The Student Room Group

Computer Science - Laptop

Hey,

I want to take my laptop to uni and I understand that most of the PC's at UCL run Sun Solaris as the OS. Has anyone setup their computer to dual boot windows and Solaris 10? I currently have Windows XP MCE and Mandriva Linux 2006 dual boot. Is it best to change the Linux OS to the UNIX Sun Solaris? Or is there even any need to have UNIX on my laptop? Oh, and btw, if it is worth installing Solaris 10, what components do I choose from in the: "Sun Java Enterprise System", "Development Tools" and "N1 Software / Grid Technology" sections listed on Sun.com?
What do people think...
Sun Solaris is ****e, hit on Linux or die
Reply 2
I would not worry, most if not all the programs your uni will use, will run on multiple OS's. Also the office programs that are likely to be used on Solaris are Open Office or Star Office which are both compatible with Open Office and M$ Office on Windows.

If you are curious as to what Solaris is like you could always give it a try by using a live CD version.
Reply 3
When will kids stop replacing the S in Microsoft with $? :frown:
timw
When will kids stop replacing the S in Microsoft with $? :frown:

When Micro$oft stops overpricing their OS and software.
Reply 5
Translation: Never.
Reply 6
Darkened Angel
When Micro$oft stops overpricing their OS and software.

It's only overpriced compared to Linux.

But anyway I would have thought most PCs use a Linux distro, but many applications will run on a Solaris server.

Does Solaris even run on a standard PC? But anyway I did dual boot Linux for a while but then I decided there was no point since most things can be on windows aswell (although it's important to make sure it works on whatever system you have been told to work on) and anything I did need Linux for I could just use the lab machines. I wouldn't worry about it too much. At any decent uni you could easily do all your work on lab machines and never even need to use your own PC for dev work.
Reply 7
Darkened Angel
When Micro$oft stops overpricing their OS and software.


Pfft...who actually buys their OS and software these days? DVD burners are there to be used.
Reply 8
Jontheone
Pfft...who actually buys their OS and software these days? DVD burners are there to be used.

I do. The price of windows seems pretty insignificant when I'm spending around £1000 on the hardware.
Reply 9
Psyk
I do. The price of windows seems pretty insignificant when I'm spending around £1000 on the hardware.


but you could spend £1100 on hardware instead :P
Reply 10
You're not obliged to use Microsoft products.
Reply 11
timw
You're not obliged to use Microsoft products.


aye there are lots of opensource and freeware alternatives out there for most things.
Reply 12
refoxed
aye there are lots of opensource and freeware alternatives out there for most things.

Yeah MS Office is in no way a neccessity, open office is just as good if not better. And it is mostly compatible with MS Office. Unfotunately there isn't so much freedom when it comes to OS since there are still a lot of things that will only run in Windows, especially games. Personally I still prefer windows regardless of compatibility issues. Linux takes too much setting up and faffing around to get things working how you want. On the flip side to that argument though, it's probably harder to set Windows up for something out of the ordinary.
Reply 13
Windows xp pro is only £80 thats hardly expensive for what it is ive paid for it.

The rest of the ms software tho like office... oh dear...i have no sympathy when downloading software at these ridiculous prices for free.
Reply 14
James201
Windows xp pro is only £80 thats hardly expensive for what it is ive paid for it.

The rest of the ms software tho like office... oh dear...i have no sympathy when downloading software at these ridiculous prices for free.


agreed. XP aint so bad I mean for what it does but i nearly died the first time i saw M$ office!! I hear that you can get student versions at a reduced price also i found that you can get older versions of individual programs such as word or excel for about £30-40 rather than the £350 latest version of the full office suite
Reply 15
i got a perfectly working no problems copy of the latest office pro was £500 last time i looked ridiculous price.

you can get "academic " versions as far as im aware of xp pro but its not that much cheaper. I dont mind paying for the Operating system as alot of works gone into it and all the updates etc its not bad for the price dispite what people say about ms
. But asking for £350 for office which isnt that much difererent from the £350 version 4 years earlier is just a joke, amongst other software, im happy with my copies/downloads of that.

ps. i got a brand new academic version of xp pro off ebay for 60quid (it was like £120 at the time). and also a few months later i got another genuine xp pro lisence off ebay for like 30 quid. not expensive atall.
Reply 16
jontheone - i live in penarth, a town about 5 miles outside cardiff. you're gonna have 1 hell of a time in uni - cdf's a great city to live in and the nightlife's awesome.
Reply 17
I have a bit of a problem with Bill Gates' psychology.
As i undestand it he's not leaving more than a few million to his children and giving the billions to charity.
It's almost as though he's taxing the 'rich' computer users to subsidise the poor.
I'd have preferred he just let his patents lapse. I bet he's under pressure fom government to keep employing people and paying taxes....
If you want yer eyes to water over software costs try pricing CGI software like Maya.
Reply 18
Danby

If you want yer eyes to water over software costs try pricing CGI software like Maya.

Pretty much any software meant for a professional environment is going to be expensive. Way too expensive for home users. It's only meant to be affordable to businesses.
Reply 19
Solaris is native to SPARC processors, although I'm sure there must be some sort of x86 distributions somewhere. I personally use windows, as I do most of my unix work on lab machines, when I do wanna use unix at home, I use an emulator, the name of which completely eludes me right now.

As for microsoft, I know quite a few unis are part of MSDNAA, which gets you free microsoft software. However, this service is *******s, they'll only provide you with a one time download / product key, which means whenever you have to reinstall windows (frequently in my case), you have to contact support to get a new product key, of all the times I've contacted support, I have NEVER had any sort of response from them. My attempts to obtain windows x64 fell at the first hurdle due to the service being ****e. Ideally, I would use lnux, but i'm just plain lazy.

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