[OpenIndiana-discuss] OI new user questions

[Kalle Anka]

I am a long time Solaris user that tried out Linux for a couple of years, namely Ubuntu LTS. Alas, the Ubuntu updates caused numerous problems, in some cases causing a reinstall. At the end I switched to Ubuntu 2020.10 hoping it would be more stable. It was not. 

Another problem is that OpenZFS v0.8.4 renders Solaris 11.3 disks unusable. Try this: 
-Create a ZFS disk in Solaris 11.3 (using zpool version 28, and zfs version 5)
-Import the disk into Ubuntu 2020.10 using OpenZFS v0.8.4
-Copy data to the zpool using Linux zfs send recv
-Import the zpool back into Solaris 11.3 - This will fail. Solaris says the disk is UNAVAIL and I need to use a backup to restore data.
So if you use OpenZFS to import a zpool, chances are you cannot import the disk back into Solaris.

Because of all these problems I have now tried the OpenIndiana 2020.10 LiveDVD and I liked it. The splash screen says it is OI "2020.04". It maybe should be changed to "2020.10"? Before I migrate off Linux to OI, I have some questions I hope I can get help with?
1) I boot Win10 which is installed using UEFI. According the OI manual, OI does not support UEFI. 
http://docs.openindiana.org/handbook/getting-started/#booting-the-hipster-installer

So I should not install BIOS OI and UEFI W10 for dualbooting on the same disk. I learned this the hard way. I had a Win10 and Solaris 11.2 dual booting install, on the same disk using BIOS, i.e. MBR disk. Then an W10 update silently changed the disk to UEFI (GPT disk), and Solaris 11.2 was still on MBR. So I could boot W10, but not boot Solaris. It took me a long time to figure out why Solaris would not boot. I had to reinstall Solaris using UEFI.

To solve my problem of BIOS os and UEFI os, I wonder if this might work: I remove all disks except one, and install Win10 using UEFI. Then I remove all disks, and insert another disk to which I install BIOS OpenIndiana. Then I insert all disks, and when I boot my PC, I choose which OS to boot from the disk boot menu by pressing F11. Do you think this could be a way to have both BIOS OpenIndiana and UEFI Win10 on my PC, but on different disks? I have read that you should not install BIOS and UEFI oses on the same PC, even on the different disks - but I dont know why. I cannot find information on this. But if I choose the different disks to boot in the boot menu, this could work? Anyone know?

(BTW, I have a WARNING! If you boot Win10 install usb and only look at the different disks in your PC, i.e. check the sizes of the disks, and then exit without doing anything - this will mess up your ZFS disks. W10 install software will mess up disks that are not NTFS. ZFS is something new, so Win10 install software will overwrite the ZFS disks even scanning the ZFS disks. If you do get your ZFS disks messed up this way, I have heard that you can try to import the zpool and scrub it, and it might solve this mess. Another way to solve this problem, is to remove all non ntfs disks from your system before installing Win10).

2) Does OI support Sunray? (Solaris 11.4 does not support Sunray)

3) Graphics. I have a Geforce GTX 1070 Ti. On a UEFI installed Solaris 11.3, it is not possible to install the latest Nvidia 1070 Ti driver because the driver explicitly requires a BIOS Solaris installation. To install GTX 1070 Ti, you must install Solaris 11.3 as BIOS, and not UEFI. If you have UEFI, there are no GTX 1070 Ti driver at all. You need to use VESA driver.

The GTX 1070 Ti driver is certified for Solaris, but can the GTX 1070 Ti driver be installed on OI, as OI is a Solarish derivative? This is the latest Nvidia driver:
https://www.nvidia.com/Download/driverResults.aspx/127153/en-us

4) In the event that OI supports UEFI, I can install both Win10 and OI on my system without problems. However, in that case I stuck with the VESA OI driver. Because Nvidia GTX 1070 Ti driver only installs on BIOS Solaris. To solve this problem, can I still install OI as BIOS, and Win10 as UEFI as outlined in point 1) above? And this would give me Nvidia driver for GTX 1070 Ti?

5) I hope there is a mpt sas driver, because there was one in Solaris 11.3. Can anyone confirm? I have this LSI2008 SAS card for my JBOD raidz3 I would like to use.

6) Virtualbox, does it work fine on OI? Is it problematic?