The Sun Blade Blog

A July 2008 Posting

I have not posted in a while, so I thought I'd do something fun for this post, and not talk blades per se.  Our software portfolio gets a lot of press time, so I wanted to try them out.  I installed the StarOffice 9 BETA and xVM VirtualBox.  I also downloaded an ISO image for OpenSolaris.  I've coded with Java and MySQL previously, so I did not download them.  I've got a Mac OS X 10.5 laptop (1GB RAM).  Here are my noted impressions.  Screenshots are provided below as proof that I did boot OpenSolaris, through xVM VirtualBox, on my OS X.  Enjoy.

StarOffice 9 BETA

- I was skeptical at first.  Anything that says BETA and is a first timer on a Mac, is doomed for failure

- I am pleased to say that this BETA has worked really well.  Compared with OpenOffice, the load time is faster, the copy+paste works and whole experience is smoother

xVM VirtualBox

- Note the 'xVM' in the name.  This is the latest download of the software.  It supports OpenSolaris and many Windows' flavors

- It's free

- Setup was easy.  But, the dialog box for ISO booting was hard to find at first

- I only have 1 GB RAM on my machine.  Response time was good, but not great.  More horsepower would have helped. 

OpenSolaris

- It did boot!  What else can I say, it's up to creative developers to make the most of this combination.  

I am certain that developers, students and IT professionals can use our tools.  And while you're at, please run our software on our blade platforms. 

Posted at 07:45PM Jul 22, 2008 by Amit Raman in Personal  |  Comments[0]