[thelist] web development for Solaris

[Andrew Forsberg]

Just wanted to add a few extra points:

1. If you can't get your hands on a Sparc workstation, then check the 
hardware compatibility list for Solaris on Intel, and download the 
('free') binaries, from:
http://www.sun.com/software/solaris/binaries/get.html
For a basic workstation install you only need the first real 
installer cd ('Software 1 of 2' -- approx. 300MB). If you have an old 
PII around somewhere, with fairly standard hardware, then you're 
probably in luck.

2. 16 bit colour is not well supported. You can't use it with Sun's X 
server. You can run 16 bit with XFree86's drivers, and XIG's drivers, 
but some apps just won't run in 16 bit (e.g. Forte for Java 3). So, 
IMO, testing for colour in 8 bit and 24 bit configurations is 
probably sufficient.

3.  IE for Sun is only available for the Sparc architecture, so you 
will need to get a Sparc station to test IE. At a guess I'd say it 
would have the smallest install base of any browser in existence. 
Honestly, how many Sun Sparc users would go out of their way to 
install a MS browser? Especially since it's *really* hard to even 
find the installers on microsoft.com.

4. There is a companion software CD for Solaris that includes the 
kde, gnome, and afterstep desktops. If you want to test with 
konqueror, then downloading this CD would be the least path of 
resistance (ie, it'll work, and there are shell scripts installed in 
/opt/sfw/kde/  that will add the desktop to the login session drop 
down menu for you).

HTH
Andrew


>Solaris is pretty much the standard Unix.  The standard browser on Solaris is
>more than likely Netscape 4.x.  Other browsers you may want to take into
>consideration Mozilla/Netscape6, Opera, and Konqueror, although
>Opera/Konqueror may not be very highly used.  There is also a version of IE
>for Solaris, but i've never seen it.  If you can get your hands on a Solaris
>machine and install all those browsers, you should be OK. 
>
>jeremy
>
>On Monday 17 September 2001 13:04, you wrote:
>>  Hey Folks,
>>
>>  For the current site I'm developing, there is a strict requirement that all
>>  pages work correctly on Solaris (Sun) platform browsers.
>>
>>  While I consider myself something of an expert on Mac/PC and
>>  Netscape/IE/Opera issues, I have almost zero experience with Sun.
>>
>>  Can you good people alert me to some of the common pitfalls, things to be
>>  aware of, or resources/places to learn the same? I'd like to educate myself
>  > in advance, with the hopes of alleviating a painful QA process.

-- 
Andrew Forsberg
---
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