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updated by
Christopher Spry
28/06/2020

SUN Blade 1000 software list

This is a list to remind me where to get updates of the Solaris software. 

Solaris FAQ. Note that Solaris 8 is the operating environment (OE), which includes the operating system (OS) SunOS 5.8, CDE, and other software. It is based on AT&T System V release 4 UNIX and it will only run on UltraSparc hardware (sun4u), which is 64-bit.

The current version of Solaris is available from SUN.  There is a list of changes and enhancements in the current release and a chart summarizing changes to each release of Solaris 8 since June 2000. There are over 80 'software packages' included in Solaris 8 and named SUNW???. Software packages are 'grouped' into 'software configurations' for the end user, developer, the entire suite and entire plus OEM software. Compilers are not included in Solaris 8 but have to be bought separately. Solaris 8 compilers typically produce dynamically linked programs. Earlier SunOS v 4 programs including `Sun View' programs can often run using the `Binary Compatibility Mode' package for SunOS v 5. 

Solaris Software Companion CD. SUN has been building and shipping pre-compiled freeware binaries (and source) on a CD in the Solaris 8 media kit since 2000. It is called the Solaris Software Companion CD. This is included in every Solaris CD kit (SPARC and Intel). A broad range of software is included, including KDE. Additional software can be download it from SUN Freeware, where there is also a free ISO image of the Companion CD.

Index:

1. Listing software installed on your computer

To uninstall software see 'man pkgrm'.

2. Obtaining software from elsewhere

Free software is available in the 'Solaris 8 Companion' CD and can be downloaded as Individual packages and as the full CD image.

'Solaris Tools & Utilities' has audioctl, Workman, sox, gif2png, xv, xautolock and vrml1to2 for Solaris.

3. Additional software that I have installed, besides the programs on Solaris CDs

I regret that this list is incomplete.

  • ftpd reads /etc/shells, which contains a list of shells that are allowed in /etc/passwd. If this file is missing, there is a list of default shells permitted. check out the man page. Go to http://www.landfield.com/wu-ftpd/ and under clink on the "Setup scripts" link and it will show a few scripts that will just install anonymous ftp. For a Solaris 7 Sparc install I used the : "solaris2.ftpsetup" and was easy.
  • wu-ftpd from wu-ftpd.org logs access and transfers, which SUN's 'ftpd' doesn't and it is more configurable and can be locked down nicely for anonymous ftp access. It is on SUN's Freeware. It can be 'strengthened' with Publicfile, as can Apache's web server.
  • NcFTP from NcFTP is a low cost secure replacement for ftp. If you want to permit anonymous ftp access be careful to do it right.
  • SE Toolkit, Richard Pettit  Performance Software for Solaris
  • Apache and mod_Perl A full installation of Solaris 8 installs apache 1.3.12 in /usr/apache/bin, and a dynamically loaded mod_perl in /usr/apache/libexec/mod_perl.so. Note that Apache v 1.3.23 is the current release on 28 January 2002 and both uncompiled andcompiled versions are available.
  • top is available at SUNfreeware and in the SUN Companion CD with package name 'SFWtop'. It can be used to monitor traffic through a network card.
  • prstat is similar to 'top' but perhaps more powerful.
  • MySQL, installation instructions.
  • Oracle is the best RDBMS for Sun Solaris. There is detailed information on installing Oracle 8i Enterprise Edition release 3 (Oracle version 8.1.7) or release 2 (8.1.6) in a Sun Solaris SPARC
  • Samba, Samba.org. A precompiled version is available from SunFreeware. It can be obtained from Samba.org as a tar file and compiled with a C compiler (preferrably gcc, which is readily available as Solaris packages). Type './configure --prefix=/opt/app/samba'; 'make'; 'make install'. Make sure you set your path correctly for the compilers and run as root. smbmount is not available for Solaris. Create a /usr/local/samba/lib/smb.conf file after installation. The "apachectl" file that starts everything, so copy it to "/etc/init.d". Then put a link in "/etc/rc2.d" that links back to the start file such that  /etc/rc2.d/S89httpd -> /etc/init.d/apachectl
  • Acrobat Adobe. This is only available in the older version 4. Adobe do not appear to support Solaris. 
  • DHCP. Run 'sys-unconfig' and say 'no' when asked if DHCP should be installed. Make sure the system's patches are up to date or sys-unconfig will not work.
  • sendmail. Upgrade to latest patchcluster and sendmail will get upgraded to 8.10.2, IIRC. Then use access_db for restricting who can connect, send, and receive, and procmail if you want to filter on content. Alternatively, download the source from sendmail.org and compile it yourself using cc or gcc. The directions for doing so are very specific.
  • 'Mozilla', which is an open source browser based on Netscape, may be preferable to Netscape, which is installed by default with Solaris. 
  •  Internet Explorer v 5 service pack 1, Microsoft. This web browser runs under Solaris 7 and 8, but has to be bound to one cpu in a multi-processor machine.
  • Opera v 5 for Solaris, Beta 1. Opera. A well-reviewed commercial web browser.
  • workman, a CD player. xmcd is an alternative CD player.
  • festival, University of Edinburgh. A text to speech program.
  • nedit v 5.1.1 NEdit.org. Text editor with advanced features. To enable this as the default editor, type 'EDITOR=/usr/local/bin/nedit' in a shell and/or add it to the default profile.

Solaris can be installed on computers with Intel processors.

  • There is a list of notebook computers that will run Solaris 8 successfully, including the Toshiba Tecra 8100.

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