Unix, linux and Vista

I am contemplating buying the Asus G1S and would like to run Solaris 10, Linux and Vista on it. Has anyone tried this? or can give any advice.

Thanks

 

Can't offer any advice w/r/t Solaris; sorry.

The only difficulties I can see offhand with Linux will be with the Intel 4965 WiFi adapter. While a driver is planned, none yet exists, so you'll be confined to wired connections only for a while.

You will need to download NVidia's closed-source drivers. This isn't too bad, as NVidia's Linux drivers have proven themselves well-behaved. Don't expect HDCP support, however. (You don't want it, anyway; it's evil.)

Other than that, everything else looks like it will Just Work, provided you use a comparatively recent kernel. Say, 2.6.17 or later (2.6.21 if you can get your hands on it).

Schwab

 

You can use ndiswrapper for the 4965 WiFi adapter. Search for the terms "ndiswrapper" and "4965" in this forum and in Google.

Why do you want to install Solaris 10?

 

"I am contemplating buying the Asus G1S and would like to run Solaris 10, Linux and Vista on it. Has anyone tried this? or can give any advice."

Your laptop will most likely come with Vista pre-installed, so you can expect everything to work properly. If you choose the right Linux distribution (for example, *buntu variations, Debian, OpenSuse, PCLinuxOS, Sabayon, etc), there shouldn't be any problems. For distribution "shopping" I would recommend visiting www.distrowatch.com for the big picture on what is available to you.

Solaris is another story. The OS has very limited hardware compatibility, refusing to run even on certain x86 based processors. From what I know about Solaris, it was designed initially for CPUs using the SPARC architecture and provides good support for that kind of hardware. Since laptops contain very specific, often less common computer parts, it would be very optimistic to hope for everything on the G1 to run properly under Solaris.

EDIT: Sun has a hardware compatibility list for Solaris; whatever isn't in the list probably won't work.

2nd EDIT: I don't think Solaris supports SATA hard drives.

"Solaris 10 will not tolerate Linux partitions on the same drive, so if you want to dual boot, you'll need a separate hard drive. Speaking of hard drives, I was not able to get an SATA hard drive to be recognized by Solaris Express 10/04 on any of my test systems. Sun told me that Solaris 10 would eventually have SATA support, but didn't have specific dates or details on which SATA controllers would be supported."

Source: http://www.softwareinreview.com/cms/content/view/9/

 

Actually, the driver does exist. Whether or not it works is another story.

http://www.intellinuxwireless.org

The text on the site seems to indicate that the driver, in fact, does work, but it requires some work to get functioning. I'll be getting a system with a 4965AGN as soon as Toshiba updates their product line (should be soon, fingers crossed for tomorrow but may be two weeks away) and I'll be trying out this driver.

Also, see this page:

http://gentoo-wiki.com/HARDWARE_Toshiba_Satellite_P200-141

- Trip

 

Thanks for the info,
I was thinking of slackware or ubuntu for linux. As for solaris it is for playing with. And I want vista so I can play SC2 when ever that comes out.

I underatand that solaris was for sparc, I think I have a version for I386 I was hoping to try. I am contemplating getting sun certified, and if I had it on a laptop, I think it would help out