[OpenIndiana-discuss] newbie questions

[Lev]

On Fri, 16 Sep 2016 23:10:28 +0200
Till Wegmüller <toasterson at gmail.com> wrote:

> Welcome to the Community
> 
> 
> 
> > 1. Is the whole system is package based? Like Linux, unlike
> > FreeBSD.  
> Depends on what you mean package based. FreeBSD is AFAIK also package 
> based as linux. They just have Ports as compiling source may not
> always be what you want.
> 
> But yes we have a Package system called IPS

With FreeBSD, the base system have no packages. Updating/upgrading is done by
IMHO black magic.
 
> > 2. Is it recommended for desktop OS, or are you focusing on server
> > installations?  
> We strive to be General Purpose. We recently integrated MATE 1.14 so
> we have Desktops precompiled.

Ok. I'll go for XFCE, but I see that you have it.

> > 3. Is there any way to install the OS without ZFS?  
> Yes. But not via installer and not recomended. Why no ZFS if I may
> ask? It's one of the main features of OI.

Lack of knowledge? :-) I'm happy with just normal filesystems on the
disk. I know ZFS is extra super cool...

> > 4. Is ext4 is supported? Recommended for root, home?  
> No. Driver is GPL and thus due to licensing issues not ported.

Okay.

> > 5. Is it recommended to install the OS on old HW? I have this
> > currently running Debian Linux:  
> Depends how much RAM you have you shaould at least have 1.5Gb

Okay. 

> > I use XFCE, and it runs good. I ask this because I run oi in
> > Virtualbox, and it is very very slow.  
> Virtualbox and other virtualisation tends to do that. Especially on 
> older hardware and with limited RAM.

Ok.

> > I'd use this computer for software development, embedded software
> > development, but also watching movies with mpv.  
> What IDE/Editor are you using? Not all IDE's for embedded run on OI. 
> CLion for exmaple does not.

I use make, cmake, gvim, and codelite. I don't like those giant IDEs like
eclipse. I develop software for AVR MCUs and ARM in the future.

> Be aware that when you are programming in Native languages(C, C++)
> that you may need a linux to compile the binary for the embedded
> device.

Oh...

> > 6. Is there any web interface for packages, so I can check if
> > there's any package that I'll miss, and have to compile by myself.
> >  
> Yes. http://pkg.openindiana.org/hipster
> 
> or just type pkg search in commandline. The result is the same.
> 
> 
> > 7. I also have a server, currently running FreeBSD. It hosts a git
> > server, lighttpd based web server, NFS server, and acts as border
> > GW doing NAT. Can I use oi for these?  
> I don't know about lighttpd, we have nginx and apache. But the rest
> is do able. I can give you some instructions for NAT.

Okay. I GEUSS that you have the same driver in the kernel as FreeBSD. I have
this to do NAT:

map tun0 192.168.0.0/16 -> 0.0.0.0/32 portmap tcp/udp auto

But might be some coincidence.

Other question. Is this hipster thing is more like an unstable distribution?
Is there any installation medium for the stable branch?

Thanks for your fast response.


Lev

-- 
73 de HA5OGL
Op.: Levente