The *Nixed Report

Thomas Holbrook II | The *Nixed Report

I tried running Oracle Solaris on two of my machines, and was going to use it as the OS of choice for the next few weeks.  Unfortunately, the test was cut short, so the evaluation will be written here instead of in the next issue of the magazine.

The Live-DVD was used for installation.

The Interface and Included Apps

Gnome 2.3 is used for the desktop interface.  It comes with Firefox, Thunderbird, GIMP, Rythmbox, Brasero, and a handful of other applications.

What I Liked and What Needs Improvement

The live environment worked on the Breeze.  All the relevant hardware was detected and I was able to go online.  The Intel/Nvidia desktop on the other hand was a different story.

Either the driver was missing or was not loaded properly.  I was in no mood to either hunt down the driver or try some other fix to force the hardware to work correctly.  On the upside, the Nvidia drivers worked and I had 3D acceleration.

What was also perplexing was the fact that there was a category for Office in software management, but no word processing listed.  I know Solaris 11 is not supposed to be used on productivity machines, but why not have Abiword at the very least?

After all, GIMP 2.6 is included.

Then again, this is Oracle we’re talking about here.  This company is known more for their enterprise driven database products than operating systems and programming platforms.

Conclusion

Unfortunately, it seems that Oracle has ruined a potentially good product.  Even for developers, it can be a bit cumbersome to compile all the desired software from source just for the sole purpose of having the desired applications installed.

The online repositories are sparse.  The version of Firefox ESR is also out of date.  For that reason, this review will be on this site while the next stop on the Distro Journey for 2013 will be Linux Mint Debian Edition.

The sixth issue of the digital magazine is available for download.  The Toshiba Tecra M9 has been adopted and is being brought back to life.  Netrunner OS is evaluated for this year’s DistroJourney series and Thomas reconnects with his inner geek.

Unix

DistroJourney 2013: Netrunner OS is an Ubuntu-based system that uses KDE.  How does it stack up in terms of performance?  Find out in this issue.

Overlooked Pop Culture

The college anime club that Thomas was a part has gone through a significant transformation.  They are now known as the Animation Culture Society.  The student organization has grown and is allying itself with other groups.

Click here to download Issue 6 of the magazine.

Stephen Kelley makes his long awaited return to the podcast to discuss how some of the lost episodes of Dr. Who were found.  Show notes and direct download to the episode is available here.

Welcome back to The *Nixed Report.  After encountering spam issues with e107, the decision was made to go back to WordPress.  The site will always be changing, but the core of it is done.

Podcast Generator is being used for the podcast feed from here on out.  All the episodes are archived and available in that feed, so anyone will be able to catch up on previously missed episodes.

The Distro Journey series will be getting better due to the acquisition of more hardware, thus allowing for more well rounded reviews of different operating systems.

Finally, the previous co-hosts of the podcast and I have parted ways due to creative differences.  Steven Tompkins is the new co-host of the podcast and Stephen Kelley has returned.  Tompkins has a background in technology and gadgets, which will immensely help the show.

I want to end by saying thank you for visiting the site.  There will be more content in the coming days.  For now, you may feel free to check out our podcast as well as our social networking links in the left margin.

Remember to entertain yourself, educate yourself, and empower yourself.

Thomas Holbrook II

Founder and Editor in Chief