At long last, I have done what I swore I'd do: Break my dependency on Microsoft computer products.  

I have now successfully transitioned virtually all of my email and web browsing activities to a computer that has no Microsoft products in it.

It's a Sun Ultra 2 workstation that I got for free.  It's fast, its's reliable, the 20 inch Trinitron monitor rocks, and it runs Netscape so it's all familiar territory once I set up the browser.   But Bill Gates doesn't get a penny off of it!

Being a Unix based machine, there is a definite transitional adjustment that you have to make. The learning curve when transitioning from a PC to a machine like this is steep, but not very high.   In a week or two, you can master the essentials and make it do just about anything a PC can do but you'll never see it crash.

Yes, there are some programs that aren't ported to run on a Sun or other Unix box, (mostly games) but then again, there are a lot of technical apps that work best on a Unix machine, and when it comes to day to day use, this Sun does just about everything I need it to.  I'm not about to throw out the PC,  but this is a NICE change.  And best of all, there's hardly ever a virus to be found in email that will affect this type of computer.  I'll open ANY attachment and watch the worms die of frustration!


System specs:

Sun Ultra 2 workstation with Creator 3D graphics
Dual 200 MHz processors (don't be fooled...that's acceptably fast by even today's standards.  Feels like a P-III 800 or maybe a P-IV 1G in average speed.)
1024 MB RAM (Yes!  a gigabyte of RAM!)
2 internal 9.1GB SCSI drives
Internal SCSI CD-R burner (Philips CDD 2600)
Internal 3.5" floppy drive
Dual monitor support, with additional graphics card for a second monitor installed.
On-board 10baseT ethernet, fully integrated. (No configuration necessary. It just works!)
Onboard external SCSI port
Second ethernet (10/100 Base T with second external SCSI portOnboard serial and parallel interfaces
Onboard high quality (true CD quality) sound system, with mic and aux inputs

Not a bad setup, for virtually free!

I think I have a total of 75 bucks invested in the whole thing.

It shares my cable modem with my PC via a network hub.

If you've been thinking about breaking out of MicroSlavery,  this is a viable option!

CJ

Get ME one for free, and I'll certainly join you !

Check ebay.  U2's and faster machines sometimes go begging for a bid.   An Ultra 60 or 80 would be a fantastic bargain at 300 bucks or so, and sometimes you can get one for less.

Another thing that's super nice:  The operating system (Solaris) is FREE from Sun.com!  

It DOES use a Windows type user interface.  It's quite possible to run virtually everything on the machine and never once have to type a command line into a console or terminal window...but you will have to do a little of that at first as you have to do some basic configuration of some programs.   It's not a totally magical system,  but I'd dare to say that it's possibly easier to use than MS Windows in some respects.   It's certainly more flexible, and when it comes to configuring new devices in your system, this thing beats the ass off a Windows based PC.  Plug and play?  you mean plug and pray?   This works even simpler than that, and it DOES work.  Plug a device in, and it knows about it right away.

CJ
 

hey CM, try this with your Sun box, attach a serial terminal to the device while it's running and let me know what happens....[;D]

Don't what you are using or what your are installing but I've done probably 3000+ installs of W2K and XP and 99.9% percent of these reconized and configured all devices with no futher intervention.

As far as crashing goes, my own XP machine, which take a hell of a lot of abuse, hasn't crashed since probably last summer. Can't ask for much more than that.

For someone who has a lot of free time to tinker, i'm sure its fine, but a Sun is never going to take the place of a Windows desktop.

Have fun [nana]

RedHat Linux is my ticket out of the Microsoft monopoly.  MS makes some great software, but their business practices leave much to be desired.  Register my software?  Right after I register my guns!

RedHat 8.0 and Slackware 9.0 across two computers here.

Slack 9.0
A MP3 server/discolights controller/hopefully webserver and mail server sometime soon?

RedHat
My Desktop. It is a dual boot with XP, but I have only run that a total of about two weeks in the year since I installed it. Will eventually be converted to a Slack 9/ XP box.


those are my boxen.

I'm still loyal to microsoft. The only thing I ever paid for is the hardware. Who needs to purchase MS products when ya got broadband?

I just bought a Sun 20 to play mp3's.

Specs:
200 Mhz
128 MB RAM
5 Gig Scsi
20 inch sun monitor
100 bucks total

I have no want, need or desire to connect a terminal while this thing is running.   I think I've read what would happen.

For most of what I do, YES, this can completely replace my Wintel box.    It's only if I want to play certain games that I have to use a different platform.    

Many companies use Suns exclusively for practically all of their internal operations.  They may have some PC's but for the most part, it's for compatibility with their customer's data.    

XP is a good version of Windows.  I've got it on my PC, and it has yet to crash in the same way that '98 did.  But it has gone very unresponsive a few times.   However, once, it had a data corruption issue in some files, and it sat there and corrected itself almost like magic, literally without me touching it.  I was impressed.     The plug and play in XP is a lot better than in 98 as well.  I had the worst imaginable time making a NIC work properly in my old 98 machine.  It'd see the cable modem OK, but not the home network no matter what I tried.


I like this new machine and I'm having fun exploring its differences and its capabilities.    It may not totally replace my PC, but for now, at least,  it's got a home in my network.


CJ

Sounds like you have almost convinced yourself of its viability. I notice you still have a MS box sitting around. Which one did you compose this thread from?

Exchange is a quirky bitch, but XP Pro and Win2K Pro are stable as anything I have seen except maybe an AS/400. Of course, I am not constantly screwing with the AS/400's network configs or constantly installing/removing software...

Bob

I've been doing all my mail and newsgroups from the Sun exclusively for the past two days.  I've done more than 90 percent of my web browsing from it as well over the same time frame, reverting to the PC only if a particular site requires flash media,  which I have for this machine, but haven't yet installed due to a slight lack of knowledge about the process.  I'm sure it's simple enough, but I don't know the command structure well enough just yet.

Netscape still looks like Netscape, but on a 20 inch monitor and a screen resolution of 1600x1200, EVERYTHING looks better.  (Or is it 1280x 1024?  I'll have to check.  "ffbconfig" from the console will tell me.


Once the Flash media plugins are correctly installed, I'll have no reason to use the PC unless it's to go flying (Falcon 4.0) or play some other game.   Everything else can be done from the Sun.

CJ

Not to pick nits, but this ain't Linux.  I'm running Solaris 9/SunOS 5.9.   It's pure Berkeley System V Unix, not linux.

I know they are quite similar in most respects.

CJ

Nutscrape still looks like Nutscrape but doesn't display many web pages properly.

But IE6 looks great on my 21" Sony @ 1280x1024. A quick right click told me that.

Keep us informed and if your enthusiasm for the Sum has waned in say, 6 months. Most users I know who jumped passionately onto the Linux bandwagon, shortly thereafter got back on the MS bus.