I've just started looking at Linux, so my opinion may be of limited
value. However, Sun's Solaris for Intel 86 computers looks like a
better value to me than Linux. Solaris seems to be a better, more
complete unix.
I've had an easier time getting Solaris installed on "standard" IntelPC
hardware, and I've spent less money on it than on Linux
(linux is "free", if you have plenty of time & help to spend in
place of money).
I will be providing a Linux binary of SeqPup, as I do now for
Solaris X86, as soon as I get more of Linux installed. Note I had to spend
$150 just to get the Motif libraries to develop this. This comes
standard w/ Solaris, which cost me less than $100 complete.
This doesn't mean that Linux isn't a good operating system. But
those of you looking for a unix to run on Intel hardware should also
seriously consider Solaris. Molecular biology software that compiles
on any unix should compile on Solaris x86 easily. There are window
system and some underlying differences among unixes that make
it still a bit of trouble to get a program working on multiple
systems (I run into these gettting SeqPup going on several systems).
The differences between Solaris on different hardware platforms
are much less than the differences among various unixes.
-- Don
--
-- d.gilbert--biocomputing--indiana u--bloomington--gilbertd at bio.indiana.edu
