MilaX: May 2008 Archives

While OpenSolaris 2008.05 refused to do just about anything on every computer I've tried, the OpenSolaris-based MilaX runs like the proverbial wind on most of those boxes. So I figured it was time to try BeleniX, another project that brings a GUI and live-CD environment to OpenSolaris.

Belenix didn't boot on my VIA C3 Samuel box, but I didn't expect that. It did boot on one of our Dell Optiplex GX520 desktops (Pentium 4, 3 GHz, 512 MB RAM).

It ran well both in KDE and Xfce modes ... but.

And there is a "but."

The OS didn't find my Ethernet interface, and that made getting networking into the box impossible with my level of skill in Solaris (which, in case you didn't know, is none).

The folks at Belenix say in their how-to that writing a static IP helper app is on their list of things to do.

Luckily MilaX already has one -- and a good one at that. Now all MilaX needs is a few more applications, especially Firefox. It's a sweet little system, for sure.

I should try version 0.3, in which the Netsurf browser has replaced Dillo.

And the bigger OpenSolaris-based projects would do well to look at what MilaX is doing right.

Sam Varghese of iTWire finds a whole lot wrong with just about every aspect of Sun's new, somewhat-but-not-so open desktop initiative (still dubbed in some circles Project Indiana):

Project Indiana is headed by Ian Murdock who started the Debian GNU/Linux project in 1993 and led it for three years. After leaving Debian, Murdock started another distribution called Progeny based on Debian, but that shut shop after a while. People often have the perception that if one touch turns something into gold, then it works every time. Sadly, such is not the case.

There has been some acrimony over the fact that Murdock's project seems to have appropriated the name OpenSolaris. So much so, that one well-known participant in the OpenSolaris project, Roy Fielding of Apache HTTP Server Project fame, quit in disgust earlier this year. He had this to say, in part: "What is the point of creating the OpenSolaris Community governance if the community isn't even allowed to decide what is called OpenSolaris? This isn't an abstract discussion of trademarks. It is the fundamental basis for making technical decisions of any kind for the project."

Commenting on his departure, Emily Ratliff of IBM's Linux Technology Centre pointed out that until that point there had been 578 patches contributed to the OpenSolaris project, a rate of 0.6 patches a day. "Linus (Torvalds, the creator of the Linux kernel) gets more patches while he is brushing his teeth than OpenSolaris gets in a week. Despite Roy's efforts to build a real community, contributing to OpenSolaris always has been and seemingly always will be, corporate welfare," she commented.

And, she added: "For me, the realization (sic) that Sun just doesn't get it, and never will, was crystallized (sic) the day I was turned away from an OpenSolaris Users' Group meeting for refusing to sign an NDA."

I have no firsthand knowledge of all the community acrimony over OpenSolaris. And I do want there to be more than one -- and more than two or three -- viable open-source operating systems out there, so I'm rooting big time for OpenSolaris to find its legs and really start making an impact.

Even though the current version hasn't worked for me, I have enjoyed using MilaX and will try Belenix as soon as I'm able. And I'm game for the next rendition of OpenSolaris whenever it's released. Hopefully Sun and its community (such as it is, or becomes) can right the ship and start making some waves out there.