Next Previous Contents 1. Introduction 1.1 Why Solaris? This is actually a good question. Why use Solaris, when you can have Linux? Solaris is a commercial system, the hardware support is scarce. But if you are reading this you have probably already decided on using Solaris. If not, here are some reasons: I have a part-time job administrating Solaris machines. It is of no use that I learning all the neat command parameters and nifty Linux tricks at home, when I can't use them on my Solaris-Box. Sun was giving away Solaris for what they call ``Shipping and handling cost only'' for some time. They might do that again. And almost-free-of-charge is always a good deal. Another reason might be that you like CDE. 1.2 Things covered in this HOWTO This HOWTO tries to help you install Solaris 7 or 8 on an x86 computer already running Linux. The main targets are not to destroy any data, see section Preparing your Harddrive To make Linux and Solaris coexist (boot manager), see section Boot-Managing To share data between Linux and Solaris, as described in section Sharing Data 1.3 Referenced versions The reference versions used while creating this document where: Solaris 7 x86 (= Solaris 2.7 / SunOS 5.7) Solaris 8 x86 (= Solaris 2.8 / SunOS 5.8) Linux 2.2.14, 2.3.99-pre3 fdisk v2.10f The information might apply to other versions of the software, or it might all be different. 1.4 Warning Please back up any data before messing with your system! A lot of the things described in this document may result in excessive data loss! I am not responsible for any data loss! See also section Legal stuff Next Previous Contents