Looking at the history of features from Solaris Version History I wonder to what extent they have the edge over Linux.

@alphabet I had to do that a long time ago using a null modem cable.

I started using Unix professionaly in 1983, Unix version 7, and still use it (Unix, not Version 7) nowadays.

@jlliagre My start with it was in 1981.

@jlliagre What flavor of Unix do you prefer? As user, programmer, or sysadmin?

Solaris of course, in all three positions, and others.

@Robusto A statistical tie ;-)

@jlliagre Wow, okay. In my university days, POSIX API compatibility / compliance was important, is it still like it today?

@jlliagre True.

@GratefulDisciple Do you include Linux in Unix?

I have been through so many different systems in my time that I'm surprised I'm not drooling in a corner from too much exposure.

@jlliagre Hmmm.... not sure whether I should or not. I'm sure Linux has its own culture and POSIX may interest mostly the company executives of Unix/Linux adopters?

@GratefulDisciple I believe almost nobody specifically cares about POSIX these days.

@jlliagre That's my sense as well, but then, I'm rather out of Linux/Unix development for a few decades now.

Looks like most OSes are "mostly POSIX-compliant" but Solaris is among the few used to boast POSIX-certified. I'm surprised that macOS is POSIX-certified.

@GratefulDisciple Solaris still had an edge over Linux in some domains not because of its POSIX compliance but because of some of its capabilities, like containers, dtrace and ZFS.

@jlliagre I see. Which GUI do you prefer on Solaris?

Just read about ZFS. Wow, it's respectable in its data integrity features.

@GratefulDisciple I generally connect remotely these days but I believe there is just one GUI out of the box with the recent versions and it's Gnome.

@GratefulDisciple Not just that. Instant snapshots and rollbacks were a killer feature.

@jlliagre Yes, that "copy-on-write transactional model" caught my eye as I scanned the Wikipedia article, which is necessary to support snapshots & rollbacks.

@GratefulDisciple Imagine Windows had adopted that. You got a ransomware attack? Just rollback to yesterday file system and that's it. Problem solved.

This one should be a great sentence in ZFS brochure: "ZFS does not ship with tools such as fsck, because the file system itself was designed to self-repair. " Imagine that, no need for fsck after a power failure or kernel panic.

@jlliagre Yes, that Wikipedia article on ZFS wowed me.

transparent filesystem compression too.

Indeed, and enabling it generally improves I/Os.

At least that was the case with hard-disks. Probably less important with SSDs.

@jlliagre Incorporating features normally not part of the file system layout makes a lot of sense, resulting in a file system that is a lot more "intelligent" than other file systems.

Yes, get rid of complex volume management software.

and much less "disk full" situations.

I'm glad that OpenZFS has been available on Linux for some time, being included by default in some distros as a kernel module and survived GPL legal compatibility.

@GratefulDisciple And I'm glad I don't have to think about that stuff anymore.

@Robusto Hehehe.... to me as well. I see the filesystem I use in my computers like buying a good tire and forget about it. Here in Canada I have to change to Winter tires every year; once I've made my selection, I just watch the tread depth.

@GratefulDisciple Yes. There was a time when OSes and apps and so forth were viewed with a kind of fetishism. Now they're just tools.

@Robusto Yup. Newer generations are really spoiled. They probably cannot appreciate various dilemmas and compatibility/configuration issues, even to the exact sequence on how to install a driver.

Time to go back to 2024; it's great reminiscing the world of computing from the 1990s. Have a great week, everyone.

Gah, you had to bring that up, didn't you? What you didn't mention was that long wait while you installed the driver, wondering if it would be successful and you would get control back. "Hmm, it seems to have stopped. Should I let it go or take some action. But if I do that, it could corrupt the system. Hmmmm. What to do?"

Anyway, on the client side, more and more things run on a browser so the underlying OS doesn't matter a lot and on the server side, most of the things run on virtualized environments so there is no need to install any driver either.

@Robusto Yes, been there. Not to mention the angst whether a new hardware driver can cause a blue screen.

We need a new word for progress. Something that doesn't cast it as an eternal improvement.

@jlliagre Yes. Still remember playing with VMWare workstation edition and was impressed about its ability to support various graphics adapter and USB devices. As a "client" of virtualized VMs (I'm not the VMWare administrator), I have been comforted many times on how rollbacks are realiable and instantenous, and backups are copy-consistent.

I was just getting comfortable with the state of science and progress, but now I feel it's all accelerating out of control.

@Robusto Hmmm... in what way? Is it in computing technology or other areas?

I'm mostly worried only in the social media's and AI tools' capability to propagate conspiracy theories and misinformation to less-discerning consumers, especially teenagers.

But for progress in hardware, software, cloud infrastructure, and services, I'm a happy camper in the increasing power and options that are available. As long as I'm constantly re-educating myself, of course.

@GratefulDisciple AI and biology and chemistry and on and on.

Man's reach should not exceed his grasp.

Now Google has a stunning new quantum computer chip that seemingly would render all passwords crackable in microseconds.

@Robusto For science, I see it as having potential to improve human life condition through things like designer medicine, more diagnosis tools at the hospital, better material (through material science), and greater insights through massive data analysis.

@jlliagre I really used to like the extra 'disk compactify' program for MS-DOS... I could watch all the disk sectors being moved around for hours.

And did a few times.

@Robusto But yes, the danger lies in bad agents misusing it for crime in secret communication and stealing data.

@Mitch Wasn't it defragmentation?

@jlliagre tomato, tomato.

@GratefulDisciple The same is true if you substitute "profit" for "crime" in that sentence.

@jlliagre The good 'ol defragment tool. Remember my Norton tools.

Yes that was the word but I like my new word better.

Only because the real word has spurned me.

@Mitch Your words are spinning out of control. Danger Will Robinson!

@Robusto Yes, like lawyer who can play both sides.

Googling "tomato, tomato"

@jlliagre Try "tomato tomahto" ...

@Robusto words only mean what we say they mean

@jlliagre Does it yield explanation that it's just different in the pronounciation?

I mean, with other words.

Yes, found it :-)

Two tomatoes. Identical.

@Mitch Words mean exactly what I want them to mean: no more and no less.

But you spell one one way and the other the other way.

I think that was from Alice in Wonderland.

@Robusto Really? Gotta read the book now that I'm old enough to appreciate the philosophical and linguistic implication.

@GratefulDisciple You were probably old enough a few decades ago.

@GratefulDisciple it's long and boring and the best parts are far apart

Like Young Frankensteen

Here's where tomato-tomahto came from.

@Robusto I'm really behind in my literature. I saw your comment on Henry V. Haven't even read a complete Shakespeare play 😳.

They're talking about a mortgage contract.

@GratefulDisciple everything I've learned about Shakespeare's history plays I learned from questions in Jeopardy!

@GratefulDisciple Reading Shakespeare is OK, but you really can't get the full sense of him unless you see the play acted.

Julius Caesar? I think that was one we were supposed to read.

@Mitch :-) I'm hoping to learn some life lessons from reading the plays. A friend's favorite is Macbeth which he read during his college years; give insights about rage.

@Robusto There are some good movie adaptations I came across but yet to watch, one acted by Patrick Stewart.

@GratefulDisciple A good theater company makes Shakespeare come alive.

'Picard' was the most self-indulgent fan-service art work ever.

@Robusto I should go to a live theater performance but I feel I need to read it first to get the full benefit.

Either way, get subtitles.

Here's what I said about seeing A Midsummer Night's Dream long ago:

@Mitch Yes, first two seasons were disappointing, the third is much better.

Lower Decks is pretty good if you haven't seen it yet.

@Mitch Really? I haven't watched that one yet. Will keep in mind.

Short and comedic

Low stakes

But also Strange New Worlds is pretty good. They 'do' things with the stories.

@Mitch OK. Will try that one series too.

Gotta go now. Talk to you guys later.

I mean TV is crap but if you're gonna watch it, those are pretty good (if you like that sort of thing)

> Researchers have developed a near-perfect method for diagnosing Parkinson's disease by analyzing emotional brain responses through EEG and AI. x.com/NeuroscienceNew/status/1868714916493877583

> The study revealed that Parkinson's patients process emotions differently, focusing on intensity over valence and struggling to recognize emotions like fear, disgust, and surprise.

Hmm.

The muscle stem cell case of Benjamin Button: rejuvenating muscle regenerative capacity through nutraceuticals - cool if true