At last OpenSolaris 2008.11 got released officially on the 10th of December. I have been playing with the release candidate build for quite some time on VirtualBox. Finally I installed it on my laptop.
The first things which really impressed me were the new installer screenshots. They looked lively and fresh. After the installation was over, the wireless and the sound worked flawlessly. I had to install the Marvel Youkon driver myself. The Firefox which came did not come with the flash plugin which I had to install myself. Then I tried downloading packages from the IPS repository. I downloaded OpenOffice 3.0, Netbeans 6.5 and SunStudio Express and SongBird. Now I have a fully functional desktop.
I am yet to try out the new features like Time Slider and some other cool features but you can view the video on the new features of OpenSolaris at http://blogs.sun.com/observatory/entry/screencast_what_s_new_in
Happy exploring OpenSolaris 2008.11
Note: Click on the pictures to enlarge them
OS2008.11 has a lot of problems, but it also shows a potential to be the best OS for laptops/desktops. The only way it will achieve its potential is to diligently file bug reports.
Posted by W. Wayne Liauh on December 19, 2008 at 09:55 PM IST #