Has anyone run GRASS on Solaris2.2/Sparc LX's?

[Laxmi Prasad Musunur]

Hi,
	The whole discussion was due to a similar question by someone.
I gave the same reply saying Solaris 2.x or SunOS 5.x  are ok to go for.
Then Mr Mccauley gave this long explanation.
	But again, as far as GRASS is concerned it should work without 
any problem. I didn't get a machine to try it on!

Laxmi P. Musunr 

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Laxmi Prasad Musunur (mlp at forestry.auburn.edu) writes on 11 Apr 93:
>>	We're going to buy a new workstation for running GRASS.
>>The choice could be either a SUN SPARC2 or a LX. Could someone

>	I think LXs come with Sun Os 5.x, also known as Solaris 2.x .
>But that shouldn't be a concern.
>
>Laxmi P. Musunur

no, it shouldn't, but it is. I hasten to recommend "old"
technology, but if you plan to get started right away with
applications other than GRASS, you may want to consider
buying the SPARC 2. This is because most commercial vendors
(there are exceptions) have, for some reason, not ported
their applications (even though Sun told everyone that this
day was coming years ago).

It really depends upon your other needs. If you tend to rely
on the generosity of netland to provide software for your
work (as I do), then I would advise you to get the LX.

For example, for my work (engineer/programmer/research), I use:
  GRASS as my GIS                          TeX for writing papers 
  'sc' for any spreadsheet work            'gcc' for programming
For each of these, svr4 poses no problem (gcc may be a problem,
but a precompiled version is available; TeX compiled *easily* for me
a few weeks ago). If something doesn't work/compile, I can usually
fix it. This (the svr4 thing) doesn't bother me that much.

If, for example, your shop doesn't like to be bothered with "details"
(i.e., you would much rather pay someone for software to do X, load it,
do X. Done. Next job...), you may run into the problem of software
not being available yet if you choose the LX.

There was a recent Sun conference for software vendors (on porting).
>From this, I received a list of apps that had already been ported
(and others with anticipated delivery dates). Try to get a copy of
such a list from your Sun rep when surveying your needs and making
your decision.

The transition is inevitable. It's up to you whether you can afford
to make it now or must put if off for 8 months to a year.

--Darrell

(Why am I reminded of the "which GIS is best" question posed
to comp.infosystems.gis/GIS-L?)