasing out workstations... I'd love to get a AIX machine going, but no x86 support :(

Maybe I'll just stick with Ubuntu, or CentOS...Yeah, I was going to say OpenSolaris, but they discontinued that too.. I was the admin of an HP/UX box that did a bunch of EPR stuff and I'm hard pressed to think of anything "Unix-y" like that for the x86. FWIW, the first thing I did to the HP/UX machine was put the more modern tools on there. ;) Bash, coreutils, etc..

WØTKX
04-15-2011, 04:25 PM
I like HP/UX a lot. Was always better than Solaris for engineering workstations in my experience.

The Silicon Graphics workstations were pretty hot stuff for a while too.

NQ6U
04-15-2011, 06:44 PM
Old Redhat Kernel, no x-windows. Brute force.

That's the first Linux I ever used; however Linux is not Unix. It's a Unix-like OS. That's not meant as an insult, only a description. If you're looking for real—i.e. POSIX compliant—Unix, your best bets are FreeBSD or NetBSD, probably in that order.

Of course, you can always run a Mac with OS X and use the Terminal app CLI. Believe it or not, OS X is fully POSIX compliant.

WØTKX
04-15-2011, 06:57 PM
Yea, and Apple uses that interesting Mach kernel. OS X is a pretty decent OS.

I may still get a modern Mac, but I'd like to find a used one that has a bunch of cool (and legal) software on it. My last "true" Mac was a IIfx. With a 21" Seiko monitor and the hottest Radius video card available. Pretty nice back then.

I messed around with Next Workstations a little, they were interesting.

NQ6U
04-15-2011, 07:24 PM
Yea, and Apple uses that interesting Mach kernel. OS X is a pretty decent OS.

I may still get a modern Mac, but I'd like to find a used one that has a bunch of cool (and legal) software on it. My last "true" Mac was a IIfx. With a 21" Seiko monitor and the hottest Radius video card available. Pretty nice back then.

Yeah, the IIfx was a hotrod in it's day—a fast, fast 40MHz Motorola 68030 processor! Woo-hoo! That was stylin' in 1990, though, and easily the fastest Mac made before the advent of the PowerPC.


I messed around with Next Workstations a little, they were interesting.

As I'm sure you know, OS X is a worked-over version of the NeXT OS.

WØTKX
04-15-2011, 07:28 PM
Same kernel too, yessir.

KG4CGC
04-16-2011, 12:16 AM
XBOX

WØTKX
04-16-2011, 01:37 PM
http://www.thefunnyblog.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/xbox_360_cat_2.jpg

KG4CGC
04-16-2011, 01:41 PM
awww, cyoot kitteh!

NQ6U
04-16-2011, 01:44 PM
awww, cyoot kitteh!

A Scottish Fold. Neat cats. Check out YouTube for "Maru" videos some time.

KC2UGV
04-16-2011, 08:22 PM
That's the first Linux I ever used; however Linux is not Unix. It's a Unix-like OS. That's not meant as an insult, only a description. If you're looking for real—i.e. POSIX compliant—Unix, your best bets are FreeBSD or NetBSD, probably in that order.

Of course, you can always run a Mac with OS X and use the Terminal app CLI. Believe it or not, OS X is fully POSIX compliant.

Technically, The BSD's aren't UNIX either (No certification mark, however, they are genetically UNIX). I'm thinking I'm going down that path (The BSD's) or Mac OS (Which is a certificated UNIX).

n6hcm
04-18-2011, 06:57 PM
that all depends on what you mean by UNIX. for the first ten years of my career BSD was the way to go (so i would have chosen a NetBSD or a Free BSD).

however, if you're looking for something closer to a SVR4 blend then something like SunOS (*NOT* Solaris ... Solaris is the crap they heap on top of SunOS to do the value-add thing ... because shovelling shit on top of something always adds value).

n2ize
04-18-2011, 08:19 PM
That's the first Linux I ever used; however Linux is not Unix. It's a Unix-like OS. That's not meant as an insult, only a description. If you're looking for real—i.e. POSIX compliant—Unix, your best bets are FreeBSD or NetBSD, probably in that order.

Of course, you can always run a Mac with OS X and use the Terminal app CLI. Believe it or not, OS X is fully POSIX compliant.

But, how UNIX-like does your OS have to be ? For me most Linux systems are UNIX-like enough for anything I'm doing these days. As far as POSIX compliant goes while Linux is not "officially 100% POSIX compliant" it is, to a large extent POSIX compliant or, it is at least POSIX compliant enough for myself and most people I know.

On the other hand I am 100% POSIX compliant.

KC2UGV
04-19-2011, 08:24 AM
But, how UNIX-like does your OS have to be ? For me most Linux systems are UNIX-like enough for anything I'm doing these days. As far as POSIX compliant goes while Linux is not "officially 100% POSIX compliant" it is, to a large extent POSIX compliant or, it is at least POSIX compliant enough for myself and most people I know.

On the other hand I am 100% POSIX compliant.

Well, for me, personally, I'm just trying to find something to replace Solaris (Since it appears Solaris 11 is a dead-end road). I would love to replace it with AIX, but alas, can't run it on x86 machines and I don't have $12K for a "workstation".

Thus far, Mac OS is looking the best, since it is 100% UNIX (Cert marked and all). The next option is a BSD Flavor, since they are not technically UNIX (Not getting the cert mark), they directly trace their roots to Berkeley UNIX, and code from their base has been marked (In Mac OS X).

I guess I need to look into Mac OS's roadmap a little, as I'm not liking what I've seen Apple's focus to be as of late (Eschewing computers in favor of mobile media devices).

So, I think it's down to Mac OS X or *BSD :)

n2ize
04-19-2011, 10:04 AM
Well, for me, personally, I'm just trying to find something to replace Solaris (Since it appears Solaris 11 is a dead-end road). I would love to replace it with AIX, but alas, can't run it on x86 machines and I don't have $12K for a "workstation".

Thus far, Mac OS is looking the best, since it is 100% UNIX (Cert marked and all). The next option is a BSD Flavor, since they are not technically UNIX (Not getting the cert mark), they directly trace their roots to Berkeley UNIX, and code from their base has been marked (In Mac OS X).

I guess I need to look into Mac OS's roadmap a little, as I'm not liking what I've seen Apple's focus to be as of late (Eschewing computers in favor of mobile media devices).

So, I think it's down to Mac OS X or *BSD :)

But the 1 million dollar question is... do you absolutely need a 100% POSIX compliant certified Unix ? In most cases I've found Linux sufficient. Then again I am not a developer. What development I have done (such as apps involving threading, etc.) the development packages were compliant for my needs.

But as I said, I guess it depends on your specific needs. I have seen several instances where Unix systems (Irix) were replaced by RHEL or other Linux systems. How well they fared after moving from a proprietary UNIX to a Linux kernel I am not sure, The few I've been in contact with seemed to make out OK but that doesn't speak for everyone.

KC2UGV
04-19-2011, 10:07 AM
But the 1 million dollar question is... do you absolutely need a 100% POSIX compliant certified Unix ? In most cases I've found Linux sufficient. Then again I am not a developer. What development I have done (such as apps involving threading, etc.) the development packages were compliant for my needs.

But as I said, I guess it depends on your specific needs. I have seen several instances where Unix systems (Irix) were replaced by RHEL or other Linux systems. How well they fared after moving from a proprietary UNIX to a Linux kernel I am not sure, The few I've been in contact with seemed to make out OK but that doesn't speak for everyone.

I don't "need" a cert marked UNIX... It's a "pet project" of mine. I tend to use Linux everywhere, but I like to keep a UNIX install somewhere close at hand to test app deployments, etc. For example, here at work (Full time job) we run AIX. So, I like to keep as close as possible home environment as a playground.