Solaris and SunOS? 1

[StickyBit]

Guys,

I had a job interview today and one of the questions were:

What is the difference between Solaris and SunOS?

I think I answered correctly, but I'm not sure.

Thanks,

StickyBit.

 

[FarahRegal]

By FUNKYRD

Did you answered the way "Funkyrd" answered in May 3

I can answer this because I'm old enough to have worked with SunOS

The "uname" output will always display the name "SunOS". However, in common usage, "SunOS" refers to 4.X releases while "Solaris" refers to 5.X releases. When Solaris 2.0 (SunOS 5.0) was released in 1993, the marketing types relabeled SunOS 4 as "Solaris 1". Thus

SunOS = Solaris 1 = SunOS 4
Solaris = Solaris 2 = SunOS 5

Confused?

Seriously, SunOS releases ended, I believe, in 1995. 4.1.4 was the final version (this was marketed as Solaris 1.1, IIRC). By this time, Solaris 2.5 was just about out, and any further development from Sun was for Solaris 2.5 and beyond.

Solaris 2.0 was EXTREMELY buggy, and most of the kinks didn't get worked out until 2.4 was released in 1994. Since then, it's a pretty good OS with a lot of SysV stuff in it. SunOS is more BSD-based, and more primitive. Patching is MUCH easier on Solaris systems. Same goes for device assignments and the like. Most modifications to SunOS require some sort of config or object file hack, followed by a kernel compile. In Solaris, there are commands and scripts for most of these functions.

by Funkyrd


.

Farah regal
good luck
"think twice and hit enter once"

 

[StickyBit]

Thanks "Funkyrd" for the history on SunOS. Given your answer, I answered the question "quite well".

The funny thing is, I don't think they know the correct answer to the question!

Regards,

SickyBit.

 

[packageman]

Perhaps the answer they were looking for was "dynamic kernel". In SunOS, you had to edit files and recompile the kernel to change the kernel; Solaris doesn't require that. BSD vs. SVR4 is another possibility. You could also mention sockets, TLI and STREAMS, etc.