[osol-mktg] RE: [osol-discuss] Solaris on Intel's Classmate PC?

[Shawn Walker]

On 23/03/07, Kaiwai Gardiner <kaiwai.gardiner at gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi,
>
> You can run a text installer, which is similar to the old Windows NT/2000/XP
> setup proceedure; which isn't too bad.
>
> The bigger problem is how much of the hardware is proprietary and
> unsupported on either Linux or some other operating system - with that being
> said, I assume its got all the Intel goodies; HD Audio, Integrated Video,
> Intel Pro/Wirelss combo - basically its a walking billboard for Intel
> technology.
>
> As for Sun; depends on how much money they would need to spend; 99% of the
> hardware is probably supported out there via *BSD licenced drivers, it would
> be a matter of porting it over, then stablising a build of OpenSolaris to
> base it on, then ontop of that - everyones favourite, testing.

Adding drivers to any project is not a matter of simply porting them.
Legal review has to be done to ensure the origins of the code, that
the license applied is really the one, that the copyrights are
correct, that the people contributing the code, etc.

If it were as a simple as porting the drivers, Sun would have done it
a long time ago.

It's always dangerous just picking up drivers from some unknown
source. Significant review, testing, etc. all has to be done before
they are suitable for release. Especially since kernel driver APIs
tend to vary wildly between operating systems.

-- 
"Less is only more where more is no good." --Frank Lloyd Wright

Shawn Walker, Software and Systems Analyst
binarycrusader at gmail.com - http://binarycrusader.blogspot.com/