Nexenta OS
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
This article or section contains information about alpha software currently in development. The content may change dramatically as the software development progresses. |
 |
 |
|
 |
|
| Nexenta OS Alpha 5 running GNOME 2.14. | |
| Company/developer: | Nexenta Systems / HackZone Members |
| OS family: | Unix-like |
| Source model: | Open source |
| Stable release: | N/A (N/A) [+/-] |
| Preview release: | Alpha 6 (October 17, 2006) [+/-] |
| Kernel type: | Monolithic kernel |
| Default user interface: | GNOME Graphical User Interface |
| License: | GPL and CDDL |
| Working state: | Alpha |
| Website: | gnusolaris.org |
Nexenta OS is a Debian-based GNU/Solaris operating system for IA-32 and x86-64 based systems. Nexenta OS is the first distribution that combines GNU with the OpenSolaris kernel and core user space utilities. Nexenta Systems, Inc has initiated the project and sponsors its continued development.
Nexenta is based on Ubuntu, but with the Linux kernel replaced with the Solaris kernel. Doing this saves time and resources from having to create yet another software base from scratch. There are two official APT repositories: "testing" and "unstable", totaling over 12,000 packages. A third "stable" repository is planned for the first official release. Nexenta OS is available in LiveCD, hard disk install and VMware image editions. Source code CDs are available for download as well.
Since Nexenta OS does not use the Linux kernel and Sun Microsystems only recently began releasing the code of their Solaris operating system as open source, hardware support is not yet as diverse as other Debian variants. Proprietary Solaris versions have been known to be more compatible with Sun's own SPARC-based hardware and equipment, while x86 support fell short. But this situation is rapidily changing now that the vast majority of the Solaris code-base has been open sourced under Sun's CDDL license and support for binary drivers on top of a stable ABI exist. This makes it legal for hardware manufacturers to release device drivers without the source.
