What are the major differences between Solaris and Linux?

Dude thinks that the kernel is the difference.

Seems that Solaris comes out of the box with few development tools, and Linux comes with lots. I see that there are a few system calls that are different. Libraries are different, but software cam be sometimes made to run on either with comatibility layers. Little difference, really, except that Linux is more "on the move" and Solaris has slow development cycles. Its claim is better performance under load, but I doubt that's so true any more.

A fellow named Roland Turner seems to have answered that with flair. Seems he thinks Solaris is a non-free dog with limited hardware support and Linux is a racehorse with all the free tools you want.

These questions you have been asking seem like exam questions. They aren't, are they?

No, they aren't, actually.
To be honest, I was considering switching to Solaris from Linux, but only because Solaris is "true" Unix, while Linux is a clone of Minix which is a clone of Unix (not 100% reproduction rates each time).
This would be affordable, actually, because Sun is now offering Solaris 9 free to download.
Don't get me wrong, I love open-source, but I'm just curious if moving to Solaris 9 would be advantageous for me. That's also why I posted the FreeBSD-Linux comparison thread, so this way if I won't go too far with Linux while another OS would be better suited to my purposes, because right now I'm really getting into Linux.

I honestly think that if you want to be true to Unix and Correct, you should read the NetBSD manual. If the romance of correctness is what is luring you, you'll drop the idea of Solaris for NetBSD in a heartbeat. You can keep the free and you can learn what structure reallyt means. You can depend on its solidity and you can take advantage of the advances with OpenBSD, FreeBSD and Linux, as these things are always in the forefront for the developers, it seems.

I must apologize for the snotty response I gave earlier. That is not me (read my posts, if you have a day or so). But a general question like that will usually get a RTFM response simply because it gives the impression that you want someone to do the homework. As you can see, I have amended the responses to something more constructive.

I accept your apology entirely, and believe me, I can understand why you would want to post your original response.

NetBSD sounds like a viable option, definitely. Thanks for the recommendation in that area. To me, Solaris still sounds good because I do so much server work and I've heard that it's dependable, which is what I need.

The only reason why I've even considered moving is that I'm wondering if there would be a significant benefit/good reason to switch to a "pure" Unix. Are there any benefits or reasons?

maybe you could just try bsd and solaris and see for yourself...

Benefits? Reasons? Slight nuances in how things are done....syntax diifferences in execution....saying that you did it.....

Otherwise, not really. You might notice a bit of a difference on the big iron, but not on normal equipment. Linux has better hardware support, genereally, but the BSDs are developed with extra care. Java just came to FreeBSD for example last September.

Is Solaris even getting any development attention? Or, is JDS (which you pay for) taking over that spot...

So basically, Solaris is different syntaxes and procedures...
But would it run more stably, or faster?

Looks like Linux is faster. As a server without an extra "cruft", neither would be less stable. I have a thought that since FreeBSD seems to be used on the servers with the best uptime, it'd be the best choice. From things I have come across on the web, I have come to te impression that Linux has the edge on system load for the job (as in lower load with better performance). What are you using the server for?

A lot

Apache 1.3.29
sendmail
MySQL
(soon, possibly) BIND
ProFTPd
SSH
and a lot more which simply isn't coming to mind right now...

So would there be any benefit to me?

Not from Solaris

Good to know...
I'm thinking of dual-booting it anyway so I can do Unix development (Actually, I found out Solaris 9 is free for educational users and developers only! Otherwise, it's a 60-day evaluation.).
However, unless I notice a signficant difference in performance, I probably won't make it my main platform.
Thanks to all for the good information and suggestions!

Apache363

If you have the disk space, put FreeBSD or NetBSD on there and triple-boot so you can learn the tripod

I'll try!
Only thing is, are there major, MAJOR differences between NetBSD/FreeBSD and Solaris?
I need to conserve space on the drive!